Sony has long been one of the most dominant companies in the lucrative video game industry, publishing popular franchises like Spider-Man and The Last of Us. In 2020, the company released the PlayStation 5, its latest console, to critical acclaim. Mr. Ryan wrote in a blog post in July that Sony had sold more than 40 million PlayStation 5s since then.

Sony’s chief competitors are Nintendo, which makes the Switch console, and Microsoft, which makes the Xbox. Sony has long held an edge over Microsoft in the number of hit games it makes that are exclusive to its system, driving gamers’ interest in the PlayStation.

To compete, Microsoft pioneered a new form of video game distribution: a Netflix-style subscription service in which gamers pay a monthly fee for a library of titles, rather than purchasing individual games.

Microsoft has also been on a spending spree in hopes of catching up to Sony, purchasing Bethesda Game Studios and a host of other studios in 2020 for $7.5 billion. Sony was a fierce objector to Microsoft’s other big purchase: a $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard that is still under review by regulators.

Mr. Ryan testified in a recorded video deposition with the Federal Trade Commission that he believed Microsoft acquiring Activision’s library of games would harm PlayStation users and limit competition.