The CMA had originally provisionally concluded that a Microsoft strategy to withhold Call of Duty from PlayStation would be profitable, but Microsoft wasn’t happy with that and publicly criticized the regulator’s math. The CMA then adjusted its financial model and sided with Microsoft, leaving just cloud concerns for it to decide to block the merger.

Microsoft’s own survey used a wider number of users than the CMA’s own survey which includes a number of people who do not play Call of Duty. Microsoft’s questioning to Dr. Lee here is around whether he saw this survey and considered it in his own analysis. He confirms he didn’t look at the survey and things are getting a little more fraught around the questioning here. Microsoft’s lawyer sternly asks: “Professor Lee, can you answer my question?”