Sony’s Jim Ryan doesn’t care about a deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles. Instead, the Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO is solely focused on blocking Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.
According to Activision Blizzard’s EVP of Corporate Affairs and CCO Lulu Cheng Meservey, Ryan made his stance perfectly clear when speaking behind closed doors in Brussels, Belgium back in February.
“I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal,” Ryan reportedly said per Cheng Meservey. “I just want to block your merger.”
Cheng Meservey also says that the 10-year deal Microsoft offered Sony includes “far better terms than Sony would ever get from us [Activision Blizzard].”
Her posts came in response to claims by Sony that the company is concerned about a version of Call of Duty being released for PlayStation systems where “bugs and errors emerge”. Sony stated that it thinks a tactic like that could lead to consumers losing “confidence in PlayStation as a go-to venue to play Call of Duty”
Recently, it was reported that Microsoft’s explanations and deals with companies such as Nintendo and Nvidia would likely satisfy the European Commission’s concerns about the merger. Should the Commission come out with approval, it would clear a major hurdle for the deal.
It was also revealed that Sony is being required to share exclusivity contract deals from the past four years with Microsoft.
What do you make of Sony’s Jim Ryan actions and comments?
Want more Insider Gaming? Check out the first episode of The Indie Initiative featuring Refactor Games.
