Microsoft reiterated its intention to keep Call of Duty multiplatform adding that it "simply wouldn't be profitable" to make the game an Xbox exclusive.
Microsoft once again reassured Call of Duty fans who don't own Xbox that the franchise will remain multiplatform saying that it "simply wouldn't be profitable" to make the game an Xbox exclusive.
Previously, the company already noted that it intends to "continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation" adding that it plans to take similar steps on other platforms as well. And now, it has reiterated this thought adding that making Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive wouldn't make business sense.
In a document sent to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), Microsoft stated: "The reality is that the strategy of retaining Activision's games by not distributing them in rival console stores would simply not be profitable to Microsoft."
The company explained that such a strategy would only be profitable if Activision Blizzard's games could attract a significantly large audience to the Xbox consoles and if Microsoft could have enough revenue to offset "lost sales" from not releasing the games on rival consoles. It also added that exclusivity strategies would "result in title-specific costs" and provided additional details that have been rejected from the document.
Microsoft further explained that such costs and losses from not distributing games on rival consoles would mean that Microsoft would not be able to offset the losses, so the whole thing would not be worth it.
"This is especially true considering (i) the 'gamer-centric' – as opposed to ‘device-centric’ – strategy that Microsoft has pioneered with Game Pass, and (ii) the fact that PlayStation has the most loyal users across its various generations, with all indications that brand loyalty accrued in previous rounds of the ‘console wars’ suggesting that PlayStation will continue to have a strong market position," the company said.
Other details brought by the document include Microsoft alleging that Sony had "hampered" the growth of its Game Pass service by paying "blocking rights" to developers to prevent their games from being added to Xbox Game Pass.
You can find the full document here. Please note it's in Portuguese. Also, don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we are sharing breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.