Sony will not share PlayStation 6 plans with Activision if Microsoft’s deal goes through

Sony has said it will not share its PlayStation 6 plans with Activision Blizzard if the company is acquired by Microsoft for $68.7 billion.

As I mentioned EurogamerPlayStation CEO Jim Ryan told the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) – which is currently fighting Microsoft’s deal in court – that it could not provide “highly sensitive” information about the next console to a company owned by Xbox.

Ryan said that Sony “simply could not risk a company owned by a direct competitor having access to that information”, raising concerns that its game development process would be halted because it “can no longer share confidential details about the next console”.

While Sony won’t publicly announce the PS6 until about a year before its launch, it’s been in discussions and sharing hardware with developers ahead of time so they can get games ready for the new system.

This allows the likes of Call of Duty to feature as a launch title, though Sony is suggesting here that an ongoing Microsoft deal may block this for the next console. Ryan said it would also allow the likes of Call of Duty to be improved for Xbox during this additional period of development time.

Ryan’s comments highlight a previously undiscussed Activision Blizzard deal issue that may not have satisfied Microsoft with offering PlayStation a 10-year deal to ensure it could keep Call of Duty.

Xbox is supposed to deal with the same problem when the new console generation comes along, of course, as Sony owns the likes of San Diego Studio and Bungie, which are developing MLB: The Show and Destiny franchises respectively, both of which are cross-platform.

Many other stories about the deal are likely to emerge this week as Microsoft and the FTC battle it out in court, as the latter attempts to force a preliminary injunction against Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. The FTC’s final decision will be a major milestone in the journey of whether or not a deal goes through, although it may not be as important as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s choice to block it.

Ryan Dinsdale is a freelance reporter for IGN. He’ll be talking about The Witcher all day.