PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has revealed that Xbox offered to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation for only three additional years after existing deals expire.
However, Ryan isn’t keen on the terms. In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz, he says, “Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers.”
He continues, “We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle.”
Ryan explains that while this is a matter of private business, he elected to bring the discussion up publicly as a result of Microsoft announcing that it reached out to Sony with an agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard faced some additional scrutiny last week due to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority saying that the merger could affect competition. Xbox’s Phil Spencer responded by saying that franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft would be added to Xbox Game Pass and also that juggernaut franchises like Call of Duty would remain multiplatform.
PlayStation’s deal with Call of Duty reportedly covers the next three releases, which also includes this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Ryan’s statement indicates that the franchise could be removed from PlayStation platforms within the next few years and become exclusive to the Microsoft ecosystem eventually.
