Phil Spencer Claims Sony Wants to Grow PlayStation by Shrinking Xbox.

 

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Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has spoken out against Sony's rivalry in the debate over whether or not authorities will approve Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. On the Second Request podcast, he said that Sony is shrinking Xbox in an effort to boost its own revenue.

"There has only really been one significant opponent of the merger, and that is Sony. Sony is attempting to maintain their hegemony on consoles. Making Xbox smaller is how they expand "said Spencer. "They approach the industry considerably differently than we do. When they release their games, they don't put them into subscription or ship them day and date for PC. Just by observing some of their movements, I can tell that they are beginning to consider going mobile."

Spencer went on to explain that he doesn't see why Sony is using Call of Duty as its justification for why the acquisition shouldn't be approved. If its bid is successful, Microsoft, according to Spencer, has consistently stated that it will not remove Call of Duty from PlayStation. In fact, according to Spencer, he and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called Sony the day Activision Blizzard announced its acquisition of the company to let them know they planned to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation if the deal was approved. However, he noted that Call of Duty is the main argument Sony uses to argue against the agreement in order to maintain their dominance in the console market.

Microsoft made a proposal that Valve accepted for Call of Duty's future on PC, and Nintendo accepted Microsoft's offer to place Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms for 10 years. Gabe Newell, the CEO of Valve, claimed an official contract wasn't required. According to Spencer, Sony is currently "slow-rolling" Microsoft in their ongoing negotiations. Then why? Because it supposedly strengthens Sony's stance and provides "excellent discussion material for the regulators," according to Spencer.

According to Spencer, Microsoft won't remove Call of Duty from PlayStation because doing so would be unwise commercially. He asserted that PlayStation is the most widely used console platform for the Call of Duty series and that its removal from the system will result in a loss of "billions" of dollars in income. Spencer also emphasized that if its deal to acquire Activision Blizzard is successful, Call of Duty on PlayStation wouldn't be a subpar experience because Microsoft will release the same game with the same features at the same time.

"One franchise that we have stated will continue to ship on the platform is drawing criticism from the biggest console manufacturer in the world. It's an agreement that gives customers access and choice, "said Spencer.

Serbia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia have already authorized Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, although the UK and US have not yet made a final judgment. Today, December 8, the Federal Trade Commission in the US is reportedly going to meet behind closed doors to talk about the deal and possibly decide whether to initiate an anti-trust lawsuit.