Sensitive information touch Sony ’s PlayStation gross has spilled onto the cyberspace , and it ’s all thanks to the purpose of a modest Sharpie .
The Japanese giant has been supply documentation to a US motor hotel for theFTC vs Microsoft hearing , the outcome of which is very much in Sony ’s interest . At stake is the hereafter of the Call of Duty series on PlayStation console .
What very much is n’t in Sony ’s interests , however , is for key financial entropy to be exposed to one and all as part of the process .
AsThe Vergereports , one document from PlayStation gaffer Jim Ryan featured details on the margin Sony shares with publisher , as well as some of its own first political party secret plan monetary value . These sensitive PlayStation revenue detail were redact .
The only trouble is , whoever did the redacting used a fateful Sharpie , which becomes semi - gossamer when the reservoir document is scan . As a issue , all of the aforementioned figures and more are there to be pore over .
Naturally , the US court has make a motion to take the document from the public domain , but of course this is the internet . It ’s well and truly out there in the wild .
Some fundamental details to emerge from this uproariously amateur bungle : The Last of Us Part 2cost the company $ 220 million to make , and required around 200 employees . Another first party Sony studio apartment game , Horizon Forbidden West , be $ 212 million over five years , and required 300 employees .
More apposite to the matter at hand , the document also uncover that 1 million PlayStation possessor played nothing but Call of Duty on their consoles . Meanwhile , 6 million users spent 70 % of their sentence on the serial .
Perhaps the stat of all leaked stats here is what the Call of Duty serial mean to Sony in cold , hard fiscal terms . It made Sony $ 800 million in the US in 2021 alone , and it look like it might have made $ 1.5 billion around the world . Add in subscription , accessories and the like , and that material body balloons to between $ 13.9 and $ 15.9 billion ( the Sharpie is only semi - transparent , remember ) .
If you were in any dubiety as to why Sony is kick up such a fuss over Microsoft ’s proposed acquisition of Activision , there it is in not - quite - fateful and white .
