Prototype via Activision

The biggest news in the gaming industry continues to be Microsoft'due south acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which has the potential to shake up gaming for years to come up. After their stock took a tumble on Wednesday following the declaration of the purchase, Sony didn't waste much time trying to put their shareholders' fears to rest.

"Nosotros wait that Microsoft volition bide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform," a Sony spokesperson said in a statement first reported by the Wall Street Periodical.

It isn't a surprise that Sony would want to remind Microsoft of these agreements. The Call of Duty series, published by Activision, are big hits for the PlayStation. In the The states, Call of Duty: Vanguard was the top-selling game for the console while Black Ops Cold War charted third in the region. Call of Duty games are oftentimes released with bonus content exclusive to the PlayStation platform. The agreements for such deals usually cover multiple years and entries, so Sony will expect those agreements to be honored. Losing these titles would exist a huge accident to Sony's sales in the long term.

Microsoft is probable to uphold them in the immediate term, every bit they did with Deathloop last year following their acquisition of Bethesda. However, they accept besides said that futurity Bethesda games, like the long-promised The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield, volition be exclusive to Xbox and PC platforms, so clearly, games without such exclusivity agreements are fair game.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has gone on record to respond to these concerns, saying, "I'll merely say to players out in that location who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony's platform: Information technology's not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and nosotros remain committed to that." Of class, Spencer said something similar ahead of Microsoft'south purchase of Bethesda, and so information technology is questionable if he means it this time.

The fallout from this deal looks likely to proceed into the weeks and months that follow, with anti-trust regulators still needing to look at the fine print and brand sure information technology isn't a cause for business organization. DFI Intelligence has said that making Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive could be a sticking betoken, saying, "It would be difficult to become it by regulators if they want to lock the competition out." The deal isn't expected to exist completed until June 2023, so there will be plenty of fourth dimension for the details to get hashed out.