PlayStation boss flew to Brussels to contest Xbox Activision deal

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reportedly flew to Brussels to contest the pending Xbox Activision Blizzard deal.

It’s been common knowledge of late, that Jim Ryan has been firmly against Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard. Especially when it comes to the prospect of the Call of Duty series being the first-part property of Xbox.

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PlayStation boss has voiced concerns before over the Xbox Activision deal

In September 20222, Ryan fired shots at Microsoft claiming the Call of Duty offer on the table for PlayStation is “inadequate on many levels.

Ryan made the claim following Xbox chief Phil Spencer revealing that Microsoft had signed an agreement with Sony. The reported agreement was to ensure that the Call of Duty series remained on PlayStation for “several more years”.

Furthermore, Spencer responded to the comments made by Ryan to CNBC, saying: “I’ve set out there publicly to our fans and our customers, which is where our strongest commitment is, that our expectation is we’ll continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation and other places where people see it, and hopefully expand the places people are playing all of our games.

Will PlayStation and Xbox agree on a deal?

However, it seems that Ryan hasn’t stopped his pursuit just yet in the fight against Microsoft owning Activision Blizzard or at the very least, fighting for a better deal for Call of Duty on PlayStation.

According to Dealreporter (thanks VGC), SIE CEO, Jim Ryan was invited to the European Headquarters on September 8th to voice his concerns over the yet-to-be-finished $68.7 billion deal. Additionally, it is claimed in the same report that Google has also voiced its concerns on the topic to EU regulators.

At this time, the conversations between Jim Ryan and the EU regulators have not been made public. However, judging by previous reports, it’s probably safe to assume that Ryan wasn’t all in on the Activision Blizzard takeover.

call of duty warzone 2.0
Credit: Activision Blizzard

It seems Microsoft won’t make Call of Duty exclusive

Back in August 2022, Microsoft representatives told regulators in Brazil that making the Call of Duty series exclusive to Xbox wouldn’t be profitable

On that logic, it seems that Microsoft does not want to keep the popular series exclusive, so let’s hope that Xbox and PlayStation can come to agreeable terms sooner rather than later. However, any issues are unlikely to be resolved before the next arrival in the FPS series.

call of duty modern warfare 2 beta
Credit: Activision/Infinity Ward

When is the Modern Warfare 2 release date?

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has a release date of October 28th, 2022 for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Furthermore, the next iteration of Warzone launches on November 16th.

Do you think PlayStation boss Jim Ryan will strike a better deal with Xbox over the Activision deal and Call of Duty? Let us know your thoughts across our social media channels.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our video of the week. 10 of the scariest horror games of all time are shown off. What is your favourite horror game?

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Featured Image Credit: Activision Blizzard/Source: VGC via Dealreporter