The Call of Duty franchise is no stranger to exclusivity deals. Both Sony and Microsoft have struck deals with Activision to secure content early or exclusively. These deals began around 2010 with Xbox players gaining access to all DLC content packs a month before everyone else. A few years later, Sony made the same deal with Activision so PlayStation players got all the quarterly expansions before Xbox and PC players. As the concept of "games as a service" became more popular, Call of Duty moved away from these expansion packs and toward a free season and battle pass system starting with 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.
As there would no longer be timed exclusive DLC packs, Sony's deal was restructured, and instead Call of Duty: Modern Warfare's Spec Ops Survival mode was partitioned off for PlayStation players only. This led to backlash and discussion as a chunk of the main game would be inaccessible for Xbox and PC players. However, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War did something similar with its Zombies Onslaught mode. In a recent blog post by Sony, it was revealed Call of Duty Vanguard will not be doing the same thing as previous entries.
Call of Duty's Past Exclusivity
For the past decade, exclusive or timed-exclusive content was a major part of being a Call of Duty fan. Being one of the largest and most successful annual franchises, it seems likely this exclusive content exacerbated the ongoing console wars between PlayStation and Xbox. These deals initially started as DLC was becoming a more common practice by video game developers to support their games longer. Activision used this to create four separate DLC packs for each Call of Duty, which would be spaced out to keep players engaged until the next yearly release.
Shortly after Sony and Activision made an exclusivity deal, paid quarterly DLC quickly became less appealing. This is in large part due to many games changing their monetization to focus on cosmetics, instead implementing a battle pass system. These battle passes typically include a free and a paid track full of various skins, voice lines, and other items to personalize the player character. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was the first game in the series to move to this trend, and its quarterly battle passes included new weapons, modes, and cosmetics.
As it wouldn't be feasible to delay the release of a battle pass for PC and Xbox players, the Spec Ops Survival mode was instead locked off for PlayStation players only. Black Ops Cold War's Zombies Onslaught did something similar, as after release that mode wouldn't be moving to other platforms until November 1, 2021 - days before Call of Duty: Vanguard launches. This effectively made these modes console exclusives instead of the typical timed exclusive as seen with other DLC. After all, few will be playing the previous year's Call of Duty when the newest one is launching.
Call of Duty: Vanguard's Changing Exclusivity
In a surprising break from the previous two games, Call of Duty Vanguard will be taking a different approach to its Sony exclusivity. The first notable boon for PlayStation players comes with its battle pass. Any PS4 or PS5 owner that purchases the pass will get five extra tier skips for a total of 25. This should allow these players to reach the end before everyone else, effectively making the battle pass only have 75 tiers instead of 100. This same deal will be applied to all of Call of Duty: Vanguard's battle passes moving forward.
Furthermore, PlayStation Plus members will receive an exclusive bundle to celebrate Call of Duty: Vanguard Season 1. Given that a PlayStation Plus subscription is required to play Vanguard's multiplayer, this is essentially exclusive to everyone that buys Vanguard on PS4 and PS5. Similar to the battle pass tier skips, a new bundle will be released at the start of every season. These bundles are said to hold an operator skin, weapon blueprint, and more.
The final benefits that PSN players get in Call of Duty: Vanguard are tied to progression and time management. When playing in a party with other PlayStation players, everyone will receive 25 percent more weapon XP, encouraging PlayStation owners to group with friends on the same platform. Given Sony's previous statements on crossplay, this is unsurprising. The wording of this makes it seem like it will only work in a party, so disabling crossplay to encounter only PlayStation users through online matchmaking is unlikely to trigger the bonus. Similarly, for one day every month, all PlayStation players will have a full day of exclusive double XP to get ahead of everyone else. Lastly, in keeping with the last few games' traditions, all PS4 and PS5 owners of Call of Duty: Vanguard will get two extra loadout slots.
Some might say that Call of Duty: Vanguard's PlayStation-exclusive offerings are worse than Modern Warfare and Black Ops Cold War's given there is no big exclusive game mode, however both Spec Ops Survival and Zombies Onslaught were pretty unremarkable and far from the reason people purchased the titles on PlayStation. Now, when deciding whether to purchase Call of Duty: Vanguard on PlayStation, PC, or Xbox, it comes down to figuring out whether friends are also on PSN. If they are, playing on PS4 and PS5 for the XP bonuses seems to be a more enticing selling point.
Call of Duty: Vanguard releases November 5, 2021, for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.