Microsoft says Sony’s Jim Ryan is misleading European commissioners

Microsoft’s comms lead takes aim at Sony’s CEO

Microsoft communications lead Frank Shaw accused Sony CEO Jim Ryan of misleading leaders in the European Union’s regulatory commission (thanks, VGC). Shaw made the comments on Twitter after Reuters reported that Ryan met EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager. While Reuters didn’t provide details of the conversation between Vestager and Ryan, apparently Microsoft got wind of it anyway.

Shaw said Ryan tried convincing Vestager that Microsoft would be “unwilling to offer them parity for Call of Duty ”after the acquisition went through, resurrecting previous concerns from Sony about how accessible the FPS franchise would be on PlayStation platforms. 

I hear Sony is briefing people in Brussels claiming Microsoft is unwilling to offer them parity for Call of Duty if we acquire Activision.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

1/4

— Frank X. Shaw (@fxshaw) January 28, 2023

Shaw reiterated Microsoft’s line as well and said the Redmond-based software company offered a 10-year deal that promised the same features and releases, available at the same time as they launch on Xbox. Shaw said Microsoft even offered to make these terms enforceable via contract, similar to the deal that reportedly now exists between Nintendo and Microsoft.

“Sony is the console market leader and it would defy business logic for us to exclude PlayStation gamers from the Call of Duty ecosystem,” Shaw said in one of the thread’s tweets.

Whether Sony agreed, and why Ryan continues to express these concerns after Microsoft has purportedly offered these assurances in writing before, remains unclear.

The EU Commission for Competition is expected to issue Microsoft with a formal list of objections during the week of Jan. 30, 2023, following the regulatory body’s decision to halt the approval process and investigate the deal’s potential ramifications further. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft on the grounds of the deal’s possible harm to competition. Both agencies are expected to make a formal ruling on the $69 billion deal sometime in spring 2023.