Microsoft is holding Call of Duty on PlayStation as a result of it needs extra Minecrafts

Ever since Microsoft introduced its $68.7 billion plan to accumulate Activision Blizzard, the massive query has been whether or not Call of Duty will change into an Xbox unique. Sony has expressed “expectations” that Call of Duty would stay on its platform, whereas Microsoft has mentioned explicitly that it needs to maintain the sport on PlayStation. But many, myself included, have speculated whether or not Microsoft would possibly nonetheless make elements of Call of Duty unique to Xbox sooner or later. Microsoft has now made it clear it sees Call of Duty the identical means it sees Minecraft: as a multi-platform franchise that may draw avid gamers to Microsoft’s companies.

And it’s not simply Call of Duty — Microsoft needs to carry extra Activision Blizzard video games to extra platforms, together with the Nintendo Switch. The firm has seen success with Minecraft, and it’s actually leaving the door open for Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Diablo to stay on a number of platforms or broaden elsewhere.

As Microsoft president Brad Smith revealed yesterday: “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.” That dedication extends into the long run, too. “And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love,” says Smith.

Although some have argued Smith’s feedback go away the door open for Microsoft to make elements of Call of Duty unique to Xbox, I believe the corporate’s intention is evident: to make each marketing campaign and multiplayer obtainable on all platforms.

If it wasn’t clear sufficient, Smith revealed Microsoft’s rising video games technique in an interview with CNBC. “Great titles like Call of Duty from Activision Blizzard will continue to be available on the Sony PlayStation,” explains Smith. “We’d like to bring it to Nintendo devices, we’d like to bring the other popular titles that Activision Blizzard has, and ensure they continue to be available on PlayStation, and that they become available on Nintendo.”

He then compares Microsoft’s Minecraft acquisition, which was Satya Nadella’s first huge deal as CEO, to the upcoming Activision Blizzard deal. “That acquisition, I think, is a clear indicator of what we hope to do if we acquire Activision Blizzard,” explains Smith. “Invest even more in innovation, bring it to more people, bring it to more platforms, and make it even more useful and hopefully delightful for the people who use it.”

Microsoft acquired Mojang, the makers of Minecraft, for $2.5 billion in 2014. At the time, many feared the corporate would pull Minecraft from rival platforms, however Microsoft did the other as an alternative. It embraced the multi-platform nature of Minecraft, and even launched Minecraft Dungeons, a derivative, on Xbox, PC, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.

It seems like Microsoft is about to do the identical for a number of Activision Blizzard video games, assuming the deal will get authorised. Microsoft is hoping that by making its intentions and technique extra clear, it would keep away from regulatory issues.

Image: Bethesda

The technique that’s slowly rising from the newly shaped Microsoft Gaming enterprise is that Microsoft received’t go full Xbox unique for all the things, and can select exclusives the place it’s helpful, and assist multi-platform video games elsewhere. While Starfield, a brand new IP from Bethesda, is smart as an Xbox unique for Microsoft to push Xbox Game Pass, Call of Duty has been obtainable on a number of platforms for almost 20 years.

We’ll nonetheless seemingly see some new Activision Blizzard video games going Xbox unique the place that is smart, much like what Microsoft promised with its Bethesda deal. But Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard’s largest franchise, will stay on a number of platforms similar to Minecraft.

The delicate steadiness of decisions shall be fascinating to observe play out, notably as Sony makes its personal multi-platform push with PlayStation exclusives arriving, albeit years later, on PC and 10 live-service video games to seem on a number of platforms (together with Xbox!) earlier than March 2026.

At the center of Microsoft’s gaming technique has all the time been the need to succeed in 2 billion avid gamers on the planet. How it will get there seems more and more like a mixture between native video games on a number of platforms, first-party titles, Xbox Game Pass subscriptions, and, after all, Xbox Cloud Gaming. Microsoft’s cloud gaming division ready for this future 4 years in the past, however the Xbox maker has confronted challenges bringing Xbox Cloud Gaming to the greater than a billion iPhone and iPad units.

Microsoft has been lobbying for regulators to have a look at Apple’s App Store insurance policies, and it has backed Epic Games’ effort to problem how Apple forces builders to make use of its personal in-app funds system which features a 30 % lower of subscriptions and gross sales. Like Epic, Microsoft additionally needs its personal app retailer on iOS and iPadOS units, and elsewhere.

Image: Microsoft

Brad Smith describes Microsoft’s imaginative and prescient for a “universal app store,” that may “enable any gamer on any device to access, download, and use any app” in his CNBC interview. The massively formidable thought is that this next-generation retailer would work on console, PCs, and even telephones. Apple’s present App Store insurance policies prohibit rival shops on iPhones and iPads, blocking Microsoft’s imaginative and prescient.

If Microsoft succeeds with its years-long effort to stress regulators to open up Apple’s App Store, it stands to profit massively each for gaming and its Office productiveness apps. It may also imply Microsoft might have to stick to the identical legal guidelines and rules for its Xbox retailer, and Smith has made it clear the corporate is lastly keen to budge on its 30 % lower of all Xbox digital gross sales and in-game purchases. A extra open Xbox retailer might imply altering up Microsoft’s complete console enterprise mannequin, and it reveals the significance of this new Microsoft Gaming efforts.

The Open App Markets Act is a proposal that might blow up app shops, and one which Microsoft is backing. Whether the invoice passes, and the way lengthy it would take remains to be an enormous unknown, however Microsoft is banking on app retailer adjustments for its formidable Activision Blizzard and Xbox Game Studios plans.