Kotick Says Sony "Not Returning" Activision's Calls to Discuss Future of COD & New Opportunities

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has claimed that Sony is "not returning" the former's phone calls to discuss COD & new business.

[jonny897]

Why will they? Activision will just repeat what MS has been saying.

[HardKnockKid24]

Imagine if MS just went ahead and purchased 10 years of 1 year exclusivity on COD if the deal falls through. Fanboys would probably self destruct. Apparently 1 year exclusivity is fine. Everything is fine unless done by Xbox

[VenomUK]

Two Kotick interviews in a short period of time, this is definitely a PR blitz to put pressure on the regulators.

[ModsDoBetter]

Remember when Xbox had exclusivity with COD in the age of the season pass?

Now with the BattlePass Sony have exclusive bonuses like 2XP & Operators.

I don’t think it’s “fine” either way as consumers will lose out.

[Redemption-64]

That will be the biggest waste of money for MS, and would actually benefit Sony. I believe Activision makes about $1.5-$2 billion a year from Playstation. Most PS gamer will not switch to Xbox for COD, even the survey done by the CMA in UK shows, an estimated 24% will be willing to make the change. MS will not make back the amount of money they spend to warrant them paying that much for 1 single game. This will in turn decrease the sales and user base of COD significantly, giving other games time to build and establish themselves on Playstation. Activision stands to lose in the long run and MS will not make back the amount of money they would invest in such an exclusive deal.

[headshotfrosty]

Exactly.

[shinoff2183]

10 years of marketing and dumb dlc for a time. Not a huge deal. Ms did something pretty similar during ps3 360 Era. Remember that

[shinoff2183]

Redemption

24 percent is alot. Say ps4 sold 120 million I think. 24 percent is huge

[JackBNimble]

Shinoff2183
I believe that statement was 24% of playstation cod players, not 24% of ps user base.
Still a big number of cod fans

[S2Killinit]

Hmmm, No, you clearly have zero clue.

[Kaze88]

Exclusive feature or updates for 1 week before other platforms is not real full exclusivity. 360 era MS had same thing as Sony has now on COD. MW2 etc. still came to XSX like on any other system, don't try to bullshit.

[PapaBop]

Imagine if MS took that money and invested it in creating new studios and could actually have something that would resemble a good line up of exclusive games each year.

[Noskypeno]

@Papa, 10000% what they should have done. They get new exclusives and still have COD on their console. We've seen what 500 million did with Halo Infinite, but with volume there's a higher chance some of them might be great.

[blacktiger]

10 year is too risky for both company,

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

They wouldn't have the right to do that either.
And huge waste of money.
Microsoft, just focus on making MORE and BETTER games. That's literally all you have to do to beat Sony but you've been incapable of doing that for at least 15 years. Throwing your money out the window won't solve anything.

[Obscure_Observer]

"Why will they? Activision will just repeat what MS has been saying."

Lol. And Sony acting like a jealous that can´t let go and move forward won´t answer Activision´s calls.

Sony will achieve nothing but the rupture of an already eroded relationship.

Just like Bethesda, Activision can move on without Playstation. Be that with or without Microsoft.

Sony is the only one to lose in case Activision decides and stop supporting Playstation all toguether.

IMO, Jim Lyan is playing a very dangerous game. One he can´t possibly win.

[frostypants]

Way to demonstrate a total failure to grasp the situation.

[shinoff2183]

I don't think your right on Amy point obscure. First if the Activision deal falls through. No way Activision can just not make games for ps. It's to big. Plus so many Xbox players seem to only play what's on gamepass. I know of 3 people at work that play Xbox. They all only play Xbox gamepass games. It's not an indication of all Xbox players but it's some sort of indication.

[derek]

@Obscure, Sony is the only rational actor out on this issue. Just what would Sony have to talk about with Activision while the outcome of this proposed purchase hangs in the balance? Lol. "Hey let's talk about extending that marketing deal.....whoops we're owned by Microsoft now, sorry". Lol. Kotic is just floundering around looking for some way to save his golden parachute.

[TheTony316]

You have to be the most delusional Xbox fanboy i've ever seen. Even eclipsing shills like Crapgamer.

[badz149]

Haha you dumb-dumbs are just gonna believe whatever Kotick says now? Where is the proof of this Sony "not returning calls"?

Sony is willing to go all this way to appeal for regulators to block the buyout but sure...according to this golden parachute a$$hat Sony aren't willing to "discuss" anything regarding the IP they both are making so much money off every single year!

Yeah...That makes PERFECT SENSE! /s

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Nintendo had no issue agreeing to the deal. Sony refuses to make one.

[badz149]

@343

Nintendo will take anything. COD is nothing for them in the first place

[1Victor]

Activision clearly made a choice decided on a master and is fighting tooth and nails to join their chosen master why would sony talk to them when activision is clearly going against the grains.
I can’t believe he equated the last of us tv show popularity to CoD because it’s based on a video game and Microsoft don’t have tv/movie/music studios they can’t compete with Sony.
If you have a strong stomach and can hold the puke from the fox interview I 🤢recommend you to see it

[Christopher]

Certain their lawyers told them to not communicate about future deals during the buyout. Sony could agree to something that Microsoft would then use to prove that Sony makes it hard for Microsoft to compete or some nonsense.

[excaliburps]

But that would mean they aren't talking about future co-marketing deals and content, no? Mind, not saying I approve of that, but just that that's what's being left off the table.

[sinspirit]

That's when those involvements carry on with those matters specifically but don't converse or mention anything else. Professionalism. They won't just necessarily cut them off entirely. Notice the title says "not returning" calls FOR a certain topic as well. That's modern journalism. It sounds really bad that Sony isn't communicating at all! But, read everything and it actually means Sony is only not communicating this and that, x and y.

[thesoftware730]

Wouldn't it be Sony's lawyers and the business group doing the talking?

If this is true, this just means Sony doesn't want to make ANY deals at all, just straight-up blockage. This could potentially shatter any future good relationship between Sony and A/B, deal or no deal.

[CS7]

They shouldn’t negotiate with terrorists

[Christopher]

***Wouldn't it be Sony's lawyers and the business group doing the talking?***

No. Business people do the talking. Lawyers write up the contracts.

[SeTTriP]

How are ya'll turning this around on Sony the amount of delusion is real with some of these comments.these games were literally coming out on Xbox with or without the buy so the most logical question to ask is for what exactly? What is the end game?

All sony is being is going to bat for its user base.
Xbox brings absolutely nothing to gaming but because daddy has 2trillon to back your spoil ass you'll just buy the world and sat it on fire 🔥 all because you was never a competitor to begin with.

If Xbox wasn't attached to Microsoft they would've been went belly up or pulled the plug on Xbox.

A botched e3 (the worst I've seen in electronics history imo) rrod, 3 consoles that failed to turn a profit,a failed peripheral, last in consoles sales, last in software sales (by huge margins) and now you want to buy everything because you stepped on the court and couldn't play ball.

At this point I give zero fucks about xbox let them die so somebody else can make Sony better or be better themselves, they holding up the line.

[porkChop]

The issue with that is it will look bad to regulators. Sony's complaining (rightfully so) about losing COD but also refusing to have any discussion to ensure COD's future on PS. It hurts their argument against the buyout. It's one thing to not talk with MS, but Activision is still independent and a current business partner of Sony.

[Hofstaderman]

Any discussion can be placed on record and be used against them. Sony is not stupid and clearly taking the advice of their legal team.

[RaiderNation]

I think the goal here by Sony is for regulators to focus on looking at this purchase purely on its own as to whether its anticompetitive or not without muddying the waters with potential deals/concessions. Plus its in Sonys best interest for this thing to be drawn out as long as possible to push MS' resolve. They're probably hoping the longer this gets drawn out and the more $$$ its costing MS to get the deal done, the better chance that its no longer in MS' best interest to pursue the deal at all.

[porkChop]

"muddying the waters with potential deals/concessions"

But regulators have said they want deals/concessions. They *want* both companies to try to work together. Sony are making themselves look unreasonable and difficult to work with.

[Christopher]

Activision Executives are for the merger. Activision isn't independent. Kotick is literally making all the public rounds he can to sell it.

[shinoff2183]

Ms says ten years. Sonys looking past 10 years. Cod isn't gonna just suddenly gonna die off. People gonna continue to support that game for years to come.

[derek]

@porkchop, do you not understand? The regulators themselves have determined that this proposed purchase would hurt UK consumers if it was allowed to go ahead, the debate about Sony's place in all,this is over.

[rlow1]

How is it nonsense if that is in fact what Sony does? They have always locked out others to benefit their console.

[jznrpg]

They buy multiplat publishers and call them their own games and make them exclusive ? Nope

[shinoff2183]

Rlow1

Same as ms. No console maker is innocent of this. Why does sony catch flak, are you complaining about ms and Nintendo doing this also. Ms went pretty hard with 3rd party exclusives during 360. Remember reports they even paid 50 mill for gta 4 dlc timed exclusive. Do you

[shinoff2183]

Great point Christopher.

[JackBNimble]

Like timed exclusive and marketing deals?

[derek]

Why would they with the specter of the acquisition hanging over everything. Lol.

[frostypants]

Even Kotick surely understands that. His antics are getting increasingly desperate.

[outsider1624]

Man...when will this end?

[Vengeance1138]

How many rings did Activision wait for someone to pickup, one? Then just shrug and go ahhh well, we tried, Sony won't answer us.

[GamingSinceForever]

He said they’re not returning calls.

So the question should be did they leave a voice message? 😂

[Mr_cheese]

Phoned from an unknown number

[GamingSinceForever]

@Mr_cheese…or the number came up as Spam Risk.

[mastershredder]

It's called "the shaft" there sparky. Funny when you are (Execs-collectively) a POS that throws people under the bus and burns bridges for personal interest and no one wants anything to do with you...right? Any relation to Logan Paul?

[Hofstaderman]

Oh man Bobby, desperate much?

[343_Guilty_Spark]

He’s desperate for a company (Sony) to make a new COD deal they’ve made in the past? Huh?

[thesoftware730]

I know they have shareholders to appease, but man Sony could really be getting on A/B bad side if the deal fails.

What stops A/B from making exclusive content for games like Diablo 4 or Overwatch, CoD, bringing WoW to Xbox or even dropping them in GP, if the deal fails?
(the deal will pass tho).

[Aloymetal]

''(the deal will pass tho).''
I hope so, I'm rooting for MS because I just wanna see what they're able to achieve in the gaming market with all these studios under their belt, imagine if after having all that they fail to be the market leader and sell the most hardware/software, that'd be so embarrassing and lame. I got a front seat ticket for that show and I wouldn't miss it for anything.

[thesoftware730]

Same, I agree that they would have no excuse to not have regular AAA, AA, and indie games releasing.

With that said, selling the most hardware won't matter to them, if GP sub numbers sky rocket that is their win, that is their bread and butter, and objective...not just the physical Xbox. If that fails to happen then yeah, that is the big L.

There is a lot of different ways to access GP and more to still come, so we should base it off of their objective, not the standard console sales...they could not, and will not win that approach, that is why they moved away from that model.

Nintendo did something similar, they could not win in the console space in a defining manner and went a different route...Sony market/fan base is to strong.

[shinoff2183]

They already got more studios and can't achieve

[ocelot07]

In all honesty it's a win win for Microsoft. I have been saying for years at some point Microsoft is going to end up being a 3rd party publisher. They want gamepass everywhere imo. Xbox, PC, TV, Smartphones, Tablets even other game consoles.

If this deal goes through and like you suggest if they fail in future. Then it's not all bad for them. They have 20+ studios. They can just become a game publisher make billions farting out games on consoles, pc, streaming, mobiles.

[derek]

@thesoftware, if and when this deal collapses Kotick and the other executives who pushed for this deal will be voted out of office before new leadership crawls back to Sony. You don't screw a deal like this up and remain in leadership.

[gold_drake]

im surprised they didnt ask him about the harassment going on abut him and his people. oh wait, its been settled, and all forgotten.

guys a real prick

[Stanjara]

He just bought the law. Do you know the law? I'm Bobby, I own the law!!!

[Hofstaderman]

Kotick says is a spin-off show of Phil Says.

[Eonjay]

Which are both adaptions of Dev Says.

[-Foxtrot]

Hello…is it games you’re looking for?

[badz149]

nope. he just wants to say goodbye to the bus driver already and flaunt his golden parachute

[Petebloodyonion]

Why would they make a deal when they know that they will have a better deal by just waiting?
At this point is far from a stretch to deduce that Sony's stance against the deal is just a way to force MS/Activision into providing a bigger remedy toward Sony in exchange for the deal.
Also, MS would not be in a position of power to negotiate a COD deal since they mentioned several times that they were more interested in Candy Crush and mobile.

[Hofstaderman]

You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

What would the better deal be?

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Sony is doing the right move Bobby kotick.

[Bathyj]

Have you tried calling without the caller id on?

[Binarycode]

I don't think that guy is even human wtf is that face.

and I thought Mark Zuckerberg was alien.

[ANIALATOR136]

Jewish phenotype

[darkrider]

Is kotick a moron? He wanted that Sony talked to them to make deals about Cod, when they are selling everything to Microsoft? Damn...

[Mr_cheese]

IT'S A TRAP!!

[XxINFERNUSxX]

Still surprised no one took this guy out yet.💀

[jznrpg]

Why would they talk to MS who make up crap and say whatever random crap in tweets and wherever they can. MS would twist words whatever way they could .

[esherwood]

I bet 90% of the hate on him is just because he’s successful and there’s a lot of losers out there that like to attack successful people.

[Nyxus]

Sure, that must be it.

[shinoff2183]

Esgerwood, I'd bet it's more people that dislike him by how he is , and such. The guys a despicable person. Also the way he carries himself.

[Kaze88]

Yeah him grinding the Blizz-Act IP's to the ground, getting hundreds of millions in the process even though he has ruined so many franchises, sexual harassments and leaving his secretary voice mails, that he will get her killed has nothing to do with people hating him :)

[frostypants]

Why should they before this MS/Activision's whole mess is settled? And even if they did I could see them not wanting to deal with Kotick. He's a lame duck CEO on borrowed time.

[Miacosa]

The decision is with the different trade organizations now as to whether it gets approved with concessions or denied.

[Gravesinger_]

If this deal doesn't go through, I could see Activision/Blizzard just selling the studios or the IPs. Microsoft won't walk away from this empty-handed lol

[badz149]

and then what? just let go of one of the most successful and influential IPs in gaming for a one-time payment and stop reaping the bonuses every single year from the golden goose and just let MS have it instead? out of spite? you think Kotick is THAT dumb?

[jznrpg]

He just doesn’t know how money and companies work

[Schriefer9]

Microsoft has zero interest in being the only place to play COD. They want the PlayStation game money to make up for any if any failings of the Xbox platform. They want money not the Xbox to be the top system, unless that makes money.

[zaanan]

No. Microsoft’s main goal is to protect the dominance of their software business monopoly from this threat in the living room:

“Gates always had qualms that the living room computer would, at some stage, metamorphosise into an alternative PC that could threaten Microsoft's dominance of the traditional market. As a result, it was eventually felt the company had to try and tackle Sony head-on.”
- https://www.ign.com/article...

Nothing has changed. If you understand that profit is not the primary concern, MS’s actions make a lot more sense.

[hotnickles]

Is MS keeping him around after this deal goes through? My guess would be no? Why would anyone return his calls? Go retire on a beach somewhere.

[Vipre77]

Gross, I wouldn’t want that guy calling me either.

Sony should suck it up and bring back SOCOM and tell Kotick how they’re not really into COD anymore. Or throw some big money at Ubisoft to make some killer Rainbow 6 games. Do it right and then who needs Activision? Not me.

[hotnickles]

I know a Warzone player at work that plays for money somehow. I don’t know the details but that’s all he plays. That and GTA. He told me he would leave all of that for a new Socom tomorrow. I thought that was interesting. It hit me by surprise.

I never played socom and haven’t enjoyed a cod since the first mw2 but I know of its dominance. It was good insight for me and I hear about socom often from random places. There is a hungry market for sure. It would do well.

[jwillj2k4]

As soon as this thing goes to game pass you’ll see “number of times trailer played” as a kpi over actual sales.

[Chocoburger]

When the Devil calls, don't answer.

[DrShoe]

Bobby, buddy, what did you expect? And now the EU is bound to slap some massive fines on both Activision and Microsoft. The deal may have seemed like a good time, Bob, but buddy, you're going to get EAed by Microsoft.

[giovonni]

If I was Sony I’d at least talk to MS. The reasoning is simple, the FTC’s case at this moment is weak. Don’t take my word for it go read about it. The first 5 pages were more speculation than proof of it being anti consumer. Aka FTC doesn’t have any hard evidence.

[jambola]

I swear it's like being back in high school

[S2Killinit]

These scumbags already playing their games.

[Dirty_Lemons]

My only issue is with ActiBlizzard and this absolutely POS excuse for a man. For those reasons alone, I would laugh if it all falls through.

[ANIALATOR136]

Why would they want to do a deal with someone as toxic as him

[lellkay]

Did he return calls regarding stuff going on to his employees?

[S2Killinit]

They want to blame Sony for it. Its like they think people are dumb.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Your first offer to Sony was 3 years of mutual releases for CoD, but one of those years would be the first year CoD took a year off since OG MW…. And, anybody paying attention knows that IW, the best CoD dev, would be scheduled to release a game the same year Xbox’s exclusivity started.

Yah, great deal to start discussions….

Stop pissing in Sony’s face and insisting that it’s raining.

Go waste another half billion on Halo development, instead of developing new ideas for another decade…