Xbox plans to end PlayStation's Call of Duty perks with proposed $69 bn buyout

For the past few years, Sony has had a marketing arrangement with Activision which has seen PlayStation prioritised by the publisher, resulting in perks for Call of Duty players on PS5 and PS4

The battle for gaming supremacy between Xbox and PlayStation has reached new heights with Xbox executives eager to end PlayStation's marketing arrangement with Activision, which has been prioritizing PlayStation over Xbox for Call of Duty players on PS5 and PS4. As a result, PS5 and PS4 owners have been getting perks like early access to betas and additional loadout slots.

Call of Duty Xbox

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has vowed to end this practice if his company's proposed $69 billion buyout of Activision is approved. Spencer argued that "It's not about a skin on a gun. It's not about a certain kind of mode of the game. The same version of the game will be available on all platforms, which is really what we do today." Spencer cited Minecraft as an example, where the game is identical across all consoles and platforms.

Exclusive benefits enjoyed by PlayStation over Xbox

While Sony has been offering identical experiences with its multiformat releases, such as MLB The Show 23 and Destiny 2: Lightfall, Xbox believes that PlayStation's association with the Call of Duty franchise in commercials has been fruitful for the firm over the past several years.

Although PlayStation's perks for Call of Duty players have been getting increasingly meaningless as the franchise has embraced cross-play and phased out player base separating practices, the battle between Xbox and PlayStation for gaming supremacy continues to rage on.