Xbox boss Phil Spencer has claimed that PlayStation’s move to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition is rooted in its desire to “protect their dominance on console” by “making Xbox smaller”.
As reported by Eurogamer, Spencer told the Second Request podcast that Sony is just looking to retain its own dominance in the console market by opposing Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
“There’s really only been one major opposer to the deal and it’s Sony, and Sony’s trying to protect their dominance on console, and the way they grow is by making Xbox smaller,” Spencer said.
“They have a very different view of the industry than we do. They don’t ship their games day and date on PC, [and] they don’t put their games in the subscription when they launch their games.”
Spencer reiterated that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is in the works to strengthen Xbox’s presence in the mobile gaming sphere, instead of being a move to 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.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
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