: Activision CEO: ‘You would have a revolt’ if ‘Call of Duty’ was taken off PlayStation

Activision Blizzard Inc.’s ATVI chief executive promised Wednesday that the company’s “Call of Duty” franchise will remain available to Sony Corp. SONY PlayStation users should the videogame publisher’s acquisition by Microsoft Corp. MSFT get a green light from a federal judge. At a third day of evidentiary hearings into the $69 billion acquisition Wednesday, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said the company would alienate gamers and harm its reputation if it made the popular franchise exclusive to Microsoft’s Xbox console. “You would have a revolt if you were to remove the game from one platform,” Kotick said in testimony. Two more days of hearings are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. At the start of hearings on last Thursday, Microsoft told presiding judge Jacqueline Scott Corley that she “will decide” the fate of the deal. Should Corley uphold the Federal Trade Commission’s injunction, the deal is dead in the water as Microsoft will most likely not be able to get clearance by July 18, when it is on the hook for a $3 billion break-up fee if the deal has not closed.

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