PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan says Microsoft’s offer to keep Call of Duty on PS platforms is “inadequate on many levels” and will continue for three years after Activision’s deal expires and Sony.
The report was made by GamesIndustry.biz, which received the statement directly from Ryan on Wednesday.
PlayStation’s Jim Ryan was harshly critical of Xbox’s Call of Duty offer, saying Microsoft had promised to keep the series on PlayStation for just 3 years after the current deal with Activision https://t.co/OmL57dpBxs.
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) September 7, 2022
“I wasn’t going to comment on what I understand to be a private business discussion,” Ryan said, per GamesIndustry.biz, “but I feel the need to correct the record as Phil Spencer brought it up on a forum audience. .
“Microsoft offered to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for only three years after Activision’s contract with Sony expired. After nearly 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, its offerings have fallen short on many levels and failed We want to ensure that PlayStation players continue to enjoy the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s recommendation undermines that principle.
Last week, The Verge reported that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer had agreed with Ryan and Sony to guarantee that Call of Duty would stay on PlayStation for “a few more years” beyond their current contracts.
Spencer also added that the offer “goes beyond normal gaming industry deals.”
As Bloomberg reported in February, the current Call of Duty deal between Sony and Activision Blizzard is expected to remain in place for the franchise’s next three releases, including Modern Warfare II and this year’s Warzone 2.0, as well as CoD. 2024.
This all comes, of course, amid Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
As expected, Activision Blizzard announced in late April at a special meeting of shareholders that more than 98% of its shares had voted in favor of the proposed transaction with Microsoft.
If the deal closes, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.
Subject to customary closing conditions and the completion of regulatory review, the proposed transaction is expected to close during Microsoft’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2023.
The main question mark is whether Microsoft will be able to persuade regulators around the world to approve the transaction in the coming months.
On September 1, the UK Competition and Markets Authority marked the agreement for a second, more in-depth review after its first round.
In August, Sony appealed to Brazil’s national competition regulator, the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), claiming that Xbox’s acquisition of Call of Duty would be anti-competitive.
Microsoft insists that CoD will remain a cross-platform franchise for the foreseeable future.
Source : dbl tap
