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Call of Duty to reportedly stay on PlayStation through 2023

By Tomas Franzese Published January 25, 2022

A new report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier claims that the new mainline Call of Duty games for 2022 and 2023, as well as a sequel to Call of Duty: Warzone, will still be released on PlayStation consoles.

This report comes just over a week after Microsoft announced it acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, with the deal expected to close by June 2023. Ever since the controversial acquisition was announced last week, we’ve speculated what this meant for the exclusivity of Call of Duty, one of the biggest franchises in gaming. The status of Call of Duty got even hazier when Microsoft’s Phil Spencer tweeted his “desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.”

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Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 20, 2022

This report clarifies what exactly the tweet means. According to four of Bloomberg’s sources, Activision Blizzard had already committed to releasing 2022’s Call of Duty game from Infinity Ward, 2023’s mainline Call of Duty game from Treyarch, and a new version of the free-to-play battle royale Call of Duty: Warzone on PlayStation platforms.

In the past, Microsoft has honored any preexisting console platform agreements, even after their acquisitions are complete, so it’s not very surprising that some Call of Duty games will end up on PlayStation for the next couple of years.

At the earliest, it seems like 2024 could be the first year where we see an Xbox-exclusive Call of Duty game. Bloomberg’s sources did say that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard aren’t completely ruling out releasing Call of Duty games on PlayStation after 2023 just yet. Bloomberg also previously reported that Activision Blizzard may consider not releasing Call of Duty games annually. Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, and Sony have not commented on these reports.

Final decisions on these significant questions are expected to happen once the acquisition is complete. In the meantime, don’t expect any major shift in regard to Call of Duty’s platforms or release schedule for the next two years.

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Gaming Staff Writer

As a Gaming Staff Writer at Digital Trends, Tomas Franzese reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

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All Call of Duty games in order, by release date and chronologically

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Call of Duty is one of the most successful video game franchises of all time. The original Call of Duty set a new standard for first-person shooters, the series' online multiplayer work has been a must-play for gamers for nearly two decades, and Warzone has been one of the top battle royale experiences of late.

The series has covered a lot of warfare, from World War II to futuristic fictional wars in 2187, but never in any set order. Players have been bounced around from era to era with each annual COD release and even revisited the same conflicts multiple times from different perspectives through direct sequels and remakes.

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Is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 on Game Pass?

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When Microsoft announced that it was acquiring Activision, the big question on everyone's mind was what would happen with Call of Duty. Well, it took months of legal battles, but the deal finally went through and the first CoD game to release officially under Microsoft is Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. Xbox has held firm to its commitment to put all of its first-party titles onto Game Pass on day one for all its subscribers, but is it honoring that deal for the biggest game of the year? We know it isn't an Xbox exclusive and is still cross-platform, after all. If you have an Xbox and a subscription to Game Pass, you might not need to spend any money on Black Ops 6, but only if you meet one specific requirement.
Is Black Ops 6 on Game Pass?

The short answer is yes, Black Ops 6 is on Game Pass, but not at every tier. Prior to Black Ops 6 launching, Xbox restructured its Game Pass tiers a bit with new pricing and benefits. What you need to know is that you now need to either be a PC Game Pass or Game Pass Ultimate subscriber to get access to any first-party day-one titles.

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It's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launch day, which means potentially millions of players are hopping into the new single-player campaign, the updated multiplayer mode, and Zombies. While posts online about the performance of the game seem to be minimal, there have been reported issues on PC, specifically via Steam.

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