An email from the ongoing Microsoft vs FTC hearing reveals that former Sony president Chris Deering believes the RPG game titan would have been better off announcing a new electric car than acquiring Activision Blizzard.
The correspondence between Sony CEO Jim Ryan and Deering has been obtained by The Verge’s Tom Warren. In a January 19 email to Ryan, Deering claims that Microsoft has pivoted to hopefully become “a player in mobile games,” which strikes as “more of a King play than CoD.
“If it was an Xbox exclusivity play, Spencer could have locked up [Microsoft] console exclusivity for the next three CoD releases for maybe £5 billion,” he continues. “The major cash out will lure most of the talent to take the money and run as fast as their contracts allow, leaving Microsoft with [a] very gnarly management challenge.
“I guess Microsoft can p**s away that kind of valuation without being harmed or helped, but I [am] not losing a wink of sleep over the future of our baby. Hope you agree.” To sign off the email, he simply writes “ps, they would have been better announcing a new electric car.”
According to Warren’s screengrabs, Ryan then responds on January 20, a day later, writing “it’s not an Xbox exclusivity play at all; they’re thinking bigger than that, and they have the cash to make moves like this. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Phil [Spencer] and Bobby [Kotick] over the past day. I’m pretty sure we will see CoD on PlayStation for many years to come.” He closes out with “we’ll be OK, more than OK.”
The email chain has emerged as a result of the FTC. vs Microsoft hearing, which is currently ongoing. The tech giant is looking to acquire Activision Blizzard in a controversial move that some claim with give them a monopoly over the gaming market. At the time of writing, the deal has been blocked in the UK, but accepted by the European Union.