An Activision Blizzard executive says the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment is determined to block the merger with Microsoft.
Microsoft is currently trying to acquire Activision Blizzard, while saying it has no plans to make games exclusive to the Xbox Series X|S. To ensure this and to appeal to the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority, the body that approves corporate mergers that could create unfair monopolies, Microsoft reportedly offered Sony a ten-year deal that guaranteed Call of Duty would continue to be distributed on Playstation consoles.
Nevertheless, according to an Activision executive (opens in a new tab)Playstation boss Jim Ryan turned down the offer, saying, “I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.”
Microsoft’s bid to acquire Activision Blizzard is on hold, following a lawsuit filed by the US Federal Trade Commission. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is responsible for enforcing antitrust laws aimed at preventing the formation of monopolies. The FTC brought the action on the grounds that Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard “would allow the Redmond company to neutralize competitors of its Xbox game consoles”.
The FTC is not the only one to take a close interest in this acquisition. The UK Government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) tentatively took the view that since the acquisition would render “commercially beneficial [pour Microsoft] the exclusivity of [Call of Duty] on Xbox… [la fusion] would significantly reduce competition in the gaming console industry to the detriment of gamers”.
These conclusions having been made public, it seems obvious that the SIE wishes to prevent the acquisition. However, even in this context, Mr. Ryan’s alleged statement is surprisingly commercial in its treatment of the Call of Duty franchise, in a way that may well complicate the ongoing legal saga.
Management decisions
The Activision executive’s tweet was first a response to a tweets the Tom Warren (opens in a new tab), editor of The Verge. In his tweet, Warren tweeted a quote from the ongoing exchanges between Sony and the CMA. In this quote, Sony claims that “Microsoft may release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty in which bugs and errors appear…Even if such degradations could be quickly detected, any fix would come too late, and the gaming community would then lose faith in the PlayStation as the preferred place to play Call of Duty.”
In discussions regarding the possibility that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard would create illegal monopolies, the focus has been on Call of Duty. Microsoft and Nintendo even struck a landmark Call of Duty deal in which the former pledged to port the FPS to Nintendo consoles to allay concerns from the FTC and other antitrust agencies.
Jim Ryan’s alleged statement suggests that Call of Duty may just be a means to an end for Sony, a sentiment that reminds us of the cutthroat and mercenary nature of the corporate world. If Ryan really doesn’t want to make a deal with Call of Duty, Sony’s emphasis on the beloved series seems disingenuous, if not hypocritical.
We’ve reached out to Sony for confirmation of Ryan’s claim.