God, we're never going to hear the end of this are we? In a new official blog post, Microsoft has outlined its "Open App Store Principles", and it's...well, it's a really boring read, so we'll just skip to the part that mentions Sony and PlayStation.
It states: "First, some commentators have asked whether we will continue to make popular content like Activision’s Call of Duty available on competing platforms like Sony’s PlayStation. The obvious concern is that Microsoft could make this title available exclusively on the Xbox console, undermining opportunities for Sony PlayStation users." Yep, this has been the big talking point ever since Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68 billion.
It continues: "To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision." Again, nothing new here — Microsoft and Xbox have already pointed out that games currently planned for PlayStation platforms won't be taken away.
But what about everything after that? Well, up until now, Microsoft has been pretty wishy-washy about the whole thing. Xbox boss Phil Spencer expressed a "desire" to include PlayStation going forward — but who knows what the future might bring...
Which leads us to this part of the blog post: "We have committed to Sony that we will also make [Activision Blizzard games] available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love [...] We believe this is the right thing for the industry, for gamers and for our business."
So, Microsoft is saying that it's committed to keeping Activision Blizzard's output on PlayStation. It's the most dedicated wording that we've seen from the tech giant so far, although, again, it's impossible to say whether this stance could change years down the line. We'll obviously have to wait and see.
And that's about it. Microsoft has covered this topic multiple times now, but as always, the proof will be in the pudding. Do you think Activision Blizzard games will remain on PlayStation forever more? Or are you sceptical? Blah blah blah yourself in the comments section below.
[source blogs.microsoft.com]
Comments 93
I dont care. I will not buy games owned by Microsoft.
They said this a couple of days after the acquisition! Why are we still talking about it!!!
With agreements like these, it is always subject to change.
But great news for fans of Call of duty
So is that the F2P BR Warzone or the other crap too?
He said all of Activisions popular franchises which means so will diablo, overwatch, crash and spyro games, don't always make it about call of duty please.
@eltomo before they said existing agreements and contracts, but this time they are saying even after those have been fulfilled they will still release new games on playstation
And Sony bought Bungie but will allow it to keep its independence. Yup, something has definitely got Sony and MS spooked. This isn't about 'good for the gamer,' I'm not buying that at all.
I’m not bothered about COD but I do want to know if Diablo 4 is still coming
Fair enough, this is how it should be. Also, they can still put it on Gamepass and refuse to allow it on PS Now, so they still get to say it’s the best deal around.
It does, unfortunately, still leave Open the option for them to say “we’ll make it available on PS, but Only via Gamepass if they allow us to infiltrate their ecosystem”
Hopefully not.
@Gamer83 I think they're worried about Apple entering the market or Google buying up devs for their comedy failure, Stadia
It seems pretty clear thats the plan, they don't wanna say definitives about something years in the future though which I imagine most companies don't so they can't be held to that from a legal perspective
I wonder how much of this is aimed at appeasing regulators.
Either way, feck it. If people don't need to buy a new console or sub to an additional streaming service to continue enjoying the franchises they love, then that's great news.
MS's statements on things like this often tend to use language that can be interpreted a few different ways later on down the line.
As the article notes, the proof will be in the pudding.
In other words, they have other big acquisitions in the pipeline and their lawyers have advised them that the FTC is gonna come down hard if they attempt to carry on gatekeeping entire publishers.
This is most likely to help the deal pass
Also games like Call of Duty make money from Add on content / DLC / Micro-transactions etc whatever people want to call it. Subscriptions and retail sales (even if they all come to PlayStation) barely make any money in comparison.
So they want these games on as many platforms as possible to make as much money from them.
I also think we will start seeing PlayStation's multiplayer games added on day one to PC for the same reason.
More and more multiplayer games will see this type of paid content added and PlayStation will follow. The rare instances of earning additional content in games through gameplay (Like Ghost Of Tsushima Legends) will become even rarer.
Have not purchased COD for years now.
Would rather have Destiny and Bungie in the team.
Anyway when Microsoft release a game of AAA legendary quality I will start to take more notice of them.
Maybe FH5 but nothing before or since for this new generation and 2022 looks quiet for them.
I only really care for Diablo 4 but this is great news and a good move on MS's part. I wonder if the Bungie deal played a part with MS allowing this if Destiny remains on Xbox?
This smacks of "regulators are starting to ask questions so we better play nice" now what about Starfield? We all know it was meant to be coming to PS5 but "Uncle Phil" doesn't want to take games away from people.
It's strange that anyone thought otherwise to be fair?
CoD makes money, stick it everywhere and reap the rewards
Microsoft does not have the desired amount of Xboxs' out to make it viable to have it exclusive
Anyone who doom posted about it was over reacting to a non story about MS over paying for a list that mainly included dead IP or PC/mobile only games
I feel it would come down to whatever gets them the largest revenue, in the end.
This actually expands my sliver of hope that the Indiana Jones game in development may hit PS5. If they're willing to work with Sony on what could be their biggest knife turning yet via CoD... then Indiana Jones is small potatoes and could very likely be on Playstation as well.
I wonder if this notice is due to how open Sony has been that Bungie games will remain on Xbox and PC?
"God, we're never going to hear the end of this are we?"
From the site that managed to publish about 300 articles about Microsoft's purchase of Activision...
@ORO_ERICIUS idk if they care homie.
@sanderson72
Agree. Which I guess does make this 'good for the gamer' in the sense that I'd rather have Sony and MS, now long-time 'traditional' players in the business, owning companies like Bungie and Activision than I would Apple, Google, possibly Amazon or even Tencent and Netease. I even think if Nintendo has some close partners it should lock them up like it did with Next Level Games. Still don't like seeing bigger studios like Bungie or publishers like Bethesda and Activision getting bought up, however. I don't think the gaming industry is heading down the best road.
Couldn't give a monkey's toss !
Maybe Sony is paying Microsoft a small amount to keep it on the platform. Bit like where they pay Activision for exclusive content.
Shame. Wanted Sony to be pressure into killing cod. Now they'll sleep.
Personally no games that are expected for both consoles should get exclusive rights on a specific platform after people have already bought their consoles. Whether Sony or MS snap up games once believed to multiplatform like COD or TES, gamers are the losers. I can say now that if a certain Japanese developer with a history of playstation games gets snapped by MS, it will screw over playstation buyers who were not expecting that. Hopefully Sony and MS refrain from snapping up popular multiplatform publishers and IPs for exclusivity but doubtful.
Thats cool.more crash bandicoot and spyro the dragon.call of duty is cool and diablo.thats the clearest phil spencer has been🤔.word up son
Yeah I'm going to render a guess that the FTC regulators have likely said that CoD being one of the biggest selling games in the industry would trigger an anti-trust legislation against future publisher purchases if Microsoft kept it away from other platforms.
It's a likely scenario. If Microsoft didn't have a motive they wouldn't do it.
I don't give a rat's a**e about CoD, I just hope Crash and Spyro will still make it to PS in the future.
Hopefully it will be like this on both sides in the future. Make agreements for once third party games to be played on both post acquisition. Even if on a case by case basis of trades in the very least.
Okay. So what about the immensely popular Elder Scrolls games?
Seems like a chicken fight here to see who’s gonna pull content first.
With Sony having some ammo in the form of Bungie, it’s mutually beneficial for them to be sharing some franchises cross console with all the DLC purchases. Especially as bungie goes multi-IP
On one hand: meh.
On the other: these are actually pretty interesting times
It might be something to do with the competition commission ruling. It's interesting how they have said this only for Activision Blizzard. Also, multiplayer games, especially GaaS work better on as many platforms as possible.
There's only two reasons I can think of to why Microsoft are doing this.
1, they have done some number crunching and they need the games to sell on playstation to make this acquisition worth it.
2, Activision made this demand of Microsoft for the purchase to be completed like destiny did with Sony when they asked to stay multiplatform
@BionicDodo damn you beat me to it..the irony dosnt escape me..
@Gamer83 Oh god. I hope this is not turning into we don't care about consoles, we're in the service war crap. Maybe Apple did a move? Idk.
Microsoft getting in front of FTC regulators is all this is. We'll see what actually happens once the deal is allowed to be completed.
"as we start the process of seeking regulatory approval in capitals around the world for our acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This regulatory process begins while many governments are also moving forward with new laws to promote competition"
I don't play any Activision/Blizzard games so it doesn't really affect me, but I do hope I'm wrong and Microsoft keeps these games on all systems for the people that do enjoy them.
Why keep reporting on this then? And why do I keep reading and commenting on the topic? I don't know.
@jorel262 😂
@RevGaming
Yup, I also hope it's not about leaving consoles behind for services.
You should put that sub title for everything Spencer says tbh.
Made me laugh 😃
Interesting all future Bungie and Activision-Blizzard games are staying multi-platform (PlayStation, PC, Switch, Xbox).
I bet will not be on any potential Apple, Amazon, Tencent Game Console.
@Gamer83 Bro this has to be some way of internal planning between Sony and Xbox.
You buy this guy, you'll buy that one, but we won't take games away from each other so we're stronger vs Google, Apple etc.
In that case, keep buying publishers I guess. I wanted competition from Xbox vs PS though.
@UltimateOtaku91 thanks for clarifying! Think I've had enough of these articles where it feels Microsoft are defending themselves over this when I don't think they should.
If more ps users still buy cod games compared to xbox users then cod will stay on both platform. I think microsoft strategies are: get the $60 money from ps users and get the gamepass/cod dlc money from xbox users.
They may not take it away from PlayStation but they could charge more than standard for it to force people's hand to move to Game Pass although people who buy it annually would probably pay £/$100 for it I reckon with just a minor grumble.
Good bye playing COD with only playstation players. Hello cross platform play only. Looking forward to getting beaten by hacking pc players. Sounds like fun
@Enigk Don't give Gaming CEOs any ideas to further push the $70 to $100 lol.
microsoft may or may not be sincere, but to me it sounds like this response was a reaction to sony wanting bungie titles on all platforms... so perhaps this is microsft scratching sony's back for keeping things "fair" and "nice" for all parties.
I'd say the same thing if I was trying to get this deal past the regulators.
Always thought they would do this. Having the biggest franchise in the world on Game Pass (probably with the odd bit of exclusive content) is a big plus and they can keep coining it in from PS owners.
If they stop a Activision games on PlayStation that’ll really be hypocritical considering their “we want all our games on every device” stance…
Of course, anything they say now isn't any kind of verbal, binding contract. This "policy" could change at any time, and quite frankly, whenever Microsoft wants. And even if they are "committed" to keeping games on PlayStation, Microsoft could still make the cost to Sony so outrageously unreasonable that it's not profitable to even keep CoD on their platforms...
I'll believe it when I see it but if this is true what a crazy turn of events! What a strange generation this is turning out to be. With this and Jim Ryan saying "We are going multiplatform"...predicting how this generation will go at this point is a fools errand.
Keeping Activision Blizzard games on PlayStation is the right thing to do for the industry but taking Bethesda games away from them completely contradicts this. Good old manipulating and lying Phil Spencer. Don't trust a word that man says.
*Sony buys Rockstar and their IPs and makes them exclusive"
Phil =
JK.
Wait... it doesn't say forever and ever...
@Korgon
I love the fear mongering about Sony becoming Sega.
Yet they are launching new hardware holiday or later. If they were going multiplatform why wouldn't they just make games for Oculus?
Why make deals for Sifu, FFXVI, Forspoken, Stray, ect. Acquiring Bungie wouldn't occur if they wanted to lock down destiny. PlayStation really wanted to acquire them to make money via multiplatform, turn their IP into movies etc, and in order to use their tech and expertise in crafting service and shooter games. They certainly are also banking on the next few IP from the studio.
People need to stop as if Sony doesn't care about supporting the PlayStation 5.
@Dodoo They are already doing it by taking Bethesda games away. Phil Spencer lies constantly yet he's still the good guy. He was disgusted with Activision and reevaluating their relationship and two months later he acquires them. He says Bethesda games will come out on a game by game basis and then a month later he insinuates that every game going forward will be exclusive and the media runs with it.
I see Call of Duty as another Minecraft scenario for Microsoft. Profit off all consoles and PC. Also could be the only way this deal goes through regulation wise.
Good move from MS, they’ll be swimming in the monies from this. Very nice. Very evil.
@FatallyYours117 Tell that to Bethesda games like the ES which aren't set to appear on PS now. Of course, they could always change course as a way of funding gamepass. They honestly might need the PS sales of these games to counter the money they lose by putting so many on gamepass.
the day they take away overwatch is the day i scalp my ps5 for $900 , i don’t trust m$ , they may leave crap of duty on all platforms but the smaller ones they’re gonna mess with
@Rural-Bandit Um. Everyone lol.
Did that stop Apex, Fortnite, Overwatch, Siege?
@eltomo they absolutely 100% should be defending themselves. When you threaten to remove the top selling Game every single year from the largest player base, you better come prepared with promises and assurances. They should actually be applying this retroactively to Zenimax. Hopefully regulators will put enough pressure on them that they will.
I wouldn't trust that, probably just a case of appearing more altruistic before sealing the deal.
MS should really not be allowed to make this deal though, and I'm saying that as someone who has no real interest in Activision's games.
& I'll continue to not buy it 🖕🏻
@iamtylerdurden1 Blame the media for Spencer’s good guy image. Not sure how anyone misses such a blatant pathologically lying greaseball who’s mastery of misleading rhetoric deserves Nobel level recognition. But the media drools all over him like he’s a god. Including the mods here, on a pro PlayStation site. I truly believe if Spencer got actual backlash instead of bootlicking from the media, Starfield would be coming to PS5 this November.
I'm not surprised, they made bank in call of duty every year. If anything, Microsoft would have lost more to restrict it.
The other franchises will likely be exclusive. Maybe, Diabolo will be multi plat, that's it imho...
Game Pass will be on PlayStation before any of this is even a concern
@Jaz007 Microsoft obviously feel they can support the price of taking NEW Bethesda games from other systems at a relatively low $7billion, whilst still supporting current games like FO76 still slowly bringing in money from everywhere and rereleasing skyrim every other year, that's their call if they want to do that. MS would swallow the potential loss easily for Bethesda games not being multi plat
ActBliz is a much larger and expensive purchase (though very, very, very over priced for what they are actually getting), that they need to make money from ASAP. They know gamepass doesn't make enough money, there isn't enough xboxs' to support exclusivity for CoD (and likely never will be), and legally, Sony would have had years worth of negotiated contracts for CoD, where they probably didn't care enough to bother with future Bethesda games, either assuming Bethesda would come to Sony asking to be on PS4/5, or Sony would do a game to game deal with them at time of release. That's sony's issue
It's just logical and obvious. You buy something as a company, you want to see a return on it, as quickly and safely as possible. Without paying A LOT for canceling contracts or losing the ensuing court cases, on top of a massive acquisition, losing a massive base for your owned product, and having the inferior amount of consoles out in the world, this all adds up to putting CoD on playstation
@RevGaming @Gamer83 Yeah, I said over on PXB that people keep going on about MS buying the industry, etc, etc, but people keep missing that both of them stand to benefit if they cooperate, or in reality, collude, to keep the status quo of the industry divided between them. Ironically people keep talking about regulators coming down on MS "monopoly" which is a joke, but the real trade violation may be behind the scenes contraband collusion between Sony and MS. Though in this case if it keeps gaming away from Apple and a more Pooh-shaped interloper, more power to them, keep on colluding.
@NEStalgia Watch Hoeg Law. I think there's a possibility this can be scrutinize even if it's not a monopoly. Like if it was Ubisoft, no problem since they're not as big.
With them gobbling up studios and committing to each other’s platforms, I see Sony and MS moving towards a REAL 3DO for consoles not the next generation, but the one after that.
Have minimal and required specs and different ports/accessories for each, that is if Cloud Gaming doesn’t take over completely, and with vinyl records they way they are going, I doubt it.
@RevGaming Meh, all bark and no bite. They "scrutinize" and look important but their track record for stopping mergers speaks for itself. The effectively never do. And this case has far less grounds for it than many others they've approved because there actually is substantial competition. TBH even if they tried all MS would have to do is bring Amazon's vertical+horizontal integration into the picture and they'll rapidly go silent.
Diablo 4 please and thank you.
Phil says one thing and a few years later he says the opposite. His wording doesn't mean a thing and frankly I don't care. If anything I want to play comes out only on Xbox I will buy that thing, not very probable, but still...
A year from now, after the deal has gone through and approved by government, they'll say "due to recent market conditions we've decided to alter the terms of our agreement..." 🤓🤷♂️😜
These big companies are now just acquiring publishers so Tencent doesn't beat them to it.
Im convinced this is due to regulatory pressure. Hopefully this means we can still have Tony Hawk
As long as this means I can play future (newer) Crash and Spyro games on PlayStation devices, I will be happy!
I think after the first 500 CODs, I'm good. Good to know, though.
Hey what if Sony and MS are worried Amazon, Google , Facebook will try to buy third party studios, making them exclusive. O.O If this is the case then Yes , Sony and MS please buy as much as you can before its too late.
Yet Gamer Phil was up to his usual double Dutch elsewhere on an Axios interview & likewise espousing how he wanted Starfield being the "most played" Bethesda title yet,despite cancelling the ps5 version as one of the first acts of Zenimax becoming 1st party,so they're probably playing good cop whilst the FTC are starting to take some notice.
The Bungie deal obviously has some impact. Sony coming out and announcing that Bungie will remain independent and release games on all consoles may keep the Activision games already in existence multi-platform. I don't expect that for Bethesda games, but I do Activision.
I wish it were reversed and Bethesda was staying multi-plat. Those are the only games I will miss.
@playstation1995
That's because it wasn't Phil Spencer with his constant double speak. It was Microsoft President Brad Smith.
Seems like they made this move because they were under fire from people for trying to become monopolistic.
Sorry but I don't believe a single word made by Phil. He knows how to play with words. It's unclear whether PS availability is through game pass or not! In future he can say, oh we're interested to have CoD on PS but Sony is not happy about the game pass, so we're sorry for the inconvenience - to shift the blame to sony!
It's been years that he just plays with words and you'd never understand what's the true intentions.
@BionicDodo love your avatar!
@DefiledViper I don't believe a single word from Phil, since his day 1 role as the head of xbox, he just plays with games, something that journalists love to maneuver with!
@RevGaming Most games are already that they only call them gold editions now.
It feels weird to me they also adopt some biased expression like ‘ Sony fans ’
What the heck is a Sony fan? Couldn’t they say PlayStation users or gamers?
I’m wondering if it’s really the official term they are using. I have doubts honestly because it’s either insulting or stupid.
It’s like talking about Xbox users they’d call them Microsoft fans. Weird and wrong (to label a user base into what it’s not)
@LightningLeader this is the best comment I’ve read in a while
I guess that was a part of Activision / Blizzard deal: we publish wherever we want.
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