Phil Spencer’s passive-aggressive management tacticActivision Blizzard acquisition Shows remarkable ability to react on the part of the department Xbox. There is nothing honest, as always in these cases (they are businesses, so there is nothing serious about concepts like justice or truth worth spending…they are people with money and they want to make more money), except in wanting to. The transaction to be performed.
From an image standpoint, Microsoft is simply trying to confine Sony and its jus primae noctis claims to the series Call of duty. Is the Japanese multinational accusing Microsoft of wanting to monopolize one of the most powerful franchises in the industry? Here Xbox not only offers him a ten-year agreement, but also opens COD to Nintendo platforms, where the series has been absent for years. Then there is a proposal also made to Valve, which of its own accord rejected the agreement, but not out of hatred towards Microsoft, but out of some kind of complete trust in Phil Spencer, who is defined as a man of his word and someone who knows where to do game publishing. Is Newell in love with Phil? Who knows, meanwhile his words are heavy as rocks.
In doing so, Spencer has not only responded with great intelligence to Sony’s allegations, which have been strangely accepted by some antitrust bodies, but he has also found a powerful ally in Nintendo, the family-friendly video game company, which can assume a great deal of weight in the case. the whole thing, as he had hitherto been playing a very lonely role. For example, Mario’s house can start defending the takeover, if not publicly, then at least in the relevant offices. Which wouldn’t be a small thing. Valve’s approval is also significant, since we’re talking about the software house that owns the premier digital store for PC hardware.
The concept Microsoft wanted to pass on should be clear enough: by acquiring Activision Blizzard, it won’t just disappear from COD Play Station, as it will already be guaranteed for the entire PS5 generation and the next, but it will also expand to other platforms and reach gamers wherever they are. Which is the equivalent of punching Sonny and hers straight in the face, only with a smile on your lips and your arms outstretched as a sign of peace.
It almost seems like Spencer is applying a nonviolent, Gandhi-like strategy to get what he wants: the more Xbox attacks, the more he collects and makes concessions to show that the bad guys are the other one, while remaining firm on the point. Of course, in the case of Gandhi, the confrontation was essentially political, while here there are only multinational corporations pursuing their own goals, but they are details in context.
Its Sony is cashing in, and for the time being, if it stays firm in its positions, it will pass as the one pretending to be concerned about the market, when in fact it is only working for itself: if the acquisition is rejected, it will inevitably be. Accused of blocking the COD franchise from reaching Nintendo consoles, that is, standing in the way by going against the interests of millions of gamers.
At this point, the suspicion comes that even Jim Ryan has simply raised the bar to get the Call of Duty series to stay on PlayStation in the best possible condition, but the fact remains that he’s getting major backlash over Sony’s image, which many have been. Now they see themselves as a multinational “weeping”, despite being the first in the class.
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