Jim Ryan, CEO of PlayStation, reportedly arranged a meeting with European Union regulators in Brussels in order to scrutinise the oncoming Activision Blizzard acquisition (according to Dealreporter).
With an acquisition of this scale and value, the agreements and potential effects on the market must be considered before the ink dries. On its own website, Microsoft says that "more games on more devices including Xbox, PlayStation, phones, and online" as well as more options for purchasing gives more power to the player. Moreover, the developers would receive "better revenue and fair marketplace rules" and "greater flexibility in payment systems."
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Ryan is obviously not convinced. "Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers," said the CEO in a statement supplied in September. "We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle."
This, combined with the report that he has stepped in physically to instigate further discussion of the acquisition, seems to suggest that PlayStation would do all that it can to prevent the agreement from being formalised. The documents are still in review in Europe, Brazil and New Zealand, so Ryan may need to go jet-setting a few more times.
Topics: PlayStation, Microsoft