Following Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a reported $70 billion, there's been plenty of speculation on the possibility of Microsoft making any of Activision-Blizzard's many titles exclusive to its platforms.
Perhaps the most immediate concern for most is the future of Call of Duty and its potential status as an Xbox exclusive franchise in the future.
Thanks to a new state from Phil Spencer, however, it looks like Call of Duty fans on PlayStation can take a sigh of relief, as the franchise will remain available on PS4 and PS5.
Phil Spencer confirms Call of Duty will be staying on PlayStation
In a Tweet published on Thursday, January 20th, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer confirmed that after a series of "good calls" this week with the leaders at Sony, Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation per previous agreements.
"Had good calls with this week with leaders at Sony," Spencer wrote. "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."
It's not certain if Microsoft's plans will cover only the Call of Duty franchise or if it will include other games from Activision-Blizzard's catalogue, but for now, it looks like Microsoft will keep all doors open.
There is a good chance the company continues to honor its stance of having games release on rival platforms as evidenced by Minecraft, which is playable on consoles like the PS4 and PS5 as well as the Nintendo Switch.
That's not the only new detail revealed in the Microsoft acquisition news, as earlier today via the Wall Street Journal, Sony responded to Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, stating it expects its games to remain multiplatform due to "contractual agreements".
"We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform," said a Sony spokesperson.
In the end, Activision-Blizzard looks to be sticking to its long-standing content exclusivity agreement with PlayStation for its Call of Duty series, at least for now. But we'll have to wait and see if Microsoft continue these relationships in the future.
READ MORE: What does the Blizzard acquisition mean for Overwatch, Starcraft, and Diablo?