XBOX is currently being examined by the European Commission over its proposed purchase of the publisher of Call of Duty.
By far the biggest opposition to the $70billion (£60billion) acquisition is leading competitor PlayStation.
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PlayStation has made several claims against Xbox such as that the company will make Call of Duty exclusive to its platform, or deliver a lesser quality version to PlayStation.
Xbox has denied this, and has signed a legally binding 10-year deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles on the same day and of the same quality as the Xbox version.
Xbox Gaming CEO Phil Spencer claims that he reached out to PlayStation immediately after the merger was proposed to offer it the same deal.
This has led many to believe that PlayStation is not actually concerned with whether or not Call of Duty will remain on its consoles.
Rather, the company wishes to maintain its dominance in the gaming industry as it has a 70% global market share over Xbox.
If the proposed acquisition goes through, Microsoft will own one of the biggest publishers in the world, with games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Candy Crush.
Sony has always claimed that its opposition is based on concerns over a gaming industry monopoly, and has put a strong focus on Call of Duty’s popularity.
However, Activision Blizzard CCO Lulu Cheng Meservey has tweeted a shocking quote that she claims came from the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), Jim Ryan.
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She wrote: “We’ve also offered Sony guaranteed long-term access to Call of Duty. But they keep refusing. Why?
“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.’”
She claims that this statement was made on February 21, the same day that behind closed doors meetings were held before a hearing with the European Commission.
Neither PlayStation nor Ryan have commented on Meservey’s claim.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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