Microsoft Promises Eternal Support for Call of Duty on PlayStation (arstechnica.com) 23
Microsoft Xbox chief Phil Spencer said he intends to continue to ship Call of Duty games on PlayStation "as long as there's a PlayStation out there to ship to." From a report: The new promise comes weeks after Sony lambasted an "inadequate" offer to extend Call of Duty's cross-platform access for three years past the current agreement and as Microsoft faces continuing scrutiny from international governments over its proposed $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. "We're not taking Call of Duty from PlayStation," Spencer said directly in an interview with the Same Brain podcast. "That's not our intent."
Instead, Spencer said Microsoft's plan for Call of Duty is "similar to what we've done with Minecraft," which has remained a cross-platform staple since Microsoft's $2.5 billion purchase of developer Mojang in 2014. Since then, Spencer said, "we've expanded the places where people can play Minecraft... and it's been good for the Minecraft community, in my opinion. I want to do the same as we think about where Call of Duty can go over the years."
Instead, Spencer said Microsoft's plan for Call of Duty is "similar to what we've done with Minecraft," which has remained a cross-platform staple since Microsoft's $2.5 billion purchase of developer Mojang in 2014. Since then, Spencer said, "we've expanded the places where people can play Minecraft... and it's been good for the Minecraft community, in my opinion. I want to do the same as we think about where Call of Duty can go over the years."
I did not realise that the world was ending soon (Score:3)
Maybe Microsoft Xbox chief Phil Spencer knows something that we do not.
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds like it. Eternity may be a lot shorter than expected ...
Re: (Score:2)
That is the article writers hyperbole, hat he really said was that he does not expect there to be new playstations for long..
Or in the corporate speak he used: "as long as there's a PlayStation out there to ship to."
Call of Duty brand to be retired (Score:4, Insightful)
The next games in the series will be just Modern Warfare and Text of Duty
Re: (Score:3)
The next games in the series will be just Modern Warfare and Text of Duty
Or, with the way things are shaping up, the future may hold the most realistic Call of Duty yet.
Unfortunately, it won't exactly be in a game format...
Re: (Score:2)
I believe him (Score:3)
They'll just let the franchise die and sell a COMPLETELY different shooter product by the same company with the same gameplay.
Re: (Score:2)
Or put little effort into the Playstation port. Or make some of the content XBOX exclusive. There are many ways they can make the Playstation version worse without technically breaking this promise.
Hopefully the regulator sees through them.
??? What ??? (Score:1)
We don't enforce laws (Score:2)
You can't take the word of corporations or the ultra rich. They suffer no consequences for lying to you.
Re: (Score:1)
It's not about the games at all, it's about everything that you read, everything you watch, every game you play being in control of a few companies. Large gaming companies control a significant portion of the market, and have the budgets to back it up.
Making a game on the scale of your typical AAA franchise is really pricey, so there is a very real chance of a monopoly forming. And if any company knows about monopolies in software, it's Microsoft.
Re: (Score:3)
That's not how they've been handling gaming. Look at Minecraft - they release it on EVERYTHING.
Xbox lost several billion dollars a year when they were trying to take over the market with it. In the leadup to the Xbox One reveal they tried selling off Xbox, but couldn't find a taker. A couple years into the Xbox One cycle they finally figured it out. They stopped trying to maximize console sales and just tried to maximize revenue from the users they had, and things worked way better.
They really haven't been
Microsoft in 1 years time (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
"I am altering the agreement. Pray that I don't alter it any further...." Ramses II to Moses, regarding straw for making bricks.
Read the words: it is not a promise (Score:4, Insightful)
Phil chose his words very carefully. He "intends" to keep CoD on PlayStation.
What does this mean? "We will keep it as long as profitable for us", "we will keep it as long as we get concessions", "we will keep it as long as PlayStation is viable", etc.
But it is not a promise, just an open ended invitation for negotiations.
Some Dutch people are pissed off w/ Call of Duty (Score:2)
Which is probably legally different than modeling the public streets of Amsterdam [youtube.com]. Not that I am a lawyer speaking with knowledge.
Network Effects (Score:3)
These days, the network effects of friend lists are a pretty big obstacle for switching consoles.. that's why Microsoft has been pushing for cross-play for years. Call of Duty gives them the leverage to force Sony to enable cross play (especially important now that Sony owns Bungie) and creates a bridge where users can switch to the Xbox and still play one of the most popular online games with their friends on the PlayStation.
Didn't even read the summary (Score:2)
"Microsoft promises"? I immediately knew that everything following that phrase was empty and meaningless.
Re: (Score:2)
It just means this is billed cost--plus to the DoD.