While most MMORPG players are watching this week’s pending sale of Activision-Blizzard to Microsoft because of the MMORPGs, people outside the World of Warcraft interest bubble are watching the impact on the console market. There’s an obvious assumption, being whispered by gamers and voiced by industry analysts, that Sony, whose PlayStation platform has dominated Xbox for years, might be taken down a peg if Microsoft manages to lock all of Activision-Blizzard’s games behind the Xbox wall.
But Sony doesn’t necessarily think so.
“We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform,” Sony reps told The Wall Street Journal earlier this week, without elaborating on what happens when those contracts end.
Microsoft Gaming’s Phil Spencer has been mostly noncommittal, presumably owing to the legal requirements of the pending sale. “Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward,” he said, which of course allows the word “support” to do most of the lifting.
