

The testimony from the two CEOs came on the fourth day of a court hearing in San Francisco. He added that making a subpar version for PlayStation would bring “vitriol from gamers” and is not something Activision developers would do. Removing the game from PlayStation ”would cause serious reputational damage,” Kotick said. Kotick said it doesn’t make sense to make “Call of Duty” exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox console or to offer subpar versions of the military action game on other systems, like Sony’s PlayStation. “There should be no ambiguity in our support for the Sony platform,” he said, describing a conversation he had with Sony’s CEO shortly after the deal was announced.Īctivision CEO Bobby Kotick also testified Wednesday, asserting that there’s no business incentive to deprive Microsoft gaming rivals like Sony of the popular Activision game “Call of Duty,” because such a move would alienate the franchise’s devoted fanbase. “I have no love for that world,” Nadella said.

Nadella said the PlayStation maker has defined the videogame market as one focused on making premium games exclusive. Federal Trade Commission, which argues the acquisition will harm competition. The remarks were meant to undercut a key claim by the U.S. Nadella sought to assure the court that Microsoft has no interest in shutting out PlayStation by making popular Activision games exclusive to Microsoft’s own Xbox system. Microsoft struck the deal 17 months ago in hopes of expanding its videogame imprint beyond Xbox, which has about half the market share of the longtime industry leader Sony and its PlayStation device. The courtroom tussle with Microsoft comes after the FTC took Facebook owner Meta Platforms to court in Silicon Valley to try to stop a takeover of a virtual reality fitness company only to be rebuffed by the judge in that case. regulators were too lenient in past deals that helped increase the power of companies such as Amazonįacebook. The hearing represents a major test of the FTC’s amped-up oversight of Big Tech under Chairperson Lina Khan, who has said U.S. The exchange brought some levity to proceedings that are likely to make or break what would be the most expensive acquisition in technology history. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley interjected to ask if Nadella plays Activision’s best-known mobile game, “Candy Crush,” and the CEO drew laughter from the courtroom when he said he does. Microsoft doesn’t yet have much of a footprint in mobile gaming.
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“I love their console games, I love their PC games and I particularly love their mobile games,” Nadella said.
