Phil Spencer Says Activision Blizzard Deal Is About Mobile, Not Making Call Of Duty Exclusive

In a new statement, Xbox head Phil Spencer reiterated that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is more about the mobile aspects, but noted that it plans to treat Call of Duty more like Minecraft.

Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event, Spencer expanded upon the future of Call of Duty, where he said (via The Verge’s Tom Warren), “Call of Duty specifically will be available on PlayStation. I’d love to see it on the Switch, I’d love to see the game playable on many different screens. Our intent is to treat CoD like Minecraft.”

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Now Playing: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Everything to Know

When the news of the acquisition broke this year, a report did note that the next three Call of Duty games would release on PlayStation, and Spencer promised just last month that the series would stay on the rival platform for “years” beyond the current existing deal. Microsoft’s Brad Smith did also say earlier this year that the company would be interested in bringing the series to Nintendo Switch.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer (@xboxp3) on CoD and the Activision deal:

“Call of Duty specifically will be available on PlayStation. I’d love to see it on the Switch, I’d love to see the game playable on many different screens. Our intent is to treat CoD like Minecraft”

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— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 26, 2022

In Spencer’s Speech, he also once again made the point that the main thing Microsoft is after is the mobile market. “This opportunity is really about mobile for us,” Spencer said. “When you think about 3 billion people playing video games, there’s only about 200 million households on console.”

This isn’t the first time Spencer has made this point, as he did so back in August. Sony has repeatedly expressed that it is unhappy with the deal to organizations like the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority in its investigation of the deal. In turn, Microsoft has been critical of the CMA, noting how Sony has exaggerated the importance of Call of Duty.

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