Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan just effectively told Microsoft and Activision Blizzard to f#@k off with their deals and concessions.
More than a year after Microsoft told everyone it wants to buy the Call of Duty publisher, Sony has apparently had it. Most recently, Sony was asked by the UK CMA to reveal details about its third-party deals. But, it appears that Ryan's statement precedes this. It's believed that Ryan told Activision Blizzard and Microsoft during a closed-door hearing with European Commission regulators on February 21.
Specifically, Activision exec Lulu Cheng Meservey was the one who revealed Ryan's choice words for the hopeful merging companies:
I don't want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.
This statement comes days before Microsoft announced its licensing deals with Nintendo and Nvidia, which preceded a revelation that it extended a similar offer to PlayStation.