Since it was announced Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, Sony has been especially skeptical and concerned about the possibility that the agreement ends up taking place. Passing, throughout these months, from a critical position before the possibility of monopoly, something not objectionable, to one that is closer to despair. And it’s no exaggeration, as Microsoft’s Head of Communications has just put Sony on fire on his Twitter account, stating without any doubt that the company has lied to Brussels and has tried to pressure the company to Activision Blizzard purchase not be carried out. Something that clearly could trigger a credibility scandal.
As we have been telling you all this time, Sony has been totally against Microsoft being the owner of Activision Blizzard. And not for taking over the company itself, but for taking one of the main pillars of the PlayStation market: call of duty. As has become relevant these days, Sony fears that, in essence, Microsoft will do the same thing that it has been doing all these years: take exclusivities and worsen the performance of games on rival consoles. Jim Ryan himself made it clear these days at the headquarters of the European Commission.
Sony gets desperate and lies about the rumored exclusivity of Call of Duty on Xbox. This has been told by Microsoft’s Head of Communications:
Concern over Jim Ryan’s meeting with the European Commission over the purchase of Activision
we are xbox.com
But the situation has reached a critical point, because Sony would have lied about the supposed exclusivity of Call of Duty on Xbox. It has made it clear and resounding Frank X ShawHead of Communications at Microsoft, via Twitter, in a series of threads where he has been quite adamant about it.
“I heard that Sony is telling the operators in Brussels that Microsoft is not willing to offer parity for Call of Duty if we buy Activision.
Nothing is further from reality.
We have been clear, we have offered Sony a 10-year parity agreement in terms of time, content, additions, quality, gameplay and any other aspect of the games.
We have also stated that we are looking forward to this agreement being formalized in a contract, regulatory agreement or any other means.
Sony is the console market leader and it would be totally illogical 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 how and where they want.”