Respawn Senior Developer Calls Out Sony CEO Jim Ryan

The PlayStation–Xbox controversy continues spiralling over Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. PS maker Sony has raised multiple concerns over titles like Call of Duty being restricted to PlayStation players. Microsoft was taken to court by the Federal Trade Commission over the allegations, with Sony representatives also being present. It seems, however, that Sony is trying to use all possible tricks in the bag to stop the merger from happening. In a recent turn of events, a senior developer of Respawn Entertainment called out Sony boss Jim Ryan for misleading court hearings.

Respawn’s Patrick Wren took to social media alleging that Sony CEO Jim Ryan has lied in court over false accusations of degrading quality of CoD on PlayStation consoles.

Sony trying hard to stop the deal

Since the announcement of Microsoft talking over Activision, Sony has been scurrying to do everything possible and stop the merger from going through. Sony alleged that the merger will result in popular titles like Apex Legends and Call of Duty being inaccessible for PS players with Microsoft now holding all the rights to the developers. Microsoft, however, has maintained that this acquisition will not harm Sony in any way. Compared to Microsoft Xbox, Sony has more exclusive titles and this has always been the pivot point of argument for Microsoft.

Following the issues raised by Sony, the FTC put a restraining order on the Microsoft-Activision deal and the Xbox maker was asked to appear in court for further hearings on June 22. Sony was also present in the court to publicly state their concerns over the $69 billion deal. Patrick Wren, a senior developer in Respawn Entertainment who was involved in games like Star Wars: Jedi Survivor, however, slammed Sony’s statements.

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Lying under oath?

During the hearings, Jim Ryan pointed out an e-mail from September last year which stated that CoD titles degraded for PS consoles and the games were seen to contain a lot of bugs along with subpar quality. Wren went to social media to slam Sony’s allegations saying that no developer would intentionally release poor-quality games under any circumstances.

Wren also said that it is extremely foolish for Ryan to even suggest something like this. Wren remarks, “No game dev willingly tries to put out an inferior release with less quality and more bugs.” He adds, “For Jim Ryan to suggest otherwise that is asinine.” Since Wren’s explosive statements, many are startled by the new drama that is now unfolding.

The community waits to see what new directions the fiasco takes and whether the Microsoft-Activision merger actually sees the light of day.

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