The hearing on the FTC and Microsoft case is underway, and we've already gotten a big hint ahead of the hearing. PlayStation president Jim Ryan believes Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard wasn't about making the company's games exclusive to the Xbox platform, according to a recently released email.

A Microsoft lawyer has revealed, according to The Verge, messages between Ryan and a former Sony CEO while discussing the deal announcement last year, where “Ryan” says the acquisition is not focused on exclusivity, that they think bigger than that and have the money to make moves like this. He noted that he spent a lot of time with Phil Spencer and Bobby Kotick and is confident that he will continue to see Call of Duty on PlayStation for years to come.

The sudden revelation runs counter to Sony's arguments against the Microsoft Activision deal, as Sony has repeatedly stressed that it fears Call of Duty could become an Xbox exclusive or that the PlayStation versions of the game could be ruined.

Microsoft initially offered Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms for three years after Activision and Sony's current deal ended, and Ryan described that offer as insufficient on several levels. Microsoft eventually offered Sony a 10-year deal to release Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms, but the company has so far refused to sign it.

Call of Duty competition concerns were initially a big part of the CMA’s investigation before the regulator dropped those concerns and ultimately blocked the deal due to concerns about competition in the cloud gaming market. The European Commission dismissed any concerns about Call of Duty or Xbox exclusive games. But the FTC’s case focuses heavily on the potential harm to Microsoft from turning Activision’s games into Xbox exclusives.