Document exposes Jim Ryan and casts doubt on his main argument against the acquisition of Activision

One of Sony's main arguments against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard was the possibility that the American company would use the operation to turn Call of Duty into an exclusive Xbox franchise. The FPS franchise is the third-party game that generates the most money for PlayStation, and Jim Ryan publicly insisted on the risk of this happening. However, it seems that privately, the head of PlayStation thinks otherwise.

Jim Ryan thought from the beginning that Call of Duty wouldn't be exclusive to Xbox

Florian Mueller (via The Gamer), a specialist in the field, shared a document made public in the course of the legal process being carried out by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the acquisition of Activision, which at least seeks to prevent the deal from closing before mid-July, the deadline considered by all the companies involved and investors. In it, the regulator exposed Jim Ryan's statements regarding the acquisition, which are not the same as what he has said publicly.

This here could be the biggest bombshell in the entire evidentiary record: Jim Ryan was apparently certain that CoD would remain on the PlayStation because of Sony's market power. https://t.co/6DLJ7YkMNK pic.twitter.com/7QEA8r81Ig

— Florian Mueller (@Florian4Gamers) June 17, 2023

According to this document, the head of PlayStation privately stated during a meeting that Microsoft would not make Call of Duty exclusive because an important part of the franchise's revenue comes from game copies sold and transactions made on Sony consoles and online platforms. Therefore, Microsoft would be harming itself if it kept the IP within its ecosystem.

The document indicates that Jim Ryan's idea is that the exclusivity of Call of Duty wouldn't happen because Microsoft would damage a lucrative business relationship. Therefore, there was no fear at that time that PlayStation's worst nightmare would come true.

The issue at hand is that, publicly, Jim Ryan repeatedly stated that this was Microsoft's intention when buying Activision Blizzard, and he even claimed that without Call of Duty, PlayStation's business would be affected, and their internal developments would also be compromised due to the financial impact.

For its part, Microsoft accepted from the start that Call of Duty on PlayStation is a very lucrative business, and ending it would be shooting themselves in the foot. Therefore, there were no plans to make the FPS game an exclusive.