Jim Ryan, CEO and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment, and Phil Spencer, Xbox CEO, got into an argument in the media…

Microsoft’s offer is that after the current deal expires, the Redmond company will make Call of Duty available on PlayStation platforms for three more years if the tech giant can buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion after having absorbed ZeniMax Media (parent company of Bethesda). However, Ryan considers Spencer’s offer bid “inadequate on many levels”.

Let’s start from the beginning. Last week, Spencer told The Verge, “In January, we provided a signed agreement to Sony to guarantee Call of Duty on PlayStation, with feature and content parity, for at least several more years beyond the current Sony contract, an offer that goes well beyond typical gaming industry agreements.” The current contract is said to be for the next three Call of Duty titles, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (and, in all likelihood, Call of Duty: Warzone 2).

Ryan responded to it in a statement to Gamesindustry, “I hadn’t intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum. Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers. We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle.”

In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority, the CMA, is likely to launch the second phase of an in-depth investigation into Microsoft’s takeover bid unless the two companies “offer acceptable undertakings to address [concerns that it may affect competition in the United Kingdom].” In the US, the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, has already begun the second phase of its investigation into the significance of the impact on competition. The European Commission has not yet started its review. Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, said in a letter on September 1 that they “already received approvals from a couple of countries,” and “the process with all of the regulators is generally moving along as we expected.”

However, it may not be suitable for one publisher to buy up everyone… and Microsoft has plenty of money to do so.

Source: Gematsu