‘Call of Duty’: Next Three Games Will Continue to be Released on PlayStation, Despite Microsoft Deal

The announcement of Microsoft’s upcoming acquisition of Activision-Blizzard has been shaking the industry since its announcement last week with a list of questions that still need to be answered. The most prevalent one is the status of the many franchises under Activision-Blizzard’s giant umbrella when it comes to them appearing on non-Xbox consoles. While it will take some time to see how the deal affects many series, a new report states that the next three entries of the company’s flagship series, Call of Duty, will still be arriving on Sony consoles.

Jason Schreier of Bloomberg has reported that sources with knowledge of the deal that the 2022 title being developed by Infinity Ward (expected to be a sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare) and the 2023 title from Treyarch will still be playable on PlayStation. It was also stated that a new version of the series’ free-to-play Battle Royale title Call of Duty Warzone will also receive some sort of new version in 2023, which Schreier referred to as “Warzone 2” in a Twitter post about the story. These releases will come as part of existing deals that were made between Sony and Activision before the Microsoft acquisition. This final one is a shocking reveal since its release in 2020, Warzone has been updated with new content and weapons while also integrating aspects of the newest Call of Duty, but has never hinted at a full-blown sequel. Even with a new map being introduced alongside the release of the series’ most recent entry, Call of Duty Vanguard, it remained the same game. There has not been any formal announcement that a Warzone successor is in the works. Schreier has also reported that higher-level employees have discussed the long-running FPS series moving away from yearly releases, though it is not known how these previously written contracts affect that.

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PlayStation made a deal with Activision back in 2015 for the PlayStation version of the series to receive exclusive content, such as the “Outbreak” mode in Zombies mode of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. As a part of the deal, the Call of Duty series was also included in several Sony events and presentations, which continued with the marketing and exclusive content for Call of Duty Vanguard.

This honoring of pre-existing contracts continues the trend for studios being acquired by Microsoft as Bethesda’s Deathloop remained a PlayStation console exclusive with the upcoming Ghostwire: Tokyo also retaining its PlayStation console exclusivity. CEO of Microsoft gaming, Phil Spencer, said in a tweet that Microsoft has the “desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation,” going on to say “Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.” While these next few titles will be on Sony’s machines, it is unknown how Microsoft will approach the games that follow the ones listed above and if they will release new entries in the series on both company’s machines.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is expected to officially close in 2023. No new Call of Duty has been officially been announced as of yet. The previous year has seen the company surrounded by controversy around ongoing lawsuits against the studio. The lawsuit was issued by the state of California for an alleged “frat-boy culture” that fostered widespread harassment, a toxic work environment, and discrimination, among numerous other things.

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