Sony has made some of its first comments regarding Microsoft‘s £50billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying it expects the games to remain on PlayStation.
As spotted by Bloomberg, a Sony spokesperson speaking to the Wall Street Journal today (January 20) has said that it expects Activision to honour its contractual agreements despite being bought out by its competitor Microsoft.
“We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform.”
Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming has said that Microsoft does not intend to pull communities away from PlayStation by taking games away from the platform. Analysts also suggest that due to the large number of players of Activision’s biggest franchise Call Of Duty, regulators would prevent Microsoft from making it an exclusive title over fears of monopolisation.
Drew Angerer
However, Spencer made similar remarks during the acquisition of Zenimax. While Microsoft did abide by the current contractual agreements, for example the timed console exclusivity of Deathloop on PlayStation, going forward a number of Zenimax games are set to be Xbox exclusive titles.
The future of Activision Blizzard remains uncertain with current CEO Bobby Kotick declining to comment on whether he will remain at the company after the deal closes. Speaking to GIBiz analyst Dr Serkan Toto thinks that Bobby Kotick will leave the company.
“The [sexual harassment] lawsuits will be Microsoft’s problem soon, and I have more faith in Phil Spencer solving them than in Bobby Kotick pretending to try the same. In the long run, Kotick will leave — there is no way around it in my mind. I am not sure what will happen to Blizzard’s leadership, but things are not looking as scandalous at King, so at least the mobile side should be fine.”
This view is shared by another industry analyst, Nick Parker, who said “I’m not sure this will be a smooth integration, I don’t expect Bobby Kotick would report to anybody so maybe he’ll consider that he’s work is done and move on eventually.”
In other news, Techland has announced that Dying Light 2 will be delayed on Switch releasing within six months of the other consoles launches.
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