Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) President Jim Ryan confirmed in an interview with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that if Microsoft successfully acquires Activision Blizzard, Sony will not share any details about the next-generation PS console (tentatively named PS6) with Activision Blizzard.
Those statements were made public through recently released court documents, many of which were redacted after Ryan was questioned by the FTC in April. Axios reporter Stephen Totilo recently declassified some of the deleted content on his Twitter feed.
Ryan said bluntly: “It is impossible for Sony to take the risk of providing this information to a company owned by a direct competitor.” He also complained that if Microsoft completes the acquisition, the PS version development process of Activision Blizzard-related games will be interrupted, even if it will completely stop development, and at least seriously hinder Activision Blizzard’s efforts to develop games for PS consoles.
Ryan also said that he is also concerned that Activision Blizzard will no longer have the incentive to adapt PS-exclusive features to its games, such as DualSense haptic feedback, after being acquired by Microsoft. He emphasized: “I believe that Microsoft’s main direction after completing the acquisition is to optimize its overall Xbox business, rather than (prioritizing) Activision Blizzard’s business.”
It was previously reported that Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox business, has also complained in recent days that Sony is unwilling to provide the PS5 development kit to Microsoft. While other developers got the kit, Microsoft didn’t get the same treatment, putting Microsoft developers at a disadvantage in development.
