Call of Duty PlayStation 4

There are rumblings that changes may be afoot in the Call of Duty content clash. While the series has been historically aligned with the Xbox brand, rumours earlier in the year indicated that Sony may be willing to stump up the cash in order to ensure that the property is associated with the PlayStation 4. And speaking on the latest episode of GameTrailers’ popular Pach-Attack show, Wedbush Securities executive Michael Pachter agreed that the platform holder could enter a bidding war with Microsoft in order to secure timed exclusive DLC for the next entry in the blockbuster series.

“The reason that Xbox kept getting exclusivity and Sony didn’t is because Microsoft was willing to pay and the people at PlayStation weren’t,” he explained. “The difference now is that Adam Boyes is in charge of third-party negotiations rather than Rob Dyer, and he would probably like to get DLC exclusivity on the game. The other big change is that Rob reported to Jack Tretton, but now it’s Shawn Layden in charge, so maybe they will decide that it’s worth bidding on.”

However, Pachter continued that he doesn’t believe that the Redmond-based firm will be willing to give up on the series, and given its corporate-wide warchest, it may have enough resources to prolong its period of exclusivity – even if the Japanese giant joins the bidding. “Microsoft has more money than Sony period,” he added. “That’s not necessarily because of their gaming division, but because of their overall business. Alas, it means that they can pay whatever they want.”

Fascinatingly, the analyst concluded that he doesn’t know what’s going to happen, but indicated that we’ll probably find out soon. As already alluded, the speculation coming out of Sony’s retailer focused Destination PlayStation event was that Sledgehammer’s new series instalment was on display, and it was being demonstrated on the PS4. Whether that means that the franchise has switched sides remains to be seen, but with Destiny, Watch Dogs, and purportedly Batman: Arkham Knight all under the PlayStation maker’s umbrella, it would be a big blow to Microsoft if it lost Call of Duty, too.

[source gametrailers.com]