Last week, Microsoft cleared a major hurdle to move forward with its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and although it still has to deal with the U.K.’s CMA, the company is taking steps to finalize the deal. One of those steps is making sure the Call of Duty franchise is staying on the PlayStation platform for the foreseeable future, and a binding agreement has been signed to do just that.
In a tweet, Xbox’s Phil Spencer said the following: “We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.”
So, for now, Call of Duty is staying on PlayStation, but that isn’t the case with some of Microsoft’s other recent acquisitions. Starfield, for example, won’t be available on PlayStation now that Bethesda is under Microsoft ownership. Of course, PlayStation has its fair share of exclusives as well, and this is just the way the business goes.
Microsoft has a deadline to close its merger with Activision Blizzard by July 18, otherwise Microsoft will have to pay $3 billion to Activision Blizzard. This will also open the door for the two companies to renegotiate the terms of the deal, if it isn’t closed by July 18.
