Activision Blizzard: No agreement with Sony

In the Activision Blizzard case, Microsoft was unable to reach an agreement with Sony.

Yesterday there was the first major showdown between Microsoft, Sony and Activision Blizzard. The result: Sony continues to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The Redmond-based group had previously announced a contractual agreement with Nintendo and also with NVIDIA for GeForce Now (more on that later). Nevertheless, Sony was unimpressed and again rejected an agreement with Microsoft, as Nintendo and NVIDIA have previously done.

Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President, brought out the big guns and explained that Microsoft has a 70/30 market share worldwide, which would be 80/20 in Europe and even just 96/4 for Sony in Japan. In addition, Microsoft strives to reach more players (instead of fewer), which is also reflected in the contractual agreements with NVIDIA and Nintendo. This would bring Call of Duty to 150 million more devices than it currently has.

Brad announced, “With today’s agreements with NVIDIA and Nintendo, we will bring Call of Duty to 150 million new devices. That will serve consumers AND encourage competition.”

Lulu Cheng Meservey, EVP Corporate Affairs and CCO, Activision Blizzard, said, “Microsoft is doing exactly what it promised. Sony, on the other hand, continues to dismiss the chance of a long-term contract for Call of Duty and seeks to undermine the deal to protect its two-decade dominance in gaming. We are confident that regulators will find that our proposed merger will increase competition and create more opportunities for workers and better games for our players.”