In a lawsuit filed by a group of gamers, Microsoft – Activision Xbox executive Matt Booty once allegedly sent an email saying, or at least implied, that he wanted to put PlayStation out of business. This email is included in legal filings, but has been edited for public use.
Did the Xbox president really say he wanted PlayStation out of business?
The gamers’ lawsuit cites “incontrovertible evidence that Microsoft intended to remove its main competitor, Sony’s PlayStation, from the market.” An email from Booty, which was later disputed in court, corroborates this statement. Microsoft is fighting to keep the email redacted because this is an “internal exchange”.
In a statement to Axios’ Stephen Totilo, Microsoft understandably declined to disclose the contents of Booty’s emails, although in 2019 prior to Microsoft’s deal with Activision, Booty I confirmed that I sent this email to CFO Tim Stuart. However, the following year he announced that in 2020 Microsoft would eventually acquire his ZeniMax Media, making Bethesda games exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem. The US Federal Trade Commission has expressed concern that Microsoft will treat Activision Blizzard the same way it treats Bethesda.
Regardless of Booty’s word choice, it is understood that the email in question did indeed refer to competition with PlayStation.
