Exclusive: Xbox Executive Makes Bold Pledge for Call of Duty's PlayStation Destiny

During the ongoing hearing on the FTC's attempt to block Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal, Xbox Head Phil Spencer made a commitment regarding Call of Duty's future on PlayStation consoles. This pledge was suggested by a San Francisco federal judge. The five-day proceedings have already provided valuable insights into Microsoft's gaming business and the industry as a whole. Notably, the hearing revealed clues about the release date of The Elder Scrolls 6 and confirmed Microsoft's acknowledgement of Xbox's loss in the console wars. The second day of the hearing was primarily focused on Spencer's extensive testimony, which lasted for several hours until the afternoon of June 23.

Spencer acknowledged during the proceedings that removing Call of Duty from PlayStation would have severe consequences for Microsoft and Xbox. He highlighted not only the immediate financial loss but also the negative public reaction that would inevitably follow such a decision. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley then requested Spencer to confirm his commitment under oath, which he agreed to do. After taking the oath, Spencer asserted that Xbox would "continue to release future versions of Call of Duty on the PlayStation 5." Later, he clarified that this commitment extended to all "future PlayStations" and not just Sony's current console.

During the discussion, the FTC's legal team asked Spencer if he could also pledge to keep Call of Duty games on platforms that compete with Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming service. However, Judge Corley swiftly interrupted this line of questioning, stating that it was unnecessary. It is possible that her decision was influenced by Microsoft's existing commitments to make all Xbox PC games available on Nvidia GeForce Now and other cloud gaming services for a duration of ten years, which she was already aware of. Alternatively, her dismissal may have been because the court was not focused on examining the impact of cloud gaming in the context of the case at that time.

Spencer, having pledged allegiance to PlayStation for Call of Duty, emphasized that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard was driven by the mobile gaming industry rather than console gaming. To support his statement, he disclosed that Microsoft had initially contemplated purchasing a prominent mobile game developer but ultimately deemed it insufficient. As a result, they shifted their focus towards Activision Blizzard, recognizing its ownership of King, the creator of Candy Crush.