Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s gaming division, thinks Sony is blocking Xbox’s purchase of Activision Blizzard to maintain dominance.
During a podcast interview with Second Request, Spencer was adamant that the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal is good for the games industry, and Sony is fighting this merger to maintain PlayStation’s status as the console market leader (thanks, Eurogamer).
“There’s really only been one major opposer to the deal, and it’s Sony – trying to protect their dominance on console, and the way they grow is by making Xbox smaller,” Spencer said. “They have a different view of the industry than we do. They don’t ship their games day and date on PC; they don’t put their games in the subscription when they launch their games.”
Much of the opposition from Sony stems from Call of Duty potentially becoming an Xbox-exclusive franchise, despite Microsoft claiming that won’t happen.
“The largest console maker in the world [is] raising an objection about the one franchise that we’ve said will continue to ship on the platform,” Spencer continues. “It’s a deal that benefits customers through choice and access.”
Last week, Microsoft announced that Call of Duty is coming to Nintendo platforms, showing that the company isn’t making that franchise exclusive to Xbox anytime soon. However, shortly after, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit to block the $68.7 billion deal.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
