Xbox has been persistent in saying that it wants to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. And now Xbox CEO Phil Spencer has committed to that under oath during the Federal Trade Commission hearing about Microsoft and Activision.
Call of Duty will stay on PlayStation, according to Spencer
According to IGN, Spencer was once again asked about the shooter series and doubled down when reminded that he was under oath.
“I would raise my hand,” said Spencer. “I will do whatever it takes. We have no plan. I’m making a commitment standing here that we will not pull Call of Duty — it is my testimony — from PlayStation. Sony obviously has to allow us to ship the game on their platform. But absent any of that, my commitment is, and my testimony is that we will continue to ship future versions of Call of Duty on Sony’s PlayStation 5.”
Spencer did say “PlayStation” the first time but then specified “PlayStation 5” the second time. It’s unclear if this is a slip up or if he was being cheeky and only committing to the current PlayStation hardware and anything after that would not have the same guarantee. The Verge also had a longer quote from Spencer.
“I think as we’ve seen even in preparation for this that gamers are an active and vocal group. Us pulling Call of Duty from PlayStation in my view would create irreparable harm for the Xbox brand,” said Spencer.
He also responded to claims that Microsoft could sabotage Call of Duty on PlayStation systems, by saying that building a “high-quality game for Xbox and building somehow a lower-quality game” on PlayStation would hurt Microsoft’s reputation and finances.
Regardless, Microsoft has offered to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation a few times. One of these deals called to keep the series on PlayStation for “several more years, which Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan called “inadequate on many levels.” Microsoft then offered a longer 10-year, which Sony refused. Nintendo, however, accepted that deal.
The trial has been full of talks regarding exclusivity. Indiana Jones will be an Xbox and PC exclusive, but it’s still up in the air if The Outer Worlds 2 and The Elder Scrolls 6 will come to PlayStation.
