Sony's confidential Call of Duty earnings accidentally exposed in clerical error

During the ongoing FTC hearings, Microsoft and Sony have been compelled to release their internal documents, providing the public with unprecedented insights into the inner workings of these gaming giants.

However, Sony seems to have stumbled upon a major hiccup after a poorly redacted document, which contains an email from Sony Interactive's CEO Jim Ryan, inadvertently revealed confidential PlayStation information to their fierce competitors.

The redacted information revealed that a whopping 43 million distinct users on PlayStation consoles have played the Call of Duty franchise since 2019. In addition to this, 1 million PlayStation gamers have dedicated themselves exclusively to playing Call of Duty.

The Verge

did some serious detective work, attempting to unveil the hidden secrets within the redacted sections of the email, and here's what they managed to uncover:

In 2021, over [14?] million users (by device) spent 30 percent or more of their time playing Call of Duty, over 6 million users spent more than 70% of their time on Call of Duty, and about 1 million users spent 100% of their gaming time on Call of Duty. In 2021, Call of Duty players spent an average of [116?] hours per year playing Call of Duty. Call of Duty players spending more than 70 percent of their time on Call of Duty spent an average of 296 hours on the franchise.

These numbers have been the backbone of Sony's opposition to the

Activision Blizzard deal

. Sony has been vocal about its concerns that Microsoft could potentially make the first-person shooter franchise exclusive to Xbox, which would have a major impact on Sony's earnings.

The redacted sections of the email shed light on the fact that Sony raked in a staggering $800 million from the franchise in the US alone in 2021, and that's not even considering additional revenue streams like subscriptions. Call of Duty is a juggernaut for PlayStation, and Microsoft's acquisition of its publisher would not bode well for Sony.

The major concern lies with Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, a fact Activision's CEO Bobby Kotick is well aware of. In the recent FTC hearings, Kotick made it clear that he would not strike a deal to bring Call of Duty to Game Pass on its release day, as he believes it's "not good for business."

Microsoft has openly acknowledged that its Xbox subscription service has a detrimental effect on game sales. Given this, why would Activision choose to release its next billion-dollar franchise title on Game Pass right from day one?

According to Kotick, Activision doesn't perceive any beneficial business value or return in having their games available on subscription services, as he believes the commercial value of Call of Duty is simply "too high" to be offered in such a model.

Sony is fully aware that if Microsoft swoops in with the right offer to bring Call of Duty to Game Pass, it will be game over for them. It's no shocker that Sony raked in a whopping $800 million in the US alone from the franchise in 2021, especially with the Zombies Onslaught mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War being a PlayStation exclusive for an entire year.

Had the Activision Blizzard deal been in effect back then, Sony wouldn't have enjoyed such a massive revenue stream from the franchise in 2021.