The ongoing battle between Microsoft and Sony has been a long and difficult process with Activision Blizzard essentially caught in the crossfire.
It's notably stalled Activision's own plans, and has evidently taken its toll on some of the company's key figures (with Sony refusing to sign the Call of Duty deal), so how is this going to impact Activision's relations with Sony going forward?
In a company-wide email to employees on Tuesday (as highlighted by VGC), Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick described Sony's recent behaviour as "disappointing" for a partner of "almost thirty years" - referencing a recent claim made by the PlayStation creator that suggested Microsoft could potentially release buggy versions of Call of Duty on Sony's systems.
Kotick said no matter what, Activision would "continue to deliver the best games possible" across all platforms because it "cares too deeply" about its players to ever launch "sub-par versions" of its leading franchises.
The same email from Kotick also acknowledged a comment supposedly made by SIE CEO Jim Ryan, about Sony simply wanting to prevent the merger from happening - grouping this in with the rest of Sony's recent displays behind closed doors.
It was Activision Blizzard's Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Cheng Meservey, who originally shed light on this via social media - mentioning how the Japanese video game giant wanted to block the acquisition:
"We've also offered Sony guaranteed long-term access to Call of Duty. But they keep refusing. Why? The CEO of SIE answered that question in Brussels. In his words: "I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.”
Sony has now also come under fire from 11 members of Congress in the US - with claims it's unfairly hurting Xbox in Japan, after a U.S. senator suggested Sony had a "monopoly of 98% of the high-end game market in Japan".