Xbox will not use Call of Duty timed exclusivity to sell consoles, Phil Spencer says

18.10.2023 - 10:27 / eurogamer.net / Phil Spencer / Phil Spencer Says / Xbox Will / Will

Xbox head Phil Spencer has shed more light on what Microsoft's recent acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision will mean for the series, and no, it isn't about using timed exclusivity deals for the franchise in order to sell consoles.

In an interview on the official Xbox podcast, the exec spoke more about last week's historic merger that finally saw Microsoft close the deal on its Activision Blizzard King buyout. He phil-ed us in, if you will.

Of course, during last night's interview, the topic of Call of Duty came up. This series has often been front and centre of the ongoing trials and tribulations of recent times. In fact, at one point, Sony suggested Microsoft could deliberately release a version of the game on PlayStation platforms with degraded performance (something Microsoft said it would not do).

Spencer said that he wants Call of Duty fans playing on PC, PlayStation or Nintendo to feel «100 percent part of the community» without any extra hold-ups to entry or exclusive content.

«I don't want you to feel like there is content you're missing out, there's skins you're missing out, there's timing that you are missing out on,» Spencer said. «That's not the goal.»

So, what is the goal? In Spencer's words, when it comes to Call of Duty, it is about «100 percent parity across all platforms as much as [Microsoft] can for launch and content».

Spencer clarified that by 'as much as [Microsoft] can' in this case means things such as frame rate and resolution, which may differ if a console is physically unable to hit the same performance as others. «But there is nothing else,» he continued. «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.»

Spencer noted that Xbox has been «on the other side» of certain franchise exclusivities before. At this point, he mentioned the recent beta of Modern Warfare 3, which was available to PlayStation users before it was then able to be accessed by the wider Call of Duty community.

«I just — I don't think that helps the community. I don't think that helps the game,» Spencer said.

Elsewhere in Spencer's chat, the exec spoke more about when we can expect to see Activision Blizzard games making their Xbox Game Pass debut.