In a lengthy blog post released today, Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith addressed concerns that the company could make popular Activision Blizzard game titles like Call of Duty exclusive to only Xbox consoles.
Smith reiterated in his post about new app store principles that Microsoft is not just planning to “make CoD and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation” through only the existing agreements. Smith said Microsoft has “committed to Sony” that those games will be made available on PlayStation “beyond the agreement and into the future.”
In the post, Smith also said Microsoft is “interested” in taking similar steps to ensure that Activision Blizzard games will be released on Nintendo platforms like the Switch.
The post specifically cites that “popular” titles will continue to be supported on multiple platforms. With Microsoft taking ownership of Activision Blizzard, it’s likely that there will eventually be at least one Activision Blizzard game released in the future that’s exclusive to Xbox and/or PC. But the wording of today’s post hints that franchises like CoD, Overwatch, Diablo, and potentially others could remain multi-platform for years to come.
The rest of the post outlines changes to the Microsoft app store, which Smith says the company will soon start implementing on the Xbox store. Developers not owned by Xbox/Microsoft looking to release games on the Xbox store can do so without any additional hurdles that Microsoft-owned studios would otherwise avoid.
