Did you hear that Microsoft might keep Call of Duty on the PS? Phil Spencer is also a good person. The debate over the future of Call of Duty on the PS3 has been settled in an interview with Spencer.
Spencer says, "It's not about at some point I pull the rug underneath PS7's legs and it's 'ahaha you just didn't write the contract long enough,'" It is not possible to write a contract that says forever.
It has been weeks since Spencer was asked if Microsoft would make Call of Duty exclusive to the XBOX if the deal goes through.
Spencer made a written commitment to Jim Ryan earlier this year to keep Call of Duty on the PS4 for several more years, beyond the current marketing deal with Sony. Around the time Spencer publicly committed to Microsoft's "intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition", the letter was sent.
There is a debate about whether Microsoft wanted to lock Call of Duty up after a few years. Spencer is willing to make a commitment to Sony and regulators that Call of Duty will stay on the PS4.
The idea of writing a contract that says the word forever is silly, but to make a longer term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with, I have no issue with that at all.
Some spectators on social media have been questioning Microsoft's use of "intent," or that it may require Sony to accept Xbox Game Pass on its platforms, or that the company's commitments are just words that need to be in a paper contract. Spencer disagrees with the idea that this stuff needs to be written down.
Spencer is trying to make it clear that Call of Duty will remain on Sony's platform, no strings attached, and no need for a game pass.
Native Call of Duty on PlayStation, not linked to them having to carry Game Pass, not streaming. If they want a streaming version of Call of Duty we could do that as well, just like we do on our own consoles.
There’s nothing behind my back. It is the Call of Duty Modern Warfare II doing great on PlayStation, doing great on Xbox. The next game, the next, next, next, next, next [game]. Native on the platform, not having to subscribe to Game Pass. Sony does not have to take Game Pass on their platform to make that happen.
There’s nothing hidden. We want to continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation without any kind of weird ‘aha I figured out the gotcha’ as Phil said ‘our intent.’ I understand some people’s concerns on this, and I’m just trying to be as clear as I can be.
Keeping Call of Duty on the PS3 is a commercial imperative for the XBOX business and the economics of the transaction, according to Microsoft. If the deal closes, Microsoft says it would put its own revenues at risk, and it pulled Call of Duty from the PS4.
Microsoft's chief says that Call of Duty will stay on the PS3 It is possible that Sony and regulators will get a clearer commitment from Microsoft.
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