Xbox boss Phil Spencer has claimed that Sony is blocking Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard because it wants to “protect their dominance on console” and “make Xbox smaller”. In an interview with the Second Request podcast, Spencer said that Sony is trying to retain its own dominance in the console market by opposing Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Spencer also noted that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is intended to strengthen Xbox’s presence in the mobile gaming sphere, rather than strip games away from the PlayStation platform. “But because Sony’s leading all of the dialogue around why this deal shouldn’t go through to protect their dominant position in console, the thing that they grab onto is Call of Duty, and we’ve said over and over that we’ll make a multi-year, 10-year commitment to PlayStation,” he added.
Earlier this month, Microsoft revealed that it had entered into a “10-year commitment” to bring Call of Duty titles to Nintendo platforms once the acquisition has been completed. Spencer also tweeted to reveal that Xbox had also committed to bringing the games to PC via Steam. Sony has publicly opposed the $68.7 deal since it was announced in January. Furthermore, just last week the Federal Trade Commission announced its intent to block the deal, citing the damage that would be done to market competitiveness in the high-performance console space.
