Lawyers are arguing that a Microsoft email provides “uncontroverted evidence” that Microsoft’s Activision deal is aimed at killing rival PlayStation.

Microsoft is locked in a high-stakes battle to complete an acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which was first announced in January 2022. The deal has been scrutinized on both sides of the Atlantic, with the EU eventually signing off on it and the UK voting to block it. Meanwhile, in the US, the FTC has sued to block the deal, with a judge granting a temporary restraining order to prevent it from moving forward until a final decision can be made.

According to Axios, lawyers in a separate case say they’ve found the smoking gun that proves Microsoft’s goal is the elimination of its biggest competition. The case was brought by a group of gamers concerned with the deal. The case is being presided over by the same judge that granted the FTC the temporary restraining order to block the deal.

While the email is redacted, it is reportedly from Xbox game studio head Matt Booty to Xbox CFO Tim Stuart. Lawyers say it is “uncontroverted evidence that Microsoft had the intention to put its main competition, the Sony PlayStation, out of the market.”

Interestingly, while Microsoft could not legally share an unredacted copy of the email, the company did tell Axios that the email exchange occurred in 2019, a couple of years before the company announced its bid to purchase Activision.

The timeline clearly precludes the email’s use in direct relation to the Activision deal; however, the lawyers in question will no doubt try to use it to establish a pattern of behavior on Microsoft’s part. The lawyers will no doubt argue that the email proves Microsoft’s over-arching goal is to destroy PlayStation, and the Activision deal is simply the latest and boldest attempt to do so.