Very early on in 2022, Xbox broke the news that it was in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard for almost $70 billion. As 2023 is about to begin, not only has the deal still not gone through, but completion remains a long way off. That hasn't stopped some long-time Call of Duty devs from fantasizing about how an Xbox-led Activision might change how things work behind the scenes.
Jack Burrows, who previously worked as a level designer on the Call of Duty series, recently told the Kiwi Talkz podcast (thanks, ComicBook) that he and the rest of the team would daydream about Xbox being in charge. “We would think about it and we would talk about it being like 'I wonder if this will change' or if you know 'this process won't be like that anymore,' or if we'll get more freedom to do whatever here and there or stuff like that,” Burrows revealed.
As for what exactly Xbox might change about Call of Duty should it ever get the Activision Blizzard merger over the line, Burrows admitted that even though it's fun to wonder, most things with the series itself will probably remain the same. Call of Duty is a juggernaut, perhaps the biggest in the industry, so making drastic changes to a series that “prints money” simply wouldn't make sense.
Despite Xbox's repeated attempts to make the rest of the industry realize it wouldn't be in its best interests to change anything about Call of Duty, PlayStation and various regulators around the world remain unconvinced. PlayStation continues to think Xbox will eventually make Call of Duty a console exclusive. That's despite Xbox offering its rival a decade-long commitment, a deal PlayStation reportedly turned its nose up at.
While Xbox might not want to change anything about how it makes Call of Duty games, there will be a hope across the board that it implements some more important changes behind the scenes if it acquires Activision Blizzard. The results of an investigation published prior to the merger's announcement accused the studio Xbox is trying to acquire of harboring a toxic work culture.