The ink hasn’t dried yet on Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, but with the deal speeding forward towards the finish line and due to be completed sometime in 2023, questions about its implications have been asked (and will continue to be asked) quite often. The question of exclusivity, of course, is one that keeps coming up. Once Activision is fully owned by Xbox, will its future releases be taken off PlayStation and Switch?
Once again, Microsoft has reiterated that that might not necessarily be the case. “If we acquire a game that comes with a big community across a number of platforms, he last thing we want to do is take something away,” Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty said on the topic of exclusivity in a recent media briefing (via IGN). “If anything, we feel that it’s our job to be caretakers, to be shepherds, to continue to build and nurture that community, not to cut it up into pieces and try to take some of it away.”
While no specifics have been mentioned, one would imagine that major multiplatform titles with large audiences across many platforms – like Call of Duty, Overwatch, or Diablo – won’t be turned into Xbox exclusive properties. Then again, that does lead one to wonder what will become of something like Crash Bandicoot or Spyro.
Shortly after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was announced, reports claimed that Microsoft would keep select future titles exclusive to Xbox, though Xbox boss Phil Spencer said shortly afterward that Microsoft did not intend on “pulling communities away” from PlayStation.
Later, Microsoft said it intended to keep releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation. Interestingly, the company has also stressed that it plans on continuing to do that even beyond existing agreements and contractual obligations- read more on that through here.