Sony ‘sabotaging’ $100b Microsoft deal

The CEO of Activision Blizzard has accused Sony of attempting to sabotage Microsoft’s $100 billion acquisition of his company.

The embattled CEO of Activision Blizzard has accused Sony of trying to sabotage Microsoft’s $100 billion acquisition of his company, as the deal is under scrutiny by multiple competition regulators around the world.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said that Sony’s leadership was no longer in discussions of any kind with anyone at Microsoft.

“Suddenly, Sony’s entire leadership team stopped talking to anyone at Microsoft,” Kotick said, “I think this is all Sony trying to sabotage the transaction.”

Kotick says that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in particular has been “co-opted by the [US Federal Trade Commission] ideology,” accusing the regulator of “not really using independent thought”.

Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest games publishers in the world. Photo: Ina FASSBENDER / AFP

Sony has emerged as one of the major opponents of Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty developer and publisher, with the company expressing fears that the popular franchise could become Xbox-exclusive. Microsoft has repeatedly attempted to assuage those concerns, both publicly and in private, but Sony has yet to engage with any of the offers made.

The CMA recently said that the $100 billion Xbox deal harms gamers, in a provisional report that raised multiple concerns about the deal as it stands. The CMA thinks that, if successful, the deal could lead to “higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation”.

The regulator proposed several solutions in the form of “structural remedies”, which could see Activision Blizzard selling off parts of its company and franchises, like Call of Duty, separately, or spinning off the sections of the company responsible for that content.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has also expressed concern about the deal, going so far as to sue Microsoft over the takeover. Cloud gaming proponents Nvidia and Google joined the lawsuit against Microsoft recently, offering their expertise on how Xbox’s growing Game Pass cloud streaming service could dominate if the company had access to more exclusive content.

The Call of Duty series has been at the centre of discussion around the deal. Picture: Activision Blizzard

Microsoft expects the deal to close towards the middle of the year, with the CMA expected to hand down its verdict in April. The FTC’s lawsuit targeting the deal isn’t due to be tried until much later in the year, but Microsoft hopes to settle the suit before trial.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.