Call of Duty pros need to switch from Xbox to PS4 to compete

Call of Duty: Black Ops III
PS4 bags the eSports license

Call of Duty: Black Ops III isn't just going to be delivering early beta access and exclusive DLC to the Playstation 4, it's also bagged the official eSports license too.

That means all future official CoD tournaments are going to be played on Sony hardware, which means a switch for the pros from the Xbox One over to the Playstation 4. For the professional gamers that also means having to switch tack and pick up a PS4 to continue their CoD training, as well as learning to game with a completely different controller.

Because Microsoft had been the official partner of the Activision series for so many years all the pros have been using Xbox hardware in order to compete at the highest level. The World Championship has always been a Microsoft-sponsored event, which will have to change for the 2016 tournament.

Sony announced its partnership with Activision and the Call of Duty series back at this year's E3 show, bringing Black Ops III over to the Playstation 4 as its official partner.

As well as the recent eSports reveal, Sony will be Activision's marketing partner and Call of Duty devs, Treyarch, will be releasing exclusive maps for the PS4 as well as letting Sony gamers onto the multiplayer Black Ops III beta earlier than their Xbox rivals.

With Sony having very few first-party exclusives to boast of this year, third-party relationships, like the burgeoning one with Activision, looks like a good bet for the PS4 to continue its dominance as the leading console platform.

Though Microsoft is throwing its full weight behind its own platform, as the more versatile option.