Call of Dutywas a huge sticking point for the Microsoft-Activision deal in the lead-up to the CMA’s decision, with Sony arguing that it being an Xbox exclusive would cause Microsoft to dominate the industry with a near-monopoly. This led to Microsoft making promises to bring the series to Nintendo platforms, Sony claiming it believesMicrosoft would make CoD buggy for PS5 on purpose, andMicrosoft telling Sony to make its own competitor. But allegedly, Sony CEO Jim Ryan was never scared of losing Call of Duty.

In a new document shared by the FTC, Microsoft claims that Ryan made contradictory claims about PlayStation losing Call of Duty in private on the day the deal was announced (thanks,GamesRadar). His claims are redacted, but the document says, “WithholdingCODwould harm Xbox. It would contradict the valuation the Board relied on in approving the deal, which assumed profits from continued PlayStation sales.”

RELATED:Jim Ryan Has No Right To Comment On Call Of Duty And Xbox

Allegedly, Ryan was certain that Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation because of its hold on the market, something backed up in the same FTC document; “Even if the merger were to cause every PlayStation owner that playedCODfor as little as two hours per month to buy an Xbox–a wildly implausible scenario–PlayStation would still remain the console leader […] [It] would at most put a small dent in [PlayStation’s] massive lead.”

PlayStation has actually benefitted from exclusivity within Call of Duty over the past few releases. For example,Black Ops Cold Warhad a timed exclusive Zombies mode, Onslaught, that you could only access via PlayStation for an entire year before it later arrived on Xbox and PC. The $20 battle pass bundle also offered an additional five tier skips, while PlayStation players who partied up would get a 25 percent bonus to weapon XP on top of monthly double XP bonuses.

The sticking point for Ryan doesn’t appear to be whether PlayStation keeps Call of Duty. There are no doubt plenty of reasons why he doesn’t want his competitor to engage in one of gaming’s biggest deals, but we can only speculate on the finer details. What we do know is that, according to an Activision executive, Ryan allegedly said, “I just want to block your merger”, making it explicitly clear that there’s no possible outcome in which he sees this as a positive.

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