Microsoft won’t make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive

It’s been a long year for gamers.

The beginning of the year brought a massive Destiny 2 expansion, Elden Ring, Horizon Forbidden West and much more. It doesn’t stop there, though, as the rest of the year is looking to be as eventful as the first half.

You know who else it’s been a long year for? Microsoft, more specifically, Microsoft post their acquisition of indie company Activision Blizzard.

After shocking the gaming world by spending $68.7 billion to acquire the notorious company, Microsoft has found itself having to deal with a lot of questions.

These questions have come from everyone and, to be more specific, the industry as a whole is wondering what’s next. Acquiring top dollar producer, Call of Duty, for your platform must mean the Xbox maker wants to reap all the money for themselves.

Right?

Well, Microsoft is saying otherwise.

“Exclusivity wouldn’t be profitable”

Most recently, Microsoft has found itself on the defensive end of the acquisition. In a letter to the New Zealand Commerce Commission, the company stated that Activision doesn’t make “must-own titles“.

Sony thought otherwise as the PlayStation developer seems to believe that Call of Duty is indeed a must-own. Along with that, Sony fears that Microsoft could make Call of Duty exclusive and shift the market.

Microsoft has gone on to quell those fears by saying that making Call of Duty exclusive to their console wouldn’t be profitable.

When it comes to making games exclusive, the money made from a title is cut down. Yes Xbox would make a ton from making it exclusive, but CoD on all console enlarges the income.

Why cut down your income when you can make so much more if your game is on all platforms? Makes sense right?

However, the ulterior motive behind it is where it gets fuzzy.

Microsoft is the creator of the wildly successful GamePass. Most games enter a deal to become a “Day 1” GamePass title for Xbox/PC thus encouraging players to sub to the service.

Sony is trying to implement that similar system now, but they don’t own CoD. It’ll continue to release at full price on PlayStation until otherwise specified.

Why spend full retail on CoD when you can subscribe to GamePass?

It seems like there’s a possibility that Microsoft is playing 3D Chess right now. The deal to keep CoD on PlayStation ends after Modern Warfare 2.

We’ll see what the future holds for the franchise. For now though, PlayStation gamers are safe.