Activision Reveals Whether Existing Games Will Remain On PlayStation Following Acquisition

The Microsoft/Activision buyout news has thrown up a lot of questions so far, and not a great deal of answers.

Earlier this week, Microsoft announced it's buying the Call Of Duty publisher for nearly $69 billion in a historic deal that sees a number of hugely popular franchises fall under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella.

For now, we have no idea what the future holds for characters like Crash Bandicoot and Spyro. The assumption is very much that they'll be Xbox-exclusive going forward, while Call Of Duty remains more of a question mark. One thing we do know for certain, however, is that Activision has no intention of removing existing titles from PlayStation.

This may sound like an obvious thing to say, but clearly both companies needed to make their intentions clear as part of the process of getting the deal over the line.

An employee FAQ filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (thanks, VGC) clearly outlines how the upcoming transaction will impact any existing agreements with the likes of PlayStation, Google, and Apple.

“We will honor all existing commitments post close,” the FAQ states. “As with Microsoft’s acquisition of Minecraft, we have no intent to remove any content from platforms where it exists today.”

The upshot of this is that constantly evolving titles like Call Of Duty: Warzone and Overwatch won't suddenly be pulled away from PlayStation.

Microsoft also respected existing agreements between PlayStation and Bethesda, with Deathloop launching as a PS5 exclusive as originally planned. But what happens when the Microsoft/Activision deal is done and all agreements between PlayStation and Activision come to an end? At this stage, we simply don't know.

Topics: Call Of Duty, Activision, PlayStation, Microsoft, Xbox