Yesterday Head of Xbox Phil Spencer provided publication The Verge with a statement regarding the future of Call of Duty in a post-Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard world. Phil notes that Call of Duty on PlayStation will be a thing for "several more years beyond the current Sony contract". Today, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan provided a statement to gamesindustry.biz that is, well, something.

Shots fired if you will. Jim Ryan confirms that the several more years part of Phil's statement equates to three years, which he feels is "inadequate on many levels".

"I hadn’t intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum," Jim Ryan's statement reads. "Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers. We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle."

No doubt this is quite the statement and brings to the fore the whole competition between Sony and Microsoft and the role of exclusive titles. Sony is no stranger to exclusivity when it comes to Call of Duty and other titles, with PlayStation currently getting features and content ahead of Xbox in a timed manner. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see if Microsoft or Phil Spencer responds to the statement and what impact this has on the Activision Blizzard merger - which is still under regulatory review.