Xbox Never Considered Making Call of Duty Exclusive, Says Exec
Xbox has apparently never entertained the idea of making Call of Duty an exclusive. Call of Duty is an entertainment juggernaut and that has made Microsoft's recent attempt to acquire publisher Activision incredibly controversial. Call of Duty is consistently the best selling game every year, with the exception of years Rockstar Games releases a new game. It's hard to hurt Call of Duty, even if the game is bad, and that would make a company like Microsoft exceptionally powerful. Sony, regulators, and fans have worried that Microsoft could try to make the series exclusive to Xbox if the deal goes through, but Microsoft has tried to assure everyone that won't be the case.
To make things even more clear, Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, the one who approved Microsoft's bid to acquire Activision for just shy of $70 billion, noted that there has never been any discussion to make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive. This was revealed in a document submitted for the Microsoft vs. FTC hearing with regards to the Activision acquisition. Hood noted it was more beneficial to keep Call of Duty on as many platforms as possible and there is an intent to keep producing Activision games on other platforms.
"The possibility of making Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox was never assessed or discussed with me, nor was it even mentioned in any of the presentations to or discussions with the Board of Directors. I understood the necessity of keeping Call of Duty on other platforms. The Acquisition's strategic rationale and financial valuation are both aligned toward making Activision games widely available, not less."
Microsoft CFO Amy Hood, who approved the $69 billion bid for Activision: "The possibility of making Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox was never assessed or discussed with me, nor was it even mentioned in any of the presentations to or discussions with the Board of Directors." pic.twitter.com/x2IFDjdEFj
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 29, 2023
Given how big Call of Duty actually is and how expensive it is to make, it would likely only hurt Xbox to continue producing Call of Duty at the budget it operates at currently without making it available on just about every possible platform. It needs a big install base to succeed, so it makes sense why Xbox is trying to stress that as part of this deal.
Do you think Call of Duty should be exclusive to Xbox? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
