Gab Hernandez 
The Call of Duty franchise might be coming to the Epic Games Store soon.
After the high-profile acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft earlier this year, several new plans already seem to be set in motion. Microsoft announced in early 2023 that it had big plans for the Call of Duty series of games.
Activision assigned all its studios to dedicate more development manpower to Call of Duty projects for the foreseeable future. While all of this is exciting for fans of the franchise, it’s left COD players wondering about how these games will be distributed post-acquisition. Soon enough, fans found a potential hint at one of Call of Duty’s new homes.
Is Call of Duty coming to the Epic Games Store?
While there is still no official confirmation that Call of Duty is coming to the Epic Games Store, it seems increasingly likely that the series is on its way. One of the popups for redeeming a code for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 reveals something interesting in the form of an option to link one’s Activision account to the Epic Games Store.
While this could certainly be a sign that the military-themed first-person shooter franchise is coming to the Epic Games Store, it could also just mean Activision is looking to expand its entire library. The account connection is more about Activision’s online presence than it is about Call of Duty. Still, given Microsoft’s aggressive expansion plans in the wake of it gaining the rights to COD, being on another major distribution service wouldn’t be shocking.
Is Call of Duty exclusive to the Xbox now?
No, Call of Duty is not exclusive to the Xbox. Despite its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft remains adamant that it does not intend to monopolize the COD franchise. The official stance is to bring Call of Duty to as many platforms as possible. Microsoft even signed deals with both Sony and Nintendo promising to bring Call of Duty games to those respective platforms for the next 10 years.
Concerns were raised about what the future quality of those ports may be. Sony executive Jim Ryan was chief among those worrying about a potential disparity in quality, as he believed Microsoft would leverage Call of Duty’s popularity to provide a “degraded experience” to PlayStation users relevant to the experience on Xbox consoles. With the Activision-Blizzard acquisition becoming official barely a month ago, it’s as of yet unknown if these worries will prove to have merit.
