Phil Spencer criticizes PlayStation: “We don’t do mud moves”

The recent Xbox Games Showcase 2024 kicked off with a look at what’s to come Call of Duty: Black Ops 6Since Activision now belongs to the Microsoft Gaming division of the American tech giant. So, right after the trailer premiered, the head of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, spoke briefly about the game as well, announcing that for the first time in years, the multiplayer beta and all available content will arrive simultaneously on all platforms, without any time exclusivity. This practically confirmed that the marketing agreement between Activision and PlayStation was now no longer valid and was a blow to the policy that Sony had been implementing in recent years.

Now, for the second time, Spencer has taken aim at Sony, saying Microsoft will not make “underhanded moves” to force gamers to play on its platform.

In particular, in the context of his interview with IGN, where he talked about adding the title to Xbox Game Pass, he confirmed:

It’s a choice. We didn’t tell anyone that you have to sign up for Game Pass to play it. If you want to buy Black Ops, it’s good, it’s good for us, it’s good for the developers. If you want to sign up for Xbox Game Pass, that’s good too. I want to give players the choice of how to play their games and with whom.

I don’t want to make slime moves to the platform to force them to do what I want.

You can watch the relevant excerpt from the interview at minute 15:56 of the video below:

It seems that these confirmed statements by Phil Spencer did not go unnoticed, as they were commented on on social media X even by the former head of PlayStation, Shawn Laydenwho succeeded Jack Tritton in 2014, and took the reins until 2019.

In particular, Layden responded with a GIF, in which a man can be seen bursting into laughter, implying that he found Spencer’s remarks inappropriate.

pic.twitter.com/bYQEvEFLn4

– Shawn Layden 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🇺🇸🇯🇵 (@ShawnLayden) June 11, 2024