Microsoft has revealed in a court filing that Activision Blizzard had plans to cut workers before the merger.

“Consistent with broader trends in the gaming industry, Activision was already planning on eliminating a significant number of jobs while still operating as an independent company. The recent announcement thus cannot be attributed fully to the merger.”

Last month, the company announced internally that around 8% of its games division would be cut. The division had around 22,000 employees, meaning around 1,900 would be laid off.

The FTC has claimed these job cuts contradict statements made by Microsoft that said Activision would be operated independently. The FTC failed to block the Activision deal last year.

The agency is now appealing its earlier loss.

Microsoft did say that while some of the layoffs relate to overlap between existing staff and Activision, it is still operating the acquired unit in a way it could be spun off later if required.