The announcement of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activison Blizzard took many of us by surprise, and undoubtedly threw some PlayStation 5 gamers into a bit of a panic.
The possibility that Call of Duty may no longer be on the PlayStation has some fans questioning what moves Sony will make following the announcement. Although the press release by Microsoft states that their acquisition will bring the ‘joy and community’ of gaming across all devices, some gamers are still rightfully worried.
For those who have just recently acquired a PlayStation 5, you may not need to worry about getting an Xbox Series X/S just yet. Though speculations are abound, it is extremely unlikely that Microsoft will make Call of Duty an exclusive, especially considering the rather large gamer base that is playing from the PlayStation 4/5.
What about Sony?
Over the past few years, Sony has been sitting on the sidelines, enjoying the success and popularity of their exclusives, as well as their console. The gaming community has not had much to say about their subscription services, PS Now and PS Plus, and Sony seemed to be okay with that.
In the meantime, Microsoft has been focusing on making the Xbox Game Pass the most encompassing subscription service to date, and not just for the Xbox console owners, but for PC gamers as well.
With the news that PlayStation is working on its very own subscription service to rival that of the Xbox Game Pass, we suspect there could be a lot more going on behind the scenes that Sony is yet to reveal.
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is not the end of all things PlayStation, as Microsoft has stated that the biggest games, such as Call of Duty, will remain not just on both consoles, but on all platforms.
If this remains the case, it won’t matter much whether or not Microsoft owns Activision.
This could mean a gaming push towards Microsoft, but not necessarily towards Xbox
Interestingly, due to the success of the Xbox Game Pass for PC, the many acquisitions may not mean more gamers will switch to Xbox, but rather than many gamers might actually consider switching to PC.
We’re still waiting to see how PlayStation will execute their new subscription service, set to launch in the spring. From the subtle changes made last year on their Days Gone steam page, we predict that Sony will bring its exclusives to PC gamers via its subscription service, and this would be huge.
The immensely popular games such as God of War, and the upcoming God of War: Ragnarok, may be coming to PC gamers a lot sooner, and considering the impact and popularity of the above games, Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard may not even matter.
What’s more, it may prompt Sony to do more with its product – up until now, the Xbox was very much in the background, while Sony dominated, especially with its incredibly successful exclusives.
Whether or not we could be looking forward to PlayStation exclusives coming day one to PC via the subscription service, remains to be seen.
Your move, Sony.
