Without Sony on board, Microsoft's dual announcements today felt like a sandwich without the filling

Today in Brussels, I watched Microsoft president Brad Smith produce a copy of the agreement he still hopes Sony will sign: a contract to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation and remove the concerns of Xbox's biggest rival from blocking its $68.7bn Activision Blizzard buyout.

But even as the Microsoft exec waved his piece of A4 aloft, Sony's disagreement over the deal remained a major sticking point in getting the acquisition past regulators here in Europe, in the UK, and in the US.

And despite my summons by Microsoft to Brussels - the site of a meeting today between it, the EU, Sony and other interested partners - for an update on the deal, I was left with a feeling we'd been fed a sandwich of agreements which seemed like bread with little filling.

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