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Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard puts the company in control of several major gaming franchises, including Call of Duty. However, the company promises that fans don’t have to worry about the FPS franchise becoming an Xbox and PC exclusive. In fact, Phil Spencer recently announced that CoD won’t have any more platform-exclusive betas.
Microsoft won’t use Call of Duty to push Xbox
Past Call of Duty gave PlayStation users early access to the game’s beta versions. With Activision Blizzard now under the Microsoft umbrella, the company could have given its own platforms the same preferential treatment. However, Phil Spencer clarified that is not Microsoft’s intent in a recent Xbox YouTube interview. Instead, Microsoft is doing away with console-exclusive betas. “We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console,” said Spencer.
According to Spencer, Xbox doesn’t want players on other platforms to miss out on content, timing, or otherwise feel excluded. This includes Microsoft’s deal to eventually bring Call of Duty games to the Nintendo Switch. “The goal is 100% parity across all platforms as much as we can for launching content,” he said.
It is unclear whether these policies apply to the upcoming CoD: Modern Warfare III, which releases next month. As Spencer pointed out, Xbox players already missed the first Multiplayer open beta. It’s also possible, perhaps even likely, that Sony and Activision have preexisting agreements about exclusive content. However, assuming Microsoft keeps its promise, this will be the last time a Call of Duty has console-specific content.