Bobby Kotick calls out PlayStation to the world in email

As we near the finish line in the month-long battle over Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard, things are getting tense. Governments get involvedstrange Promises are made and the people at the heart of it all – like Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision –sound like they’re starting to feel the strain.

Which might explain why Kotick emailed his entire company earlier this morning –and then put it on the internet for the whole world to see

– who does little but bang his head against the wall and make the same arguments as Microsoft, Activision (and now select US politicians) have been doing for months: that the deal is in order, that everything is fine, that Microsoft has “taken prudent, generous remedial action to address regulators’ concerns.”

One thing stands out in this email, though, and it’s a section where Kotick has to juggle maintaining a business relationship with Sony while simultaneously wanting to throw them under the bus. Let’s see how he fared (emphasis mine):

The good news is that regulators, who were initially concerned about console competition, are beginning to understand our industry better. The data and evidence Microsoft has presented tip the scales. You may have seen statements from Sony, including an argument that if this deal goes through, Microsoft could intentionally release “flawed” versions of our games on PlayStation. We all know that our passionate gamers would be the first to blame Microsoft for delivering on its promises of content and quality. And all of us who work so hard to deliver the best games in our industry care too much about our players to ever release sub-par versions of our games. Sony even admitted that they’re actually not worried about a call of Duty

Agreement – they just want to prevent our merger from happening. This is obviously disappointing behavior from a partner for almost thirty years, but we will not allow Sony’s behavior to affect our long-term relationship. PlayStation players know that we will continue to deliver the best possible games on Sony platforms, as we have done since the launch of PlayStation.

In other words, “It’s not me, it’s you.” To be honest I don’t see any other way he could have put it, but that kind of tiptoeing is exactly why this proposed deal was so important to the future of the console business: so many grenades were thrown from both sides, for which there will be bad blood here Years Regardless of the decision.