It can be interesting the details that come forth during a court battle and Microsoft’s hearing with the FTC last week was no exception. According to testimony by Microsoft’s Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond two big titles have played a factor in the company’s purchasing strategies. Court documents revealed that Call of Duty nearly skipped the current Xbox X|S generation unless more favorable terms for a higher revenue share were reached with Activision Blizzard. Additionally, it was brought to light that Sony had been in talks with Bethesda to make Starfield a PlayStation 5 exclusive.
Activision Blizzard demands a bigger slice of the pie
According to Xbox Vice President Sarah Bond, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick (per IGN) stated “if we did not move beyond standard revenue share that he intended to not place Call of Duty on Xbox.” Microsoft acquiesced to Activision’s demands and granted it a higher percentage of the revenue split.
Sarah Bond (Per KitGuru):
“It was clear that Call of Duty would be on PS5 and that would not have been good if it was not also on Xbox if it was launching at the same time”, Bond said. “Time was limited. We had players whose expectations we wanted to meet, so we ultimately made a decision that it was the best thing for the business.”
Sony Wanted Starfield For the PS5
When Xbox CEO Phil Spencer took the stand he revealed that Sony had in fact actually been in talks with Bethesda to make Starfield a PS5 exclusive. This was not the first time such a deal was said to be in the works as an industry insider had said three years ago that Sony was trying to make it a timed exclusive for its latest console. Spencer’s testimony last week was the first official public statement confirming that.
Phil Spencer (Per Gamereactor UK):
“When we acquired ZeniMax one of the impetus for that is that Sony had done a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire… to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox. So the discussion about Starfield when we heard that Starfield was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can’t be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we’ve had to secure content to remain viable in the business.”
The Elder Scrolls VI is also a part of the battle for exclusivity
Phil Spencer has already said in an interview two years ago that he expects the long-awaited next installment to be an Xbox/PC exclusive. In looking at the above statement, and repeated claims from Sony regarding the Call of Duty franchise’s potential to become exclusive to Xbox/PC, it becomes clear that Microsoft’s purchasing strategies for Bethesda and Activision Blizzard have been influenced by the possibility of its consoles missing out on big titles. So according to testimony from both Microsoft execs, the company is aware of major revenue loss in the battle of title exclusivity. In turn, however, Sony has also been playing its own cards for similar reasons. A day after these hearings began it came to light that Activision could lose out on early access if the deal goes through.