Microsoft has signed 10-year deals with multiple gaming platforms, including Nvidia and Nintendo. It also offered a similar multi-year deal to Sony but the PlayStation maker has not signed it yet. Earlier this year, an executive from Activision claimed that Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) president and CEO Jim Ryan just wanted to block the merger. During a recent hearing, Ryan confirmed the narrative and told a US court why he said so.
What Sony told Activision
In a tweet, Lulu Cheng Meservey, who is the executive vice president, corporate affairs and chief communications officer at Activision Blizzard, said that Ryan said in Brussels he doesn’t want a deal.She also said that Ryan said those words on February 21.”Microsoft offered Sony (the dominant console leader for well over a decade, with 80% market share) a 10-year agreement on far better terms than Sony would ever get from us. We’ve also offered Sony guaranteed long-term access to Call of Duty. But they keep refusing. Why?,” she wrote in a tweet.
“The CEO of SIE answered that question in Brussels. In his words: ‘I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger’,” she said.
Sony’s explanation
Ryan provided the other side of the story during the court hearing. The Sony executive confirmed his meeting with Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and said, “I told him [Bobby Kotick] that I thought the transaction was anti-competitive, I hoped that the regulators would do their job and block it.”

He added that Kotick wanted to “cover himself” with an extended Call of Duty deal with Sony. Microsoft initially offered a 3-year deal to Sony but later extended the deal.
“What Bobby wanted to do was cover himself by extending the marketing collaboration between Sony and Activision, in the event of the transaction not proceeding,” Ryan said.
The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking to temporarily block the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal.