In a change of tone, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has accused Sony of “trying to sabotage” Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, following his claims about the PlayStation company’s recent refusal to talk business with him. Kotick’s comments were shortly followed by the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s provisional report yesterday, which found that the deal bears significant anticompetitive risk and recommended major structural remedies.
As the deal continues to face strong opposition in the US and UK, Kotick has been vocalizing his disapproval of what he feels is ill-informed, biased regulatory action and petty undermining from competitors. This week, he claimed that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and UK CMA “do not know” the gaming industry, and that the UK would become “Death Valley” if it blocked the acquisition. After separately criticizing Sony for refusing to take his calls to discuss business, Kotick now lashed out at the former for “trying to sabotage” the deal:
(Activision offers its games to Sony’s PlayStation console and this deal is about to expire.) Suddenly, Sony’s entire leadership team stopped talking to anyone at Microsoft. I think this is all Sony just trying to sabotage the transaction. The whole idea that we are not going to support a PlayStation or that Microsoft would not support the PlayStation, it is absurd.
When asked to comment by the interviewer, Sony had this to say: “We are in contact with Microsoft and have no further comment regarding our private negotiations.”
Yesterday, the CMA published provisional findings from its review of Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The UK regulator found that the deal was likely to result in two substantial lessening of competition (SLC) scenarios in the console hardware and cloud gaming markets. Though the CMA remains open to behavioral remedies that ensure other platforms’ equal access to Call of Duty, it has recommended that the franchise or large parts of the Activision Blizzard business be divested for the deal to be allowed to go through.
Source: Financial Times