Xbox head says it's "not our intent to pull communities away from" other platforms following Activision Blizzard deal

eurogamer.net:

Following today's bombshell announcement that Microsoft is purchasing Activision Blizzard for $70BN, many questions still remain, not least regarding how the deal will impact platform exclusivity for the third-party publisher's previously multi-platform titles — and it's something Xbox head Phil Spencer has started to address, albeit in the vaguest of terms, as he continues his post-announcement PR rounds.

It's a topic that was touched upon in the briefest of manners in Microsoft's original press release announcing the deal, with the company stating, «Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.»

Spencer has now repeated a slight variation of that sentiment in conversation with Bloomberg, telling the publication, «I'll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony's platform: It's not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remained committed to that.»

As carefully worded as the statement may be, that present tense is doing an awful lot of heavy lifting, strongly implying Microsoft is only willing to guarantee games currently available on non-Xbox platforms will remain available to existing players — with a considerable void as far as future plans go.

However, citing a «person familiar with the company's thinking», Bloomberg's reports Microsoft's future decisions are likely to be made on a title-by-title bases, with some of Activision Blizzards's games being made available on PlayStation (and presumably Switch) while others will be Xbox exclusives. Exactly which titles will end up where, however, remains to be seen.

Of course, Microsoft's initial messaging around platform