An internal document from Sony revealed a ton of highly confidential information about its PlayStation brand. More specifically, we learned a lot about the Call of Duty revenues for PlayStation platforms alone.
The document, which was submitted as evidence for the ongoing trial between the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft, focuses on a letter sent by PlayStation boss Jim Ryan. In the letter, which was poorly redacted, it mentions how much Call of Duty was worth to PlayStation alone. Specifically, the widely-popular first-person shooter franchise “directly generated over $800 million” in the United States alone in 2021, according to the document.
It’s no surprise how popular Call of Duty is as the most recent installment in the franchise, Modern Warfare II, became the fastest Call of Duty game to cross the $1 billion sold mark in 2022.
But that’s the only thing that the document revealed; we also learned how much two of PlayStation’s first-party titles cost. Specifically, the document revealed that Horizon Forbidden West cost $212 million to make, and The Last of Us Part II had a budget of $220 million.
More interestingly, according to Ryan, internal surveys at Sony Interactive Entertainment claim that almost half of US-based PS5 users also own a Nintendo Switch, while less than 20 percent of PS5 owners in the same country also own an Xbox Series X or Series S console. And as The Verge pointed out, apparently one million PlayStation players play nothing but Call of Duty games.
The document itself was submitted as evidence for the evidentiary hearing currently going on between the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft concerning the tech giant’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, but has since been pullled. If you want to learn more about the ongoing trial, check out our daily roundups. If you want a more in-depth look at the previous trial days, check out our day one and day two analysis pieces.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
