Spencer: pulling CoD from PS in my view would create irreparable harm to Xbox's brand (because of gamer outrage). Judge Corley asks to testify under oath that future versions of CoD will be made available for PS. Spencer: absolutely. Will raise my hand.

🧵71/X

— Florian Mueller (@FOSSpatents) June 23, 2023

The FTC's console theory appears to be finished. That's it. Huge L for a misguided government agency that is not doing its job!

Lunch break now. 45 minutes. Some public part thereafter, but then maybe some parts will be behind closed doors.

🧵73/X

— Florian Mueller (@FOSSpatents) June 23, 2023

Wow. Judge Corley asks Spencer directly: "You’re testifying under oath that you will make future version of CoD for PS5?"

Spencer: "Absolutely."

He says "gamers are an active and vocal group" and reneging on his word would "create irreparable harm to the Xbox brand."

— Kellen Browning (@Kellen_Browning) June 23, 2023

Unbelievable. Judge Corley has asked the question that matters and it totally disposes of the FTC's console theory of harm.

I said a few tweets ago that her questions are bad for the FTC. Validated. She asked a question that is dispositive for the console theory of harm.

🧵74/X

— Florian Mueller (@FOSSpatents) June 23, 2023

I get questions as to whether Judge Corley could cut this short and throw out the FTC's motion without concluding the hearing.

There are still other theories, esp. cloud gaming.

But the FTC is losing. Judge Corley will presumably deny the PI a few days after the hearing

🧵76/X

— Florian Mueller (@FOSSpatents) June 23, 2023

FTC v. Microsoft is on a 45-minute lunch break, but here's a full roundup of what we've heard so far, including:

• Xbox losing the console wars
• Sony being an aggressive competitor
• Spencer swears under oath he won't pull CoD from PlayStation

here: https://t.co/JKlKa8zMvW

— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) June 23, 2023

Gotta say it feels like the FTC is deep in the weeds today. They’re having trouble convincing that Xbox even would make ABK games exclusive, and that’s only half the argument they need to make.

— Richard Hoeg (@HoegLaw) June 23, 2023

Honestly, I thought the FTC would be more prepared than this. These weaknesses were apparent for months, and they don’t appear to have any strategies regarding them at all.

— Richard Hoeg (@HoegLaw) June 23, 2023

Honestly would have dropped console completely if I were the FTC. They seem spread too thin with this number of arguments. (Many made poorly as a result.)

— Richard Hoeg (@HoegLaw) June 23, 2023

The thing is, I think their case is weak, but I think it can be argued better than they’re doing. This is a bad showing.

— Richard Hoeg (@HoegLaw) June 23, 2023

Employees were restricted from posting responses in the Slack channel but they reacted to her message with dozens of prayer emojis and Microsoft logo emojis. pic.twitter.com/jfvWkXzHWe

— Shannon Liao (@Shannon_Liao) June 23, 2023