PlayStation Exec Jim Ryan Reportedly Flew to Brussels to Talk to Regulators About Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Acquisition
A report claims that Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan personally visited European Union headquarters to voice PlayStation's concerns regarding Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. EU regulators have dedicated to a thorough investigation of the Activision Blizzard acquisition and its impact on competition in the video game industry. PlayStation has been a vocal critic of Microsoft's effort with specific regard to the Call of Duty franchise and its eventual availability on Xbox Game Pass.
Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring Activision Blizzard in January, earlier this year, in an all-cash transaction for $68.7 billion. It's the largest acquisition in the video game industry's history by multiple times, with the second-largest being Take-Two's purchase of Zynga for $12.7 million. Such a large acquisition has drawn a significant focus from international regulatory bodies questioning whether Activision Blizzard's purchase is anticompetitive.
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The report comes from Dealreporter, which claims that Jim Ryan personally flew to Brussels on September 8 in order to offer PlayStation's perspective on the acquisition. The exact nature of his visit, who Ryan spoke to, and what he said, have not been clarified. As noted, however, PlayStation has been especially critical of Microsoft's efforts where the UK and EU will listen. That Ryan took the time to comment personally shows just how seriously PlayStation is taking the situation, even if its priorities are somewhat biased.
It's unclear at this point in time whether there's a serious threat to the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard or if regulatory bodies are
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