Sony Wouldn't Share PS6 Details With Activision If Microsoft Deal Passes - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 22 June 2023 / 6,104 Views
Sony Interactive Entertainment President and CEO Jim Ryan has told the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), reported by Eurogamer, that it wouldn't want to share its plans for the PlayStation 6 and other future consoles with Activision Blizzard if Microsoft's acquisition of the company would be approved.
Ryan said information on the next PlayStation console is "immensely sensitive."
Sony "simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information," said Ryan. Sony is worried that its game development process would be interrupted as it "could no longer share confidential details about its next console in development."
While Sony likely won't officially announce the PS6 until a year or less before it releases, Sony does provide details and development kits to bigger publishers and developers ahead of time. This would allow for Call of Duty and other games to be launch titles for the PS6 and Ryan says the deal could prevent this for Call of Duty.
Ryan added this could mean games like Call of Duty would be more optimized for Xbox during this extra development time.
What is not mentioned is that two first-party PlayStation studios have games that are in development for the Xbox with one of them also releasing on the Nintendo Switch. Sony San Diego Studio now release the annual sports franchise, MLB The Show, on Xbox and Nintendo platforms. Bungie's recently announced Marathon, is also coming to Xbox Series X|S. Microsoft would need to share development kits and details on its next console if they want these games available on them as soon as possible.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I can't wait for Sony to complain that the ps6 version of cod didn't run as well as the Xbox version and claim Microsoft did it on purpose, rather then the fact they decided not to share any details with them.
Self fulfilling prophecy incoming
They are already informing before hand that is exactly the traphole, they wouldn't be able to share information at the same level as now which would result in a possible worse console (by lack of feedback from 3rd party), possible worse game (by whatever they think they contribute to CoD or other games development) and worse experience to their users (by missing features or less polish due to the restrictions).
But Microsoft hasn't correspondingly indicated their refusal to provide dev kits for MLB The Show, Marathon, Destiny, etc., as the article notes. So we don't yet know if Sony is alone in this approach or not.
That is very obvious, they wouldn't share sensitive data on a console not yet released with a direct competitor subsidiary. ABK would receive dev kits near launch and not even sure what type of ballpark metrics they would send to ABK 2 years before launch.
Ringfencing can solve this problem very easily. Ringfencing is where one group of people can access information while another group cannot. Even if those two groups of people work for the same company, they cannot share the information with each other.
This is a good example of a conflict of interest concerning Sony and Nintendo, and absolutely why Microsoft shouldn’t be allowed to own any of these major Activision and Blizzard franchises - let alone Call of Duty. They’ve already bought too many studios.
And by their own admission, they don’t understand the video game industry.
Idk Sony. You may have to play ball here. It can't be one sided. You know...Sony knows the ins and outs of the new Nintendo and Xbox, but nothing for a possible native PS6 version of CoD.
I believe it would be just for that first COD on the PS6, if Sony shared information about the PS6 before its release Microsoft would have the information to insure the next Xbox console is more powerful than PS6. Once the consoles are out, I would think Sony could share information with them.
And why do you think Sony knows the ins and outs of Nintendo and Xbox?
Would Sony not of had access to Xbox Series consoles specs. pre-launch for the development of MLB The Show 2021?
Xbox exec Sarah Bond has revealed how there was a lot of "trust" involved in bringing Sony's MLB The Show series to Xbox for the first time, and the team had to hand over pre-release Xbox Series X|S hardware in the process.
I see, so Sony isn't willing to reciprocate that same level of trust.
I guess you missed the " on trust.
And there is a major difference between giving the devkit 6 months before launch or ballpark of spec 12 months before launch for launch window SW and involving a 3rd party on the concept stage of your console.
Hmm... Let's take a guess at the PS6 and NextBox. It'll be the latest AMD CPU glued to the latest AMD GPU at a combined off-the-shelf value of $700. Also some other specs that don't really matter much.
Fortunately, the deal has already been effectively blocked.
What a silly concern by Sony. Final dev kits for a new console typically don't go out to 3rd parties until less than a year before the new console releases, before that point 3rd party devs who are developing cross-gen games are using PC's with specs they believe will be close to the specs of the next-gen console as simulated console dev kits. By the time finalized PS6 dev kits would go out to the then Xbox owned Activision, less than a year before PS6 releases, it would be too late for Xbox to make any serious changes to their next-gen Xbox design; if they realize they are underpowered compared to PS6 they could overclock the CPU or GPU a bit if the cooling system of their new console is robust enough to allow such an overclock without making fan noise too high, or they could reduce their planned release price so that they would come in weaker but cheaper, but they're not going to order a whole new AMD chipset design less than a year out before release. It's such a minor advantage knowing the specs of your competitor's console less than a year before release and Xbox themselves know it, they sent out Xbox Series dev kits to Sony San Diego before Xbox Series launched so that MLB The Show 2021 could release on Xbox Series.
Xbox may even choose to release their next-gen console a year before Sony, considering Xbox doesn't seem to be doing a mid-gen Pro console based on recent comments by Phil Spencer, while Sony is making a PS5 Pro according to Tom Henderson, whole accurately leaked Sony's other new PS5 hardware before it's announcement. Xbox may try an early release to try and recapture Xbox 360's early success due to it's 1 year early release.
That is because you failed to see the portion of 3rd party being involved in the development of the console giving feedback and all. This isn't about giving devkit 6-12 months before launch.
