Why keeping Call of Duty multiplatform should be the way forward for Microsoft Xbox

sportskeeda.com:

Call of Duty has been a major topic of discussion ever since Microsoft announced their intentions to acquire Activision Blizzard in January.

There have been several hot takes since that announcement, and one of the most debated topics has been the future of Call of Duty titles.

Microsoft acquired Bethesda Softworks in 2021 and since then, the announced titles have all been planned as Xbox and PC-only experiences. Many have asked the same question - will Call of Duty also be given the same treatment?

Since the early news of the acquisition, a further report has stated how three upcoming titles of the military shooter series will be multi-platform. The titles include the rumored heavy hitters, Warzone 2 and Modern Warfare II.

However, this could be a result of the existing contracts of Activision, and because the acquisition won't be completed before 2023. But considering the current sales, it might make more sense for Xbox to keep all future titles as multi-platform.

2021 has been a phenomenal year for Activision in terms of revenue. The company has logged a net income of $2.7 billion over its operations cost and had a total annual revenue of $8.8 billion. About $5.1 billion revenue has come from micro-transactions alone.

The total revenue from micro-transactions isn't only from COD titles, but all Activision titles. While there are no concrete numbers to mark a separation, Call of Duty remains extremely popular. This is despite the less than satisfactory sales of 2021's Vanguard.

Microsoft's biggest incentive to make the series exclusive will be to increase the sales of Xbox and the Game Pass. The title's addition to Game Pass will not be a differential since the games will be there even if the series stays multi-platform.

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