Published in Gaming

Sony is trying to bully Microsoft out of take over

by on10 February 2023


Activision-Blizzard founder warns 

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has accused Sony of “trying to sabotage” Microsoft’s takeover of the company and claimed that PlayStation chief Jim Ryan has “stopped talking” to stuff up the deal.

Competition authorities in the UK, the EU and the US continue to scrutinise and raise objections over the proposed $69 billion acquisition and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally found that the deal could reduce competition and “result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers”.

However speaking to the Financial Times, Kotick claimed “ideologues” were taking over the agencies, and claimed that Sony Interactive Entertainment’s CEO and other executives had stopped returning calls from Activision and Microsoft.

“Suddenly, Sony’s entire leadership team stopped talking to anyone at Microsoft. I think this is all Sony just trying to sabotage the transaction.”

Kotick said: “The whole idea that we are not going to support a PlayStation or that Microsoft would not support the PlayStation, it is absurd.”

Kotick went on to state that he was optimistic the Microsoft acquisition would close by July 2023, noting that in its fight with the FTC, Microsoft had hired lawyer Beth Wilkinson, who was previously hired by the commission in 2012 to lead a probe into Google.

Last month, Microsoft accused Sony of misleading the EU regulator over its commitment to keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation – a key issue in regulators’ scrutiny of the deal.

 

Last modified on 10 February 2023
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