If Sony isn’t careful, they may get a stern finger wagging too (pic: Getty Images)



Despite all the mudslinging on Sony’s part, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick swears this won’t affect their working relationship going forward.



Like it or loathe it, the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger is inching ever closer to completion. Not only has UK regulator the Competition and Markets Authority softened its stance on the acquisition, but Japan has now approved it – as it believes the deal won’t stifle competition.



This leaves the US’s Federal Trade Commission as the only major roadblock left since, at time of writing, it still intends on blocking the deal with a lawsuit .



Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is unsurprisingly confident that the deal will go through in the end and, in a staff email that he’s also shared publicly, has called out Sony for its ‘disappointing behaviour’ in trying to get the deal blocked.



Whereas most other companies, like EA , see no harm in Microsoft buying Activision, Sony has always been against the idea and has given regulators multiple reasons not to approve it.



There’s been plenty of mudslinging, with Sony accusing Microsoft of being willing to break promises and even claiming that it could deliberately launch buggy and broken versions of Call Of Duty games for PlayStation.



Microsoft, meanwhile, has presented itself as the generous and well meaning underdog, routinely promising to keep Call Of Duty on PlayStation and bring Activision’s games to other platforms .



This approach has arguably helped make Sony look like the less reasonable of the two companies, and Kotick’s email tries to make him sound like a reasonable authority figure, willing to forgive and forget despite all the bad blood.



Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – if you speak with Call Of Duty players, Activision’s already been releasing buggy games for years (pic: Activision)



‘You may have seen statements from Sony, including an argument that if this deal goes through, Microsoft could release deliberately ‘buggy’ versions of our games on PlayStation,’ Kotick writes .



‘We all know our passionate players would be the first to hold Microsoft accountable for keeping its promises of content and quality parity. And, all of us who work so hard to deliver the best games in our industry care too deeply about our players to ever launch sub-par versions of our games.



‘Sony has even admitted that they aren’t actually concerned about a Call Of Duty agreement – they would just like to prevent our merger from happening. This is obviously disappointing behaviour from a partner for almost thirty years, but we will not allow Sony’s behaviour to affect our long term relationship.’



Kotick taking the moral high ground is ironic considering this is the same man who was claiming massive bonuses as dozens of employees were laid off and allegedly withheld details of sexual harassment within Activision Blizzard from its board.



Multiple employees and members of the general public have demanded his resignation and there’s been particular concern that he may remain as the head of Activision Blizzard after the acquisition.



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Microsoft has never outwardly committed to replacing him, even though it initially threatened to break ties with Activision in the wake of the major sexual harassment lawsuit in 2021. In fact it was only a day after that rebuke that Xbox boss Phil Spencer was on the phone to Kotick to start negotiations for the acquisition .



Whatever Kotick’s personal attitude towards Sony, Microsoft will be keen to ensure it seems like business as usual, at least in the early days of the acquisition, as agreeing to keep Call Of Duty multiformat was key to their arguments in favour of the deal.



Microsoft swears everyone’s a winner if the deal is approved, but Sony certainly won’t feel like one (pic: Microsoft)



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