IfXboxsuccessfully acquires Activision Blizzard and theCall of Dutyfranchise, PlayStation gamers don’t have to worry about missing out on any content. Console exclusivity for certain content or games is one of the main ways that PlayStation andXboxcompete, with the companies shelling out cash to secure timed exclusives for their platforms. A recent example of this can be found in the wildly successful open worldHarry Potteraction-RPGHogwarts Legacy.
Hogwarts Legacyoffers largely the same experience regardless of what platform people are playing it on, with one big exception.Hogwarts Legacyon PlayStation has an exclusive horror-themed questfor players to partake in, with the quest expected to remain exclusive to PS4 and PS5 gamers for about a year. This was brought up by Head of Xbox Phil Spencer in a recent interview with Xbox On, where he confirmed that Xbox won’t pull anything like that withCall of Dutyif it were to gain control of the IP.
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In the Xbox On interview, Spencer stated that Xbox wants toincrease the places where people can playCall of Duty. “You obviously don’t make a game bigger by taking it away from anyone that’s playing today,” Spencer said, pointing out that there are 58 games from Xbox’s portfolio already available on the PlayStation Store. Spencer was then asked about the possibility of exclusive content forCall of Dutygamers on Xbox if the acquisition goes through, but made it clear that won’t happen. UsingHogwarts Legacy’s PlayStation exclusive quest as an example, Spencer said that’s “not the game we’re trying to play here.”
Spencer acknowledged that exclusive content is “part of the industry,” but that Xbox isn’t looking to make gun skins or certain game modes exclusive to Xbox when it comes to theCall of Dutyfranchise. He said that the “same version” of the game will be available on all platforms and pointed out that’s why Xbox is already doing with its multi-platform games. “If you’re aMinecraftplayer on PlayStation, I don’t think you feel like you have the lesser version.”
It’s worth pointing out that both Sony and Xbox have secured exclusiveCall of Dutycontent for their consoles in the past. There once was a time whenCall of DutyDLC was available on Xbox for an entire month before PlayStation gamers had the chance to get it, and more recentCall of Dutygames on PlayStation have had exclusive game modesfor an entire year. It seems this practice will end if Xbox succeeds in acquiring Activision Blizzard, but the proposed acquisition still has some big regulatory hurdles to clear.
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