Following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard this past week, Xbox head Phil Spencer has now gone on the record to confirm that there will no longer be a platform-exclusive beta for future installments. Previously, the CoD publisher had often conducted pre-launch periods for the ever-popular FPS series early for PlayStation ahead of other platforms. Now, however, this will no longer be the case, and all gaming systems will be able to experience new entries simultaneously.
Ahead of the Modern Warfare 3 release date, Phil Spencer revealed their new pre-release strategy through an interview with Xbox. In it, he said: “Players on PlayStation, and in the future, on Nintendo – I want you to feel 100% part of the community. I don’t want you to feel like there’s content you’re missing out [on], skins you’re missing out [on], there’s timing that you’re missing out on; that’s not the goal.” “The goal is 100% parity across all platforms as much as we can for launching content,” he continued.
“We have no goal of somehow trying to use Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console,” Spencer added. “So I want the Call of Duty nation to feel supported across all platforms; we’ve been on the other side of some of those [exclusive] skins. Even this beta – it wasn’t on Xbox the first week,” further reinforcing their decision to remove the platform-exclusive periods CoD has been known for in recent years.
Keep in mind, though, that this decision will only take effect with future CoD releases, so MW3 may still include a few PlayStation-exclusive events and goodies. Nevertheless, this should still come as good news to most of the FPS community, as many had often complained about the early access that PlayStation players had frequently been given in the past few years.
While you wait for the announcement of a new CoD installment, check out our guides on the best Striker loadout in MW3 and the best MCW loadout in MW3 in the meantime.
