Information on the PlayStation 6 features will not be shared with Activision Blizzard if the publisher is acquired by Microsoft, according to a new statement from Jim Ryan from earlier this year.
As reported by CharlieIntel, in a deposition in April, the Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO said that, even if some Activision Blizzard games get released on PlayStation after the acquisition, the company will not share information on the PlayStation 6 features with them, as Activision Blizzard would have less of an incentive to develop its games to take full advantage of the unique features of the console. After the acquisition, Jim Ryan said, its primary focus would be to optimize the overall Xbox business, not just the Activision Blizzard one.
Sony’s Jim Ryan said in a deposition back in April that if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision happens, Sony won’t share any PS6 information with Activision developers, saying they will not be able to share relevant future console info to a developer owned by a competitor pic.twitter.com/Py0Ag554pc
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) June 22, 2023
While it's been a few months since the deposition, it is unlikely that Jim Ryan changed his stance on the Activision Blizzard acquisition, so it definitely sounds like it would be SIE that would prevent games such as the future entries of the Call of Duty series to release on PlayStation 6, even if the publisher was willing.
At this point, it's unclear if Microsoft will be able to complete the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While the deal was approved in multiple territories, such as Europe and South Korea, it wasn't in others, such as the UK, as the country's CMA feels that the acquisition would be a problem for cloud gaming. Similar concerns were raised this week in New Zealand. As the acquisition was temporarily blocked in the United States following an injunction from the FTC, it will be a while until we will learn how this story will end.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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