Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer has stated that he is open to making a commitment to Sony so that Call of Duty will stay on PlayStation longer than currently agreed.

Check out the piece we did on Sony’s rejection of Microsoft’s offer to keep CoD on PlayStation

On The Verge’s Decoder podcast, where Spencer explained that he is open to making a commitment that would make Sony and global regulators happy, while Microsoft awaits approval for its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

We learned back in September that Spencer said Microsoft intends to keep the franchise available on PlayStation for “several more years” until Sony’s current deal with Activision expires. We also reported on Sony’s public rejection of Microsoft’s offer to keep the shooter on PlayStation with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CEO Jim Ryan, seeking more equal terms, calling Microsoft’s proposal “inadequate on many levels”.

“This idea that we would write a contract that says the word ‘forever’ in it, I think, is a little bit silly,” Spencer said, “but to make a longer-term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with, [that] regulators would be comfortable with, I have no issue with that at all.”

This also marks the first time Spencer has suggested that Microsoft might be willing to make clear concessions, as regulators have been expanding their investigation into the proposed deal.

“We think Call of Duty will be on PlayStation as long as players want to play Call of Duty on PlayStation. And that’s not a competitive threat against PlayStation, that’s just a pragmatic way of looking at it.”

When the podcast’s host Nilay Patel appeared to start suggesting that Xbox could get around this by offering a streaming-only version on PlayStation, Spencer quickly interrupted to clarify: “Native Call of Duty on PlayStation, not linked to them having to carry Game Pass.

“If they want a streaming version of Call of Duty we could do that as well, just like we do on our own consoles. There is nothing behind my back.

“It is the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, doing great on PlayStation, doing great on Xbox, the next game, the next, next, next game, the next, next… native, on the platform, not having to subscribe to Game Pass. Sony does not have to take Game pass on their platform to make that happen. There’s nothing hidden. We want to continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation, without any kind of weird ‘aha, I figured out the gotcha’.” Spencer added

Microsoft's Xbox chief has settled the Call of Duty on PlayStation debate once and for all. Appearing on The Verge's Decoder podcast, Spencer says he's open to "a longer term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with." Full details here: https://t.co/vqJLEFKEap pic.twitter.com/of1t42LhKO

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) November 15, 2022

In a report by VGC, a Microsoft spokesperson told them that “It makes zero business sense for Microsoft to remove Call of Duty from PlayStation given its market-leading console position.”