Microsoft he accused Sony that he substantially misled the EU regulator about his commitment to deliver Call of Duty on PlayStation, if its acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved. According to reports, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment Jim Ryan met with the EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager this week to discuss his concerns about the rival console company’s intentions.
And in a series of tweets posted on Friday, Microsoft’s chief communications officer, Frank X. Shawclaimed that SIE had misled Brussels regulators about Xbox’s commitment to keep Activision’s flagship FPS series on PlayStation.
“I hear Sony is briefing people in Brussels claiming that Microsoft is not willing to offer them parity for Call of Duty if we acquire Activision,” Shaw wrote. “Nothing more fake.”
“We were clear that we offered to Sony a 10-year agreement to give them parity on timing, content, features, quality, playability and any other aspect of the game. We’ve also said that we’re happy to make it enforceable through a contract, regulatory agreement, or other means.
“Sony is the market leader in consoles and it would defy business logic for us to exclude PlayStation gamers from the Call of Duty ecosystem.”
“Our goal is to bring Call of Duty and other games, like we did with minecraft, to more people around the world so they can play it where and how they want.”
What would be by far the video game industry’s biggest deal ever has met with fierce opposition from Sony and concerns from European, US and UK regulators. In what would be the latest setback on the road to completing the deal, the EU is expected to issue Microsoft a charge sheet setting out its concerns over the takeover, Reuters reported.
Below you can see tweets from Microsoft’s chief communications officer.
We’ve been clear we’ve offered Sony a 10 year deal to give them parity on timing, content, features, quality, playability, and any other aspect of the game.
We’ve also said we’re happy to make this enforceable through a contract, regulatory agreements, or other means.
2/4
— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) January 28, 2023
Our goal is to bring Call of Duty and other games – as we did with Minecraft – to more people around the world so they can play them where and how they want.
4/4
— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) January 28, 2023
