Microsoft won't try to "pull communities away" from PlayStation as it brings Activision Blizzard and its slate of games aboard.
The news of the Microsoft Activision purchase broke earlier today, with Microsoft revealing the nearly $70 billion deal that is set to make it the third largest gaming company in the world (behind Tencent and Sony). Xbox boss Phil Spencer mentioned as part of the initial announcement that Activision's games will still be "enjoyed on a variety of platforms". A new interview with Bloomberg adds a little more detail to Microsoft's planned approach to Activision games.
“I’ll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony’s platform: It’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remain committed to that," Spencer said.
It's worth pausing to note that the use of the word "communities" could refer to several different things. For instance, it could mean Microsoft-owned Activision will support the broad community of Call of Duty players on PlayStation by continuing to put out each year's entry on PlayStation. Or it could mean that Activision will support the more specific communities of players for games such as Call of Duty Warzone or Vanguard across consoles as it does now, with no such guarantees for future entries.
Looking back to the closest comparison, Microsoft first said it wanted Bethesda games to be "first or better or best" on its own platforms, then once the company's acquisition was finalized it confirmed that some future games would be Xbox exclusives. That includes Starfield and Redfall, arguably the two most-anticipated games from the company right now, so you should keep that in mind as you look ahead at Microsoft's plans with Activision.
Activision Blizzard employees have shared their reactions to the announcement online, and at least one is just hoping it will help him find some Xbox Series X restock.
