It's no secret that the PlayStation and Xbox are fierce rivals in the gaming world. However, they recently surprised everyone by joining forces and collaborating on a significant project. Specifically, they worked together to reach an important agreement concerning the popular video game, Call of Duty.
Their new agreement will guarantee that the Call of Duty on PlayStation remains the same for the next ten years. As expected, reaching an agreement between competitors as big as these two comes with some issues.
The manufacturers of the game Call of Duty went to court to come to an agreement. Despite any lingering animosity between the two providers, fans of the game are pleased that a new agreement has been reached. This ensures that the future of the video game is now secure, despite any past disagreements.
While there was no elaborate blog post or press release regarding the new development from the game manufacturers, the executives have something to say both from the Xbox and Playstation sides.
Microsoft and Sony Executives Weigh in on the Conversation
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, at the time when this agreement was reached, issued a public statement regarding the new development. He said they were happy to reach an agreement with Sony regarding keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation.
"We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games," Spencer said.
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith also spoke about the new development, saying they were keen on ironing out the details regarding who gets to keep the game and in which ecosystem.
"From Day One of this acquisition, we’ve been committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers. Even after we cross the finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before," Brad Smith said on Twitter.
Tedious Road to Agreement
A large court case took place before the two parties finally came to an agreement. During the case, Sony had many issues with signing an agreement with Microsoft and was initially hesitant to do so. Sony even hoped that the authorities would block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision.
However, as the case progressed, Sony realized that their position was not as strong as they had hoped, and they became willing to settle for any agreement. Ultimately, Sony was satisfied that certain titles, such as Call of Duty, would remain within the PlayStation ecosystem.
PlayStation chief Ryan was particularly displeased about specific game titles from Activision, which Microsoft wanted to keep and leave out. According to Ryan, Microsoft wanted to take the most promising vans titles while leaving the older ones for them.
"It was not a meaningful list. This list represented a particular selection of older titles that would remain on PlayStation, for example, Overwatch is on there, but Overwatch 2 is not on there, the current version of the game," Ryan said.