Bethesda weren’t thrilled by Microsoft’s double standard on Call of Duty exclusivity

thesixthaxis.com:

Microsoft’s promises to keep Call of Duty game on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard caused a little bit of confusion within Bethesda, as company execs highlighted this double standard through email conversations.

In particular it was Bethesda’s then VP of global marketing and communications Pete Hines (now head of global publishing), who asked senior figures including Todd Howard, “Is the below not the opposite of what we were just asked (told) to do with our own titles? What’s the difference?”

Hines was more thinking about the public relations backlash that would be coming Bethesda’s way – specifically Todd Howard’s upcoming trip to DICE – and especially with Redfall and Starfield both having originally been privately intended for cross-platform release on PlayStation and Xbox, before being made exclusive – Indiana Jones is also now set to be Xbox exclusive. There wasn’t even any kind of PR wiggle room with timed exclusivity, as had been the case for Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop, and the shift to Xbox exclusivity came after Microsoft had played coy and said that games would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

As spotted by Axios’ Stephen Totillo, the email, dated 2nd October 2022, came as Microsoft was trying to navigate the regulatory headwinds that their bid to acquire Activision Blizzard was facing. One of the key talking points has been that Call of Duty could be made an Xbox exclusive, something claimed by Sony in various forums and courts (but also something they privately never thought would happen), and this pushed Microsoft to make various pledges to keep the FPS franchise on PlayStation, to expand its reach to Nintendo consoles, and to sign all manner of game streaming service