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EA "indifferent" to whether Microsoft Activision deal goes through

EA "indifferent" to whether Microsoft Activision deal goes through

The CEO of US publishing giant Electronic Arts, Andrew Wilson, has said that the company is "indifferent" when it comes to Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard.

Speaking to investors, the chief exec was asked for his views on the deal, to which he replied that he did not know what was going to happen and it didn't really matter to EA whether the deal actually was completed or not.

Wilson added that regardless of what happens with the acquisition, Electronic Arts will still be the biggest publisher on Microsoft's games platform.

"I'm sure you recognize this is a question I get asked a lot. I almost am never allowed to answer that question as it turns out," Wilson said.

"What I would say is I don't know what's going to happen with Activision and Microsoft. Again, we continue to be Microsoft's biggest partner. I think we're the No. 1 publisher on their platform.

"So whether that deal goes through or not is not really material to us broadly. We think we have the scale, again, back to our network, our IP and our talent to continue to navigate the future and lead the future of entertainment and compete in a marketplace regardless of whether that deal goes through or not. Longer term, will there be industry consolidation? Will there be broader entertainment consolidation? If I was predicting the future over the long term, I would say that's an almost certainty at some level. I would love for us to have the scale to be a meaningful consolidator in that space.

"I think that we have tremendous assets with respect to the future of entertainment. But as it stands today, I think that we're indifferent as to whether that goes through or not. We feel like we have an incredible strategy. We feel like we have an incredible opportunity.

"And whether it goes through or not, we will continue to be the No. 1 publisher on the Microsoft platform."


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PCGamesInsider Contributing Editor

Alex Forbes-Calvin is a freelance writer and photographer, mostly operating within the games industry. Over his career, he has written for the likes of MCV, Eurogamer, GamesIndustry.biz, The Observer, VGC and Esquire. That's on top of writing books for Dark Horse on RuneScape, Assassin's Creed, Dead Island 2 and more.