Activision to Change Call of Duty’s Lead Platform to PS4?

Industry insider Pete “Famousmortimer” Dodd, who normally enjoys a good track record, has some damming news for Microsoft and the Xbox One. According to his insider sources, Activision is on the cusp of changing the lead platform for the mega Call of Duty franchise away from Xbox and to the PS4. While Microsoft has continued its massive marketing blitz with the Xbox One since launch, something that Sony cannot afford to do, the PS4 has continuously outsold its rival. Beyond that, games on the PS4 like Call of Duty: Ghosts have enjoyed higher resolutions than their counterpart on the Xbox One and higher digital sales, a winning combination for developers.

Dodd on the matter:

I’m not ready to jump on the XB1-is-doomed train yet. Titanfall, or really any game, can turn the fortunes, but as of now – yes, good start but valid concerns. The PS4 is above and beyond all projections and publishers are re-calibrating to this. I heard that Activision is going to make a public announcement about COD changing to the PS4 as lead platform. I have no idea if this means DLC (I assume MS locked that down for multiple years) but COD was a XBOX 360 game that happened to be on the PS3 last gen. That will be a hugely symbolic move… and don’t discount what that means to the masses.

On the topic of digital downloads, Dodd had this to say:

Also, don’t sleep on inFamous. It will be very, very, close to Titanfall XB1 this month. Sony is also doing far more digital sales than MS so far (which is a weird switch from the middle of last gen).

This news has two major ramification that go along with it. Till now, when consumers think Call of Duty, the platform that comes to mind first and foremost is Xbox. Microsoft and Activision have traditionally enjoyed a very close business partnership which had the Xbox 360 receive DLC prior to the PS3. While first party games like Uncharted, inFamous, and The Last of Us to name a few have always shined on the PS3, many developers, including Activision struggled to offer the same quality game on the PS3 as they did with the Xbox 360. With higher sales and better visuals on the PS4, it seems like quite a role reversal is about to take place with the Call of Duty franchise and maybe as an industry.

Activision is set to bring the Destiny beta, from Bungie, creators of the Halo franchise, exclusively to PlayStation.