Sony won't share PS6 plans with Activision Blizzard if Microsoft's acquisition goes through
The Japanese electronics giant says it Activision Blizzard would have less incentive to developer games that take advantage of the PlayStation 6's unique hardware
Sony has said it won’t share future PS6 plans with Activision Blizzard if Microsoft’s pending takeover of the Call of Duty publisher is successful.
As spotted by Eurogamer, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told the FTC (the US Federal Trade Commission) that the Japanese electronics giant couldn’t give Activision Blizzard “immensely sensitive” information about the inevitable PlayStation 6.
Ryan said Sony “simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information”, and hinted that future development of Activision Blizzard games on PlayStation hardware could be impacted.
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: PS6 plans under wraps
🤫 Sony has said PS6 details won’t be shared with Activision Blizzard in the future
⏱️ That’s if the publisher is snapped up by Microsoft in the coming months
✋ The FTC is opposing the deal, and talks are taking place today
🙉 Sony doesn’t want Microsoft to own Call of Duty and is staunchly against the takeover
Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo often send development kits and confidential documents to studios ahead of announcing a new console so that games can be developed before it launches. Call of Duty, for example, is usually a launch title on next-gen platforms, albeit often one that spans the previous and current-gen machines.
If Sony held back its PS6 plans with Activision Blizzard, that doesn’t necessarily mean the game wouldn’t come to PlayStation platforms, it may just be missing certain features. For example, developers will have to know about the PS5’s DualSense controller ahead of time, allowing them to make more tailored experiences for PlayStation players. A new feature such as this could be present on PS6, but it may be absent in the next Call of Duty game – at least at launch.
Microsoft will also face this potential conflict when it comes to working with Bungie in the future, as the Destiny 2 developer will remain multiplatform but was acquired by Sony in 2022.
Microsoft has offered PlayStation a 10-year deal to ensure Call of Duty remains on Sony’s platform, but the Japanese company has yet to sign it. A similar deal was offered to Nintendo and Nvidia, which agreed to the terms.
With Microsoft’s multi-billion deal hanging in the balance, we should finally see a conclusion to this ongoing saga once and for all. Either Microsoft will be able to complete its acquisition successfully, or it’ll have to rethink its approach and make do with the studios it currently has.
Microsoft announced that the price of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Game Pass is set to increase after Sony previously hiked the price of PS5 last year.