Xbox boss open to a “longer term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with” for Call of Duty

Xbox head Phil Spencer has made it abundantly clear that Call of Duty will be remaining on PlayStation consoles.

Appearing on The Verge's Decoder podcast earlier this week, Spencer was once again asked about taking Call of Duty off PlayStation systems, provided Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard proceeds. "It’s not about at some point I pull the rug underneath PlayStation 7’s legs," Spencer began by saying. 

"This idea that we would write a contract that says the word forever in it I think is a little bit silly, but to make a longer term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with, regulators would be comfortable with, I have no issue with that at all," the head of Xbox continued.

Spencer, and Microsoft at large, have been asked numerous times about Call of Duty since it was announced the company would be acquiring Activision Blizzard earlier this year. Last month in October, Spencer revealed his wish to treat Call of Duty like Minecraft, and put it on as many platforms as possible despite the acquisition (Microsoft previously acquired Minecraft developer Mojang). 

Despite this, PlayStation head Jim Ryan called Spencer's offer of keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms "inadequate on many levels." Countering this, Microsoft then asserted that even if every Call of Duty player switched to Xbox consoles, PlayStation would supposedly still have a bigger audience. 

Considering Modern Warfare 2 just had the biggest Call of Duty launch ever on a PlayStation console last month in October, perhaps it's not surprising Spencer wishes to keep the series on Sony's platform. 

Activision Blizzard's president recently asserted he was confident the Microsoft acquisition would close by June 2023.