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Two separate stories sit behind this headline. In December 2023, ransomware group Rhysida disclosed files it said it stole from Sony-owned Insomniac Games, including material about Marvel’s Wolverine and internal roadmaps. Separately, regulators challenged Microsoft’s proposed Activision Blizzard purchase over competition concerns, but Microsoft completed the acquisition on October 13, 2023. The leak does not authenticate every apparent project or date, and the FTC’s allegations are not findings that Microsoft carried out the predicted conduct.
What the Insomniac leak reportedly contained
Axios reported on December 19, 2023 that Rhysida posted 1.67 terabytes of data—described in the report as a little more than 1.3 million files—after Insomniac did not pay a reported $2 million ransom. Those figures and the reported ransom are Axios’s reporting, not independently confirmed totals from Sony or law enforcement.
Roadmaps, Wolverine material and other files
Axios reported that the material included internal roadmaps, Marvel’s Wolverine details and character art, budgets, internal Slack messages, passport information, and royalty-bonus information. The incident affected Insomniac Games, a Sony-owned studio; it does not establish that every Sony division was breached.
Why an apparent release date is not a confirmed plan
Axios cautioned that it had not verified the documents and that a hacker group may not fully understand the data it publishes. A roadmap entry or apparent release window in the leaked material should therefore be treated as unverified evidence, not as Sony’s approved, current schedule. The leak’s publication establishes disclosure of purportedly stolen files; it does not by itself establish the authenticity or present-day status of every file or claim within them.
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What the Activision dispute was about
The FTC’s competition theory
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission argued that owning Activision Blizzard could give Microsoft the ability to suppress competition in console gaming, game subscriptions and cloud gaming. Those were the agency’s allegations about potential effects, not a finding that Microsoft had foreclosed rivals or that predicted consumer harms occurred.
Microsoft presented the deal differently: at the October 13, 2023 closing, the Associated Press reported the company’s position that it wanted Activision games available on more platforms. The FTC continued to describe the deal as a competition threat at closing. Those competing statements describe the parties’ positions; neither, on its own, establishes what consumers actually experienced.
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Call of Duty access and the July agreement
A January 2024 FTC order records that Microsoft and Sony executed an agreement on July 15, 2023. The order describes it as purporting to offer Call of Duty on PlayStation and PlayStation Plus. That description does not establish every contract term, its full scope or duration, so it should not be read as a guarantee beyond what the order states.
How the deal reached completion
Regulatory resolution in the United Kingdom
The Associated Press reported that the UK regulator approved the transaction on October 13, 2023 after Microsoft restructured its proposal for cloud rights. Under the reported remedy, Ubisoft received cloud-streaming rights for current and new Activision games released over the following 15 years. This was a remedy concerning cloud rights, not a transfer to Ubisoft of all rights to Activision games.
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FTC filings and the later docket status
In an October 2023 motion, FTC Complaint Counsel argued that the Sony and Ubisoft agreements had been signed after fact discovery closed and sought additional discovery. That was an argument in a party filing, not a court finding about the agreements.
The FTC’s public case page lists an order dated May 22, 2025 dismissing the agency’s administrative complaint. That procedural outcome does not turn the FTC’s earlier allegations into proven facts, nor does it mean the acquisition remained a proposal: Microsoft and Activision closed the transaction on October 13, 2023.
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What Microsoft said about platform access
As reported by the Associated Press on October 13, 2023, Microsoft Xbox chief Phil Spencer said: “Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you are welcome here – and will remain welcome, even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favorite franchise.” This was Microsoft’s stated position, not independent evidence that any particular game would remain available on every listed platform.
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