An excerpt from Jim Ryan’s testimony to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has been made public. The SIE boss has tried to explain why the company won’t share any hardware details about the PS6 or any other upcoming console with Activision Blizzard post-acquisition.
Ryan made these comments back in April. But on June 21, Axios’ Stephen Totilo shared a few pages from his conversation with the FTC on Twitter.
When asked why PlayStation wouldn’t be able to share confidential details about its next console with Activision if $68.7 billion deal went through, Ryan replied, “We simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information.”
The section where the SIE boss listed potential risks to Sony’s console business is redacted, but he then noted that Microsoft-owned Activision Blizzard “wouldn’t be incentivized to develop games that take advantage of features that PlayStation has and that Xbox doesn not have.”
In an FTC v MS/ABK deposition, PlayStation chief Jim Ryan said that, if deal closes, Sony couldn’t tell Activision about its next console
Is then asked about Sony working with Mojang (Minecraft) after MS bought them. Discussion is redacted but Ryan says it supports this concern pic.twitter.com/M86CBm3CcY
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) June 21, 2023
Ryan added that Microsoft’s primary incentive post-acquisition would be to optimize its overall Xbox business, not the business of Activision.
— What, in your view, is Activision’s primary incentive right now, as an independent company?
— As an independent company, Activision is incentivized to make great games on all platforms.
— Is that what they do?
— That’s what they do.
It also looks like SIE previously shared hardware information about one of its consoles with Microsoft-owned Mojang. Although the section is also largely redacted, the case with the Minecraft developer backed Sony’s concern about its direct competitor getting access to “immensely senstive” information about features in development for PS consoles.
So Ryan’s main argument against the Activision Blizzard deal and sharing hardware details with its competitor is likely related to the risk of industrial espionage by Microsoft. However, it is unclear if Sony expects Microsoft to still share similar information about Xbox consoles with some of PlayStation’s first-party studios, such as The Destiny developer Bungie or MLB: The Show maker Sony San Diego.
Today, on June 22, marks the beginning of a five-day evidentiary hearing in the FTC v. Microsoft case. The regulator wants a preliminary injuction to prevent Microsoft from closing the $68.7 billion deal before the main trial starts on August 2.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is expected to testify in court this week, along with Xbox head Phil Spencer, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, and SIE boss Jim Ryan.