News game takeover of the century: New revelations in the legal duel between PlayStation and Xbox. Jim Ryan might regret some of his emails…
Published on 06/23/2023 at 18:05
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Turning point in Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard: Sony knew more than they wanted to believe.
During the trial against the FTC (the American competition police), which opposes Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, the American company’s lawyer proved that Sony was indeed aware of the situation. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan felt that Microsoft’s potential acquisition wasn’t about locking the games as Xbox exclusives. The American giant’s lawyer revealed the exchange between Ryan and Chris Deering, former CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, over announcing the agreement last year:
“It’s not an exclusive game at all. They think bigger than that and have the money to make such plans. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Phil Spencer (current head of Xbox Game Studios, Ed.). ) and Bobby Kotick (CEO of Activision Blizzard, Ed.) in the past few days, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing Call of Duty on PlayStation for many years to come. – Statement by Jim Ryan to Chris Deering
This startling revelation goes against Sony’s arguments against acquiring Activision Blizzard The Japanese company fears Microsoft will make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox or even sabotage PlayStation versions of the title.
Looking for commonalities
Microsoft originally offered Call of Duty on PlayStation for three years after the current deal between Activision and Sony ended. But Ryan called this offer insufficient on several counts. Microsoft eventually offered Sony a 10-year contract for Call of Duty on PlayStation, but the company has so far refused to sign it.
Monopoly fears surrounding Microsoft’s acquisition of Call of Duty were initially a key part of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) investigation before it dropped the console issue and eventually blocked the deal over competition concerns in the cloud market. For its part, the European Commission has confirmed the acquisition, but The FTC’s case focuses primarily on the potential harm if Microsoft makes Activision games exclusive games for its Xbox consoles, cloud gaming service, or game subscription.
“What happened today showed that Sony knew from the start that we would deliver on our promise to keep these games on its platform and made it clear that its lobbying against the deal was aimed solely at increasing its dominance protect,” said David Cuddy, general manager of public affairs at Microsoft.