Jim Ryan: Call Of Duty Has A “Very Different Audience” Than Nintendo Fans

gameranx.com:

PlayStation boss Jim Ryan had some choice words about Nintendo when it comes to Call of Duty.

This is once again one of those statements coming out of Jim’s video deposition, which he submitted as part of the FTC’s federal case vs the Microsoft – Activision deal.

This is the latest suit filed to block the deal, and this is the one which is seeking a preliminary injunction to block it from happening.

Jim is repeating many of the arguments we have read earlier vs the deal, in the many documents we have seen published by the CMA when they reviewed the deal for approval in the UK.

So, one of the core arguments Sony made was dismissing Nintendo’s position as a competitor and rival in console gaming. This position improves Sony’s arguments, because if regulators focus solely on Call of Duty on PlayStation and Xbox, they will be compelled to block the deal. The line of thinking here would be that if Call of Duty is that important, it need to stay independent from the two supposedly only relevant console companies.

Of course, we know that that isn’t the case at all. Nintendo’s dominance in the market with the Nintendo Switch has been the alignment of many things going in their favor. Even if the Nintendo Switch is not as powerful hardware as Xbox and PlayStation, Nintendo was able to supply Switch consoles while Sony and Microsoft struggled to supply Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 consoles. Nintendo also lucked out with their core franchise, Animal Crossing, going viral at a time when pandemic restrictions led to astronomical increase in people spending time playing video games.

Jim reiterated his old points about Nintendo. As paraphrased by IGN, Jim claims that Nintendo is in the console market, but is not Sony’s direct