Phil Spencer: Call of Duty to Have 100% Parity Across All Platforms, No More Exclusive Content - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 04 November 2023 / 6,690 Views
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in the latest Official Xbox Podcast discussed the Activision Blizzard acquisition that was recently completed and mentioned not to expect anymore exclusive content for any version of Call of Duty.
The PlayStation version of Call of Duty has had exclusive skins and timed exclusive content for nearly a decade now, however, once Sony's deal with Activision Blizzard ends that will no longer be the case.
For Call of Duty players on PlayStation, and in the future Nintendo, I want you to feel 100% a part of the community," said Spencer via VideoGamesChronicle. "I don’t want you to feel like there’s content you’re missing out, skins you’re missing out, there’s timing that you’re missing out on… that’s not the goal.
"The goal is 100% parity across all platforms as much as we can for launch and content. I say ‘as much as we can’ on parity because clearly some platforms have resolution and framerate differences, just based on performance, but there’s nothing else.
"We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console. I want the Call of Duty nation to feel supported across all platforms.
"We’ve been on the other side of some of those skin [deals] and even this [Modern Warfare 3] beta wasn’t on Xbox the first week… I don’t think that helps the community, I don’t think that helps the game.
"So it’s the focus if you’re a PlayStation player, a Nintendo player, a PC player, or an Xbox console player, I want you to feel 100% part of the Call of Duty nation."
Microsoft has signed a 10-year legally binding agreement with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, as well as signing a similar agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms for 10 years.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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This is great, nobody can be unhappy about that... I mean, that's best possible outcome for all COD players out there.
I would argue that having COD on Gamepass day-one is enough. That will do more for them than any exclusive content ever could.
A noble endeavor.
I think that bringing call of duty to Nintendo consoles, at least in the long run, could mean a big shift. There are many casuals, that play only Call of Duty, that may be inclined to buy a Nintendo system rather than Xbox or PlayStation, if it doesn't cause them to miss out on COD.
There's the (usually) lower cost of hardware, and there's family friendly and casual-play friendly content available on Nintendo systems that is not available elsewhere. For people that do not care about most PlayStation or Xbox games, and do not care about having the best possible performance, Nintendo systems may make more sense. So, there is certainly big potential upside for Nintendo.
Gyro aim seems like it’d be a neat novelty for a Switch version. And there’s also such thing as…just modifying the controllers? I’m more concerned with online performance and graphics than the controller lol. But each to themselves.
How ironic that the very first Call of Duty exclusive content was paid by Microsoft and now its all about equality, good ol business lol. Regardless, this is good news for all CoD fans.
Different leadership now vs then. Since Phil has taken charge, he's been vocal about not liking the idea of exclusive content in multiplatform games and he's been true to his word.
Microsoft is a business, just like everybody else in the gaming industry. They don't have feelings or emotions. They don't do things out of the goodness of their heart. They do things to create value for shareholders. That is the only reason that any of these companies exist. That's reflected in what they say, as well as what they do.
Now make COD compatible with steam deck! Damn anti-cheat
"As much as we can!" And there's some words that he can fall back on for exclusive Halo and Gears costumes on all but Sony's platforms lol
My value for my sub is now going to grow 200X once this happens.
Cant wait to see all the classic ABK IP's being added and all the new games from all the studios.
Fuck me just thinking about all the IP's MS now own O_O .
Microsoft can be trusted. Let them buy a couple more multi billion dollar companies.
Good. The timed exclusive content was always dumb
And people were calling this buyout bad for gamers.
Lol... until 2014 it was Microsoft that had a deal with COD, they had one for a decade like Sony now. Also yes this deal is still bad for millions of gamers, because COD is the only game that will continue releasing on Playstation, and only for 10 years at that. No more Crash, or Spyro, or Diablo for PS... so yeah bad for a big % of gamers.
I don't think the Activision acquisition is bad for gamers. But, you can't draw that conclusion from this one, single factor.
You can. The biggest IP in gaming is now treated fairly to all platforms.
Pretty sure GTA, Pokemon, Mario and Minecraft are larger?
Not on a yearly basis
I don't think Pokemon is bigger in any respect. The others, I think you can make a case for.
Pokémon is literally the highest grossing media franchise of all time. They release to tens of millions each year: it’s safe to say Pokémon is the biggest video game franchise probably ever created…which especially stings when you realize how lazily it’s been handled.
Pokemon is huge outside of gaming, yes.
…hm? Like it’s big with casuals? Okay, yeah probably is. Doesn’t mean it’s not a massive gaming franchise. That’s like saying Minecraft and GTA aren’t massive gaming properties. Doesn’t track well.
I didn't say anything about casuals.
Minecraft and GTA are massive gaming properties, and the vast majority of their popularity and revenue generation come from within the gaming hobby. Pokémon is bigger outside of gaming than in. That is not true of any of those other franchises.
Pokemon is also an older franchise
I don't have a super great comparison, but I think a decent enough one is Star Wars. Star Wars is big in gaming, but it's much bigger outside of gaming. Pokémon is the same way, just to a lesser degree.
I see what you’re saying now: for instance, how big the TCG and other merchandise is for Pokémon. I will say though that this still doesn’t refute the claim the Pokémon is arguably the biggest name in gaming, maybe besides Mario and Link (I have adjusted my initial claim). They sell gangbusters with each of their annual releases, no matter the quality.
"We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console" is COD even coming to GamePass? I have a theory that the day it comes to Gamepass is the day it comes to PSPlus. What I haven't figured out yet is how Switch fits into this. Does GamePass come to Switch? Or Nintendo's online service?
Oh and if you wondering how I know COD is coming to PSPLUS... I would recommend you go back and listen to what Spencer has actually been saying this whole time. Even read between the lines in this statement.
Of course CoD will come to GP lol. He is referring to not enticing players with exclusive content.
Nice pipedream. MS isn't freely putting CoD on PS Plus. It would only come to the service day 1 if Sony pays for it, but I highly doubt they will fork over that much money. You're not reading between the lines, but outside the damn pages.
Sony never wanted CoD on PSPlus day 1. You know how much revenue that would lose them? During this whole debacle that was one of the oddest things people seemed to think, that Sony wanted day 1 CoD on PS+ like GP or they'd even pay for such a thing.
