In the past, during any of the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo conferences, Activision typically has opted to debut new content for their Call of Duty franchise on Microsoft's stage. This year, however, the game publisher shook things up a bit and revealed gameplay for the upcoming sequel in the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, during Sony's E3 2015 keynote instead. Moreover, Activision confirmed that first look DLC exclusivity would transfer from Xbox platforms to Sony platforms for this year's game.

While many have considered this to be a strange move on Activision's part, Eric Hirshberg—the organization's CEO—has assured fans that the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 exclusivity with Sony is only natural. When asked about how the relationship between his firm and Sony came to pass, Hirshberg has said that it was not only timing that came into play, but also both of the companies' successful collaborations in the past that spurred the cooperation.

The game publishing head is excited for the recent association between Activision and Sony, as Hirshberg says, "The time was right for us to partner up with Sony. They really wanted it." Plus, as previously stated, the favorable teaming of the two video game titans, such as Activision's partnership with PlayStation on Bungie's Destiny, gave both companies plenty of confidence that their match up would work well.

In regards to Activision's successful outing with Destiny's PlayStation developers, Hirshberg says:

"When a first party is really excited and gets behind your games it makes a really big difference. [Sony] did a great job with Destiny and helped launch that and make it successful."

While Hirshberg is obviously proud of the work between Activision and Sony so far, he also wishes to remain as diplomatic as possible when referring to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, for it would be unwise to alienate any fans that might play the title on systems other than a PlayStation 4 console. In light of that notion, Hirshberg says, "It’s important to remember that this is a cross-platform game and everyone gets all the content eventually and it’s going to be the best shooter on any platform no matter where you want to play."

Although Hirshberg's last statement is more tactful than anything, it's worthy to mention the fact that the Activision/PlayStation alliance ensures that any Black Ops 3 add-on content will come to Sony first, as had been the case with Xbox in previous years. Regardless, with the title already jam-packed with content on all platforms, such as franchise staples like the story campaign, multiplayer, and Zombies gameplay, it's hard to imagine that non-PlayStation gamers will mind having to wait.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is set to release on November 16, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Source: IGN