Activision Blizzard won’t remove past games from PlayStation platforms once it’s acquired by Microsoft.
The company stated as much just yesterday on January 19, in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (via VGC). “We will honor all existing commitments post close. As with Microsoft’s acquisition of Minecraft, we have no intent to remove any content from platforms where it exists today,” an FAQ section for current employees reads.
This is some pretty clear-cut confirmation that Microsoft isn’t about to go around pulling Activision Blizzard-developed games from PlayStation platforms where they already exist. The FAQ from Activision Blizzard correctly identifies Microsoft’s past acquisition of Minecraft developer Mojang as being an example of an existing game kept on PlayStation platforms after acquisition.
We need only look to Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda to see an example of this at work. Since the former company acquired the latter last year, although it’s folded in numerous Bethesda-developed games to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service, it hasn’t taken any away any existing games like The Evil Within or Dishonored away from PlayStation platforms.
In fact, Activision Blizzard stated just yesterday that it expects Microsoft to let its games exist on multiple platforms. A spokesperson for the former company pointed to existing “contractual agreements” between Activision Blizzard and platforms like PlayStation, saying that it expects Microsoft to abide by all existing agreements, and thus allow multiplatform games like Call of Duty: Warzone to continue existing.
Here’s what the latest acquisition by Microsoft could mean for Activision Blizzard games and studios in the future.
