Microsoft announced the deal to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022 for an eye-watering price tag of $68.7 billion. Sony naturally took issue with this, as the Call of Duty franchise is massively popular on the PlayStation platform. Over the course of 2022, Microsoft made several attempts to placate Sony, confirming that Call of Duty would remain on Sony’s platform, but this did not sway the Japanese gaming giant from the hard stance it has taken in opposing the deal.
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According to Reuters, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan met with Margrethe Vestager, who is the European Commissioner for Competition, to discuss Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal. The details of the conversation were not disclosed, but it must be noted that this is at least the second time PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has traveled to Brussels in an attempt to dissuade what stands to be the biggest acquisition deal in the history of the gaming industry.
Meanwhile, Xbox head Phil Spencer is still confident that the deal will go through. Spencer has stated that he and Microsoft’s gaming division are doing everything they can to work with the various international regulators and that a lot of time and effort is required to help such bodies understand Xbox’s position in the market. Microsoft has in the past tabled a 10-year deal guaranteeing that Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation, but this did not convince its competitor.
It remains to be seen how the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard will play out. Sony seems to be doing everything in its power to stop the deal from going through, while Microsoft claims that Sony is preventing games from coming to Xbox through exclusion deals, giving examples like Final Fantasy 16 and the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake. If true, PlayStation and its efforts to block the Activision Blizzard deal could be deemed hypocritical, but exclusivity deals with independent companies aren’t quite in the same league as outright buying one of the biggest companies in the business, replete with its entire stable of well-loved franchises.
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Source: Reuters
