Partially because the commitment from Spencer is probably just to show regulators that their fears about a monopoly on the franchise are unfounded. For the past several months, Microsoft’s agreement to purchase Activision Blizzard has been met with skepticism from US and EU government agencies, with fears that if the acquisition goes through, Call Of Duty could be locked to Xbox and that could hurt competition. Microsoft would also have to get a Call Of Duty game running on Nintendo hardware. A task that while not impossible, is no doubt a challenging one.
Does a Call of Duty deal for Nintendo make sense?
It does if you take a step back and think about it. Spencer surely intends to make good on the promise should the Activision Blizzard deal go through. Which is another hurdle in and of itself that Microsoft has to clear. Not to mention a requirement for him to guarantee Nintendo gets access to future Call Of Duty games. There’s also the strange nature of seeing a Call Of Duty game on the Nintendo platform. Which makes the pledge from Spencer seem somewhat out of place on the face of things. However, the commitment to bring the franchise to Nintendo has purpose. Microsoft is trying to show regulators that it has no intention of keeping Call Of Duty off of PlayStation. And it intends to do that by committing to making the franchise available on as many platforms as possible.
Full steam ahead
Spencer has made this same commitment to Valve with its Steam platform. Call Of Duty has always been available on PC. But for quite a few of the most recent releases, the series was only available via Blizzard’s battle.net launcher. With the launch of Modern Warfare II on October 28, Steam was back in the running. And Microsoft wants to keep it that way. A big reason for that is because it gets a cut of those sales. It’s the same reason it makes sense for the company to keep pushing the title on PlayStation consoles. PlayStation is a HUGE platform for Call Of Duty sales. And there’s no logical reason Microsoft would want to toss that out the window. Not to mention the risk it would take in alienating all those players. Is it a bit weird to think about Call Of Duty on Nintendo? Sure. Because Nintendo isn’t really the platform you think of when you hear the Call Of Duty name. For the most part, Nintendo is stuffed full of first-party family-friendly titles. But, you will also find a large collection of JRPGs and more adult-oriented games like Bayonetta 3. Microsoft also launched Skyrim on Switch earlier this year. So, Call Of Duty on the same platform may be a little out there, but not entirely bizarre. Also worth noting, is that the Activision Blizzard acquisition isn’t likely to be finalized (if approved) until the middle of next year. Microsoft would then have to begin the process of making sure Call Of Duty works on Nintendo. Which would take time. And there’s a good chance that Nintendo could have new hardware by then. Hardware that would be better suited to handling a game like Call Of Duty.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
