Phil Spencer Says Sony is Protecting Its Console LeaderShip by “Making Xbox Smaller”

Phil Spencer is no longer mincing his words about Sony’s tactics to make Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard fail. In a recent interview with the Second Request podcast (via Video Games Chronicle), the CEO of Microsoft Gaming accused Sony of trying to derail the $68 billion deal to maintain its leadership on the console market.

“Sony is trying to protect its dominance on the console. The way they grow is by making Xbox smaller,” Spencer said. Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard would be the largest acquisition in the history of the company. However, in terms of gaming revenue, Microsoft would remain behind Sony and the Chinese company Tencent.

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“Sony is leading the dialogue around why the deal shouldn’t go through to protect its dominant position on console, so the thing they grab onto is Call of Duty,” Spencer said during the interview. “The largest console maker in the world raising an objection about the one franchise that we’ve said will continue to ship on the platform. It’s a deal that benefits customers through choice and access.”

Last week, Microsoft said that it has offered Nintendo a 10-year deal to bring back Call of Duty on the company’s consoles. The Redmond giant said that it offered a similar deal to Sony, which declined to respond.

Last week, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a suit to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, the US agency filed its complaint in its own administrative court instead of a federal court, and it also didn’t seek a preliminary injunction to block the deal.

“While we believed in giving peace a chance, we have complete confidence in our case and welcome the opportunity to present it in court.,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in a statement. In addition to the FTC’s lawsuit, the European Union and the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) are also investigating the deal.

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