Xbox boss Phil Spencer has revealed what he envisions for Call of Duty on Nintendo Switch should the Activision acquisition close. At the start of 2022, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision for just shy of $70 billion. It was a historic deal, but one met with tons of scrutiny from players, politicians, regulators, and of course, competitors. PlayStation has been very against the idea of Activision calling Microsoft its home as it could potentially mean the publisher’s titles like Call of Duty become exclusive to Xbox. Xbox has tried to ease these concerns by saying it would treat Call of Duty like Minecraft, allowing the franchise to be on all platforms day and date. However, Sony doesn’t seem convinced. Microsoft has made a formal offer to guarantee PlayStation will get Call of Duty for 10 years, but it remains to be seen how the platform holder will respond.
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Phil Spencer confirmed that it had entered a 10-year deal with both Nintendo and Valve to bring Call of Duty to those respective platforms. When speaking with Washington Post’s Shannon Liao, Spencer told her that this could make it appear that other platform holders are willing to work with Microsoft in the eyes of regulators. Spencer also noted that the 10-year deal wouldn’t mean Call of Duty becomes exclusive to Xbox once it expires, it’s just an expiration date for the sake of the document, but the plan would be to continue to support those platforms afterward. It was also noted that it would take some time for a Call of Duty game to actually get put on a Nintendo platform once the deal closes, but the plan would be to have a Nintendo version of Call of Duty ready alongside every mainline release once they get into a rhythm.
As of right now, the Microsoft and Activision deal is not complete. It still has a ways to go before it can be approved, but these two agreements could make a difference to regulators. If other major platforms are showing they’re ok with the deal, it may be enough to overpower PlayStation. However, it’s still worth noting a Call of Duty game hasn’t been on Nintendo since 2013, so it’s not like they were missing out on anything prior to this. Nevertheless, Phil Spencer has made it clear he wanted to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo Switch prior to these agreements.
Should everything go smoothly, the deal is expected to close by June 2023. What do you think of this move from Xbox? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
