Xbox head Phil Spencer has revealed that Microsoft and PlayStation have "signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard."
The landscape could definitely change where they don’t put COD on Playstation after that. Microsoft only started making those offers after there was regulatory scrutiny. I would bet a lot of money there is no new COD on Playstation in 10 years and 1 day.
You don’t spend $70bil on a company to then cut off the main revenue source of said company. All the evidence you need to see how microsoft will handle COD is how Microsoft have handled Minecraft. CODs appeal and success is because of its availability and its player base. The COD player base on PS is significantly bigger than it is on Xbox. They make significantly more money on COD on PS than they do on Xbox. They’re not cutting that off.
What they will do is try to bring people from PS to Xbox via game pass and having COD available on it day 1. At absolute best they might be able to snag 20% of PS players to convert to xbox by doing this.
And nobody is going to point to Spyro, Crash, or Tony Hawk being exclusive as a big loss for Playstation.
Funny because it was a big deal when the new Crash game was exclusive to Playstation. Sony knew it was a big deal because they not only paid for exclusivity, but they paid to have Activision not be allowed to talk about the exclusivity other than it being playstation exclusive, despite us now knowing that it was only a timed exclusive. Sony clearly saw a big deal in it.
A new Tony Hawk game could be a huge seller too. They were once one of the biggest sports franchise games around, with massive critical acclaim and sales. There’s also the possibility of a Guitar Hero comeback, another franchise that took the world by storm.
Sony can miss out on a lot of ABK games in the next 5 years. Most games don’t take 5 years to make.
You don’t spend $70bil on a company to then cut off the main revenue source of said company. All the evidence you need to see how microsoft will handle COD is how Microsoft have handled Minecraft. CODs appeal and success is because of its availability and its player base. The COD player base on PS is significantly bigger than it is on Xbox. They make significantly more money on COD on PS than they do on Xbox. They’re not cutting that off.
What they will do is try to bring people from PS to Xbox via game pass and having COD available on it day 1. At absolute best they might be able to snag 20% of PS players to convert to xbox by doing this.
Funny because it was a big deal when the new Crash game was exclusive to Playstation. Sony knew it was a big deal because they not only paid for exclusivity, but they paid to have Activision not be allowed to talk about the exclusivity other than it being playstation exclusive, despite us now knowing that it was only a timed exclusive. Sony clearly saw a big deal in it.
A new Tony Hawk game could be a huge seller too. They were once one of the biggest sports franchise games around, with massive critical acclaim and sales. There’s also the possibility of a Guitar Hero comeback, another franchise that took the world by storm.
Sony can miss out on a lot of ABK games in the next 5 years. Most games don’t take 5 years to make.