There have been many big moves in the video game industry as of late by two major publishers. Both Microsoft and Sony have been buying up some of the biggest entities in the industry to help “lock in” their 1st party lineups and ensure that their console software is as sound as possible. Bethesda, Bungie, and more have been acquired by these two. But the Xbox line got arguably the most significant purchase when they revealed that they were acquiring Activision Blizzard. At first, that might just seem like another acquisition, but Jim Ryan of Sony felt different and tried to stop it.
In his mind, and the minds of a few others, Microsoft having control of the vast amount of IPs that Activision Blizzard has is detrimental to the industry. He singled out Call of Duty for this, as it’s arguably the most prominent gaming franchise in raw sales. The newest entry broke all kinds of sales records upon its release last month. So in Ryan’s mind, if the Xbox team decided to make it an exclusive series to their consoles, many people would be missing out. Specifically those who have PlayStation systems.
Phil Spencer of Xbox said this would never happen, and they have no intentions of restricting any of the properties they’re getting from this merger. But Ryan wasn’t satisfied with this and thus went to regulators to try and get them to investigate and stop this acquisition from happening. The twist? He got part of his wish:
The European Union is indeed investigating the deal between the companies to see if there is a chance that things can go wrong with it. To hear that they are “deeply concerned” is very interesting, as that could play into an attempt to stop the deal outright.
In response to the announcement, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick made a statement about everything from the merger to the EU investigation and how he expects everything to continue as planned:
Hearing this come from him is ironic in various ways, given the allegations against Activision Blizzard and Kotick himself. However, he likely wants to come off a certain way so the EU doesn’t hold anything against him.
It must be said that because an investigation is going on, it doesn’t mean anything will come of it. As noted by Kotick, an investigation has already been done and passed muster. This may be the same result. Then again, maybe not.
Source: Twitter
