The saga surrounding Microsoft's acquisition of Activision and Sony's obstruction of the deal continues to generate headlines. The latest information from PlayStation's side comes via an official document revealing Jim Ryan's statements during his April meetings with the FTC , where the PlayStation president asserted that he would not trust a company owned by its rival.
The power of information
It makes sense that PlayStation is starting to have some misgivings about its current relationship with Activision. The Call of Duty giant is working hand in hand with Microsoft drawing up what could be the new roadmap in the future together with the Redmond company, and obviously Sony does not like that.
And Ryan himself was quite clear in his statements to the FTC, asserting that Sony Interactive Entertainment would cease sharing its previews and initial details of the next-generation console (PS6) if Activision officially signed the agreement with Microsoft. Are there reasons to understand this stance, or is it simply a tantrum?
In an FTC v MS/ABK deposition, PlayStation chief Jim Ryan said that, if deal closes, Sony couldn't tell Activision about its next console
Is then asked about Sony working with Mojang (Minecraft) after MS bought them. Discussion is redacted but Ryan says it supports this concern pic.twitter.com/M86CBm3CcY
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 21, 2023
Question of confidence
There are reasons. Having a company owned by your number one enemy in possession of technical details and secrets about your next big release is, to say the least, suspicious. It's clear that this type of information exchange involves signing extensive clauses that guarantee the confidentiality of such sensitive information, but ultimately, it all boils down to Activision employees receiving the PS6 developer version , and an early version of the PS6 being in Microsoft's offices is a ticking time bomb.
A no that has a price
Obviously at Sony they know that closing the door on Activision will have a price. If they don't deliver development units, it will be hard to see a signature release coinciding with the console release. In addition, the development team will need more time to release the corresponding versions of the console and, in short, the presence of Activision games will be quite weak.
Considering how important Activision games are to many PlayStation users (just Call of Duy to name), this could be a huge blow for them.
And Microsoft so happy
On the other hand, this situation could work in Microsoft's favor, provided they can convince the FTC . PlayStation's negativity would be their own decision, and Microsoft would always guarantee Activision's confidentiality through their contracts, even though it's hard to believe there wouldn't be internal contamination among their employees.
This is just one more detail in this eternal soap opera, so we'll see who ends up favoring all this.