The head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer said he's open to making a commitment that would make Sony and global regulators satisfied.
A number of market authorities around the world have been investigating Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for quite some time now including the European Commission, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, and the US Federal Trade Commission.
One of the regulators' main concerns about the deal has been the possibility of Microsoft removing the Call of Duty franchise from PlayStation which, according to them, might hurt the competition in the market.
The tech giant repeatedly tried to assure both fans and regulators that it has no intention to make Call of Duty the Xbox exclusive. In September, for example, Microsoft stated it was committed to keeping Call of Duty available on PlayStation for a little longer than it was initially planned – the company said it offered Sony to extend the agreement for "several more years" beyond the existing deal.
At that time, PlayStation boss Jim Ryan said that what Microsoft offered was to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for three years beyond the current Activision and Sony agreement and called the offer "inadequate on many levels."
And now, for the first time, the company made an open commitment that the shooter series will stay on PlayStation on a longer-term basis.
During The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Xbox head Phil Spencer said he is now open to making a commitment to Sony and regulators that Call of Duty will be not removed from PlayStation.
"This idea that we would write a contract that says the word 'forever' in it I think is a little bit silly," Spencer said. "But to make a longer-term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with, regulators would be comfortable with, I have no issue with that at all."
The Xbox boss further clarified that his statement has no tricks or loopholes noting that the company will not require Sony to include Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation to stream the game, for instance.
"Native Call of Duty on PlayStation, not linked to them having to carry Game Pass, not streaming," he said. "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."
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