Microsoft and Sony have agreed to continue offering the "Call of Duty" series on PlayStation rather than making it an Xbox exclusive

"I am pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to continue to offer 'Call of Duty' on PlayStation following the Activision Blizzard acquisition," Microsoft Games Division CEO Phil Spencer tweeted 'We look forward to a future where players around the world will have more options to play their favorite games [Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which publishes a number of big franchises, including not only "Call of Duty" but also a smaller game called "World of Warcraft"

For a moment, it appeared that Microsoft's acquisition would be blocked by the Federal Trade Commission due to concerns about anti-competitive behavior But Microsoft beat the regulators in court Now all Redmond has to do is win over the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is opposing the deal The court battle has been suspended as the two sides negotiate a compromise

Details of the agreement were not given by Spencer, but Kari Perez, head of global communications for Xbox, told The Verge that it is a 10-year deal This means that after 10 years, Xbox may finally have the exclusive rights to "Call of Duty However, I personally do not believe that will happen Sony could sign a new deal or "Call of Duty" could fade from being a multi-billion dollar franchise

Legal wrangling aside, the net result of this decision here and now is that PS5 players will not be left out in the cold when the next Call of Duty game is sure to arrive In addition, Xbox Game Pass subscribers will likely be able to play Call of Duty as part of their subscription without having to pay a separate game fee However, this is not a fact, just a guess based on my experience

Since Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda and its affiliated studios, there have been concerns that many well-known games would become Xbox exclusives, putting the console in competition with the longer established PlayStation brand

In some ways this has happened, with "Redfall" becoming an Xbox exclusive and "Starfield" being released only on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Windows PC However, when Microsoft acquired the massive game Minecraft in 2014, it did not make it an Xbox or PC exclusive building game, but rather spread Minecraft to other platforms

So time will tell whether Microsoft will use the acquisition to force people to become Xbox players or take a more platform-agnostic approach My guess is that Microsoft will continue to offer large franchises on multiple consoles and platforms, except for games that it has directly influenced the production of, or large new IPs such as "Starfield" After all, even if the next "Call of Duty" sells in greater numbers on PlayStation than Xbox, Microsoft will still reap the revenue benefits

In the meantime, we've picked out the best Xbox Series X games you can play right now and the best PS5 games, many of which are exclusives, for your viewing pleasure