Now thatMicrosoftis in the process of buying Activision Blizzard, bits and pieces of information are starting to trickle out. While there isn’t that much information that is all that official, it does appear that one side effect of thepurchase of theCall of Dutydeveloperis that several of the company’s games will become Xbox exclusive.
Microsoft announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard on Tuesday morning, perhaps coincidentally just a week after Xbox chief Phil Spencer announcerMicrosoft would have to reevaluate its relationshipwith theDiablo 3creators. That new relationship is going to mean owning the company and that appears that several of the company’s most popular titles could soon no longer be available to play on the PlayStation.
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According to a new report by Bloomberg, it appears that Microsoft does intend to continue offering some of Activision Blizzard’s catalog on other platforms, including Sony’s. However, that same report made it clear that those inside the Xbox hierarchy believe that at least some of its new acquisition’s games are going to become exclusive. It makes quite a bit of sense that both varieties will also come to Xbox Game Pass. In short, it sounds as if Phil Spencer and company are going to take the same approach it plannedwhen the company acquired Bethesda.
The question now is just how many games Microsoft is going to allow to be played anywhere else. While most of the Bethesda games that were released before the purchase are still available on PlayStation and (to a lesser extent) the Nintendo Switch, none of the upcoming Bethesda titles are currently slated for consolerelease anywhere other than the Xbox.
Details about just how Microsoft is going to deal with its takeover of Activision Blizzard are likely coming in the days and weeks ahead. That includes details about just what is going to happen with the latter’s CEO, Bobby Kotick. At the moment he’s still leading theCall of Dutydeveloper, and it appears he’ll continue to lead until at least the takeover is complete.
It’s also not yet known exactly whenMicrosoftwill have full control and ownership over Activision Blizzard. In arecently leaked email from Bobby Kotick, it appears he expects the process to take more than a year. He stated that the expectation is that the deal will be finalized by the end of June 2023 but beyond that, there are too many regulatory steps involved to know for sure.
