Will the Next Call of Duty be an Xbox Exclusive?

Will the next Call of Duty be an Xbox exclusive?

As shown by Tuesday morning's announcement that Microsoft has a deal in place to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the gaming world appears to be in for a pretty wild year. Part of the discussion now is whether or not this means those on PlayStation will soon have to say goodbye to the longtime blockbuster multiplayer FPS title. Here's the breakdown on whether or not the next Call of Duty title will be an Xbox exclusive.

Will the Next Call of Duty be an Xbox Exclusive?

At the time of writing, the short answer is that it's unlikely.

In now-CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer's Xbox Wire blog post about the announcement, he mentioned that "Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward."

Additionally, according to Bloomberg, "Microsoft plans to keep making some of Activision’s games for PlayStation consoles but will also keep some content exclusive to Xbox."

"I’ll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony’s platform: It’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remained committed to that,” Spencer told Bloomberg.

As such, Microsoft and Spencer are definitely managing to dance around all of this with precision, making things difficult to definitively set in stone.

However, it does sound like on a case-to-case basis similar to Minecraft and various Bethesda Softworks' titles, that Activision Blizzard's larger franchises like COD and Overwatch will continue to come to PlayStation.

Spencer also announced that Microsoft plans to offer "as many Activision Blizzard games as we can" within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, "both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog."

According to leaks, it appears 2022 will see the release of a sequel to 2019's Modern Warfare developed by Infinity Ward, while Treyarch will follow that up with a new iteration of the Black Ops series in 2023.

Ultimately, with the blockbuster deal not expected to be closed until some point in the next 12 to 18 months, PlayStation Call of Duty fans shouldn't hold their breath until much further down the line.