Microsoft can decide to keep Call of Duty as an Xbox exclusive, but that will not go down easily with gaming regulatory organizations.
Speaking with GamesIndustry in a recent interview, DFC Intelligence CEO David Cole stated that analysts were expecting Activision Blizzard to likely split itself into three separate entities: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King.
“For shareholders this is probably a best case scenario as the valuation is really solid,” said Cole. “Microsoft was one of the only companies willing to swallow the whole pill so it was a surprise.”
The acquisition deal has been estimated to be around $70 billion and includes the entire Activision Blizzard brand, all of its subsidiary studios and game franchises. Microsoft now hence has the power to decide which Activision Blizzard games to keep exclusive to Xbox and which games to not.
Call of Duty being a major question mark in that vein but which will likely continue to release for PlayStation consoles in light of gaming regulators.
“It should also be noted that on the console side Call of Duty is really the only big franchise from Activision,” said Cole. “The big issue is if COD becomes a Microsoft exclusive. Right now, I don’t think [it will]. For one thing, it would be hard to get it past regulators if they want to lock the competition out.”
Microsoft may not even have to consider the exclusivity status of Call of Duty. Cole, as well as other industry analysts, believe that Microsoft is reaching a position where it no longer has to compete with just Sony Interactive Entertainment in the console space and instead go up against behemoths like Google and Apple “in the broader interactive entertainment sector.”
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, has stated that Microsoft will not be uprooting PlayStation communities or forcing them to jump to other consoles. However, Microsoft reportedly does intend to keep some games exclusive to Xbox while have other games continue gracing PlayStation.
