Starfield and Future Elder Scrolls Made Xbox-Exclusive After Microsoft Acquired Zenimax – Sony

gamingbolt.com:

As part of its response to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, Sony has argued that Microsoft made Starfield and future The Elder Scrolls releases exclusive to Xbox after its acquisition of Zenimax. According to Mp1st, Sony made the statement as part of its arguments that Microsoft’s claims of keeping future releases multiplatform are not relevant to the current situation with its impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

“First, Microsoft argues that “its past business practices are consistent with its stated position” that it does not intend to remove Call of Duty from PlayStation (or degrade access to it),” said Sony in its statement. “This is difficult to square with what has actually happened. The CMA “reviewed Microsoft’s strategy following its previous acquisitions” and found that Microsoft “typically makes games exclusive to Xbox”. Microsoft has never disputed this.”

“Microsoft is fond of arguing that, with its prior acquisitions, it did not make the existing, already released games it acquired exclusive to Xbox. But the foreclosure concern in this case is not about past releases of Call of Duty. It is about the impact of Microsoft making new Call of Duty releases (which are launched every year) exclusive, as it has done for the new releases of Starfield and Elder Scrolls following the acquisition of ZeniMax in 2021. As the PFs explain, these releases were announced in 2018 and were not expected at that time to be Xbox exclusives. It was only after acquiring ZeniMax that Microsoft’s Phil Spencer revealed that, all along, the deal had been about “delivering great exclusive games” for Xbox.”

“Second, Microsoft points to Minecraft as an example of an acquisition where it did not pursue exclusivity. But