The Rejected Offer – Jim Ryan’s Counter-Proposal To Phil Spencer in The Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Acquisition

The drama between Microsoft and Sony continues to evolve. Xbox‘s proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard has Sony on its toes ever since the announcement last year. Since then, Sony has tried everything to stop the deal from going through. With vehement objections from the PlayStation maker, the Federal Trade Commission put a restraining order on the deal. A recent reveal suggests that there’s more to the matter than what meets the eye, as the extensive correspondence between Sony’s Jim Ryan and Microsoft’s Phil Spencer has been made public.

In June 2023, Microsoft was taken to court by the FTC to answer more details on the proposed takeover of the CoD developers. Apparently, the Microsoft CEO rejected a counterproposal from Sony regarding the terms of the acquisition.

Microsoft-Sony relationship sours

In early 2022, Microsoft announced its interest to takeover Activision-Blizzard as a business expansion. The announcement brought ripples across the community, and no one was more moved than Sony. The PlayStation maker alleged that the deal would cause Xbox to restrict intellectual properties (IP) to PS players. On the other hand, Microsoft maintained that Sony has enough exclusive titles already and the takeover won’t dethrone Sony from the top of the console industry.

Despite such claims by Microsoft, Sony refused to let the deal slide without any resistance. Their constant protests prompted the FTC to draw Microsoft to the court to provide more details on the matter. The community has been keenly following the developments of the proceedings, with both Microsoft and Sony being backed by their fans. While the situation is currently pretty jumbled, correspondence between the two CEOs has emerged, bringing more twists into the already muddy waters.

Read more Will Xbox CEO Phil Spencer Employ Sony’s Exclusivity Strategies Against Them Following the Acquisition of Activision Blizzard?

The offer that didn’t go down too well

A recent post on Twitter suggests that Sony CEO Jim Ryan made offers to Microsoft boss Phil Spencer as a gesture of acceptance of the proposed takeover of Activision. In the mail from May 2022, Ryan made a number of points to Spencer. Ryan requested that all Activision titles should be available on PlayStation for the same price as Xbox consoles. He also said that Activision games should get equal treatment for both Xbox and PS subscriptions.

The Sony boss also stated that the acquisition should acquit PlayStation of any marketing or financial support to Activision games. Treatment of Bethesda titles equally on both Xbox and PlayStation was the final point of the mail from Ryan. However, Microsoft rejected the terms saying, “It is hard to align the principles set out in your email of May 26, 2022 with Sony’s leading role in the market.”

With such riveting past interactions coming to light, the community waits to see how the deal between Microsoft and Activision transpires.

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