Regulatory Warfare: SIE chief Jim Ryan apparently hell-bent on blocking Microsoft-Activision merger, Sony worried Microsoft may offer buggy Call of Duty experience on PlayStation

Microsoft's US$69 billion bid to acquire Activision Blizzard has hit several roadblocks with regulators, particularly the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The main hindrance is coming from Sony, which seems to never get convinced of Microsoft's promise to make the popular shooter franchise Call of Duty available on PlayStation after the deal goes through. 

Back in February, Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) chief Jim Ryan had a closed-door meeting with EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager in Brussels. It was not clear what the meeting entailed, but recently Activision EVP Corporate Affairs and COO Lulu Cheng Meservey took to Twitter and stated that the Sony chief's only aim was to stop the Microsoft-Activision merger. She tweeted,

The CEO of SIE answered that question in Brussels.

In his words:

"I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.”

Sony has been expressing concerns that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard may result in PlayStation gamers not being able to play Call of Duty due to possible of Xbox exclusivity.

Recently, reports surfaced that Sony was impressing the UK CMA to block the deal from going through or at least force Microsoft to sell the Call of Duty franchise. Sony apparently cited Microsoft's moves with the ZeniMax/Bethesda Softworks acquisition that resulted in highly anticipated titles such as Starfield and Redfall being made Xbox and Windows PC exclusive.

As reported by The Verge, Sony even went to the extent of telling the UK CMA that Microsoft may release a buggy version of Call of Duty that would deter gamers from playing the title on PlayStation.

Microsoft might release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty where bugs and errors emerge only on the game’s final level or after later updates. Even if such degradations could be swiftly detected, any remedy would likely come too late, by which time the gaming community would have lost confidence in PlayStation as a go-to venue to play Call of Duty. Indeed, as Modern Warfare II attests, Call of Duty is most often purchased in just the first few weeks of release. If it became known that the game’s performance on PlayStation was worse than on Xbox, Call of Duty gamers could decide to switch to Xbox, for fear of playing their favourite game at a second-class or less competitive venue."

However, Microsoft has consistently tried to allay such fears. The company confirmed that Call of Duty will be coming to Nintendo and Nvidia platforms and is committed to making the game multiplatform. Microsoft representatives also said that it would be "economically irrational" not to have Call of Duty on a dominant console market leader like the PlayStation.

The Redmond-giant offered a 10-year deal to Sony on similar terms as with Nintendo and Nvidia, but the talks fell flat.

At this point, Sony's fear seems irrational. It is highly unlikely that Microsoft would intentionally sabotage the playing experience on a competing platform, although there could be prioritization in terms of bug fixes and other little things for the Xbox and PC due to developer familiarity with the platform.

Another concern is that Microsoft may not allow Sony to distribute Call of Duty on its PlayStation Plus subscription service while the game would be offered day 1 on Xbox Game Pass. However, Microsoft has stated in its own CMA filing that "any CoD Game in a Microsoft multi-game subscription is eligible for inclusion in Sony’s multi-game subscription service, at the same time and for the same duration.”

Despite Sony's attempts to thwart the Microsoft-Activision deal, word on the ground is that regulators are likely to eventually give their go ahead.

According to The Verge, the UK CMA is apparently looking at 3 million (yes that's right!) Microsoft and Activision documents and 2,100 emails from the public. The final decision is expected to be announced on April 26.

Buy the Xbox Series X on Amazon