Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard in January this year and pledged to keep its Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation beyond what the existing agreement with Sony required.
However, Sony Group’s gaming chief Jim Ryan has called an offer by Microsoft to keep the franchise for a limited time on PlayStation ‘inadequate”.
The offer was for Call of Duty to remain on the PlayStation for three years after the current agreement.
“Their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers,” Ryan said.
Ryan also noted that Call of Duty has been on PlayStation for almost 20 years and that their goal at Sony is to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty Experience.
This comment comes after private negotiations between the two gaming corporations. Last week, Xbox’s Phil Spencer remarked that Microsoft’s Call of Duty deal with PlayStation goes “well beyond typical gaming industry agreements”.
Last week Britain’s antitrust regulator predicted that Microsoft withholding Activision’s best games from rivals after the acquisition would hurt the industry.
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