Xbox Head Phil Spencer swore an oath overCall of Duty’s future on PlayStation consoles as part of Microsoft’s ongoing efforts to push the Activision Blizzard acquisition over the finish line. The commitment was made at the suggestion of a San Francisco federal judge during the second day of the hearing on theFTC’s latest attempt at blocking Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal.Though the five-day proceedings are not even halfway through yet, they already yielded plenty of insights into Microsoft’s gaming business and the industry, on the whole, ranging from a clue on whenThe Elder Scrolls 6will release toMicrosoft’s blunt admission that Xbox lost the console wars. The second day of the hearing was largely focused on Spencer’s testimony, which went on for hours and well into the afternoon of June 23.RELATED:Phil Spencer Gives Clue on When The Elder Scrolls 6 Will ReleaseMidway through the proceedings, Spencer mentioned that pullingCall of Dutyfrom PlayStation would be irreparably damaging for Microsoft and Xbox, not just due to the immediate economic hit, but also the public backlash such a decision would inevitably elicit. This prompted District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley to ask the Xbox chief whether he would repeat that commitment in the form of a sworn testimony, to which he agreed. After swearing an oath, Spencer stated that Xbox will “continue to ship future versions ofCall of Dutyon the PlayStation 5.” Two hours later, the executive clarified that he was referring to all “future PlayStations” and not just Sony’s current-gen console.
In between those remarks, the FTC’s legal team asked Spencer if he could also swear an oath to keepCall of Dutygames on the platforms rivaling Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service. Judge Corley immediately interrupted that line of questioning, stating that she “doesn’t need that.” Her decision to do so was possibly prompted by Microsoft’s existing 10-year commitments tobring all Xbox PC games to Nvidia GeForce Nowand several other cloud gaming services, which the judge is aware of. Alternatively, her dismissal might have simply reflected the fact that the court wasn’t ascertaining the deal’s cloud gaming impact at that point of the hearing.
Following his oath to keepCall of Dutyon PlayStation, Spencer repeatedly argued that the Activision Blizzard deal has little to do with console gaming and is primarily mobile-motivated. He substantiated that claim by revealing thatMicrosoft even tried buying one of the largest mobile game developerson the planet before deciding that target wasn’t big enough and subsequently setting its sights on Activision Blizzard due to its ownership ofCandy Crushmaker King.
