Xbox FTC Trial Day 4: Bobby Kotick and Jim Ryan Agree on One Thing – Neither of Them Like Game Pass

ign.com:

Another busy court day in the books, with the FTC v. Microsoft trial set to conclude tomorrow. It was a surprisingly quiet day compared to some of the previous ones, with Microsoft head Satya Nadella giving relatively mild testimony, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick calmly parrying his FTC inquisitors, and a lot more economist talk.

We also got to see, briefly, Nadella and Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley bond over a mutual love for Candy Crush. Delightful.

Console exclusivity has been a part of how video game releases work effectively since video games came into existence. But to hear Xbox and friends tell it over the last few days, everyone in the industry just hates the idea.

Figures like Microsoft head Satya Nadella and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick today made exclusivity seem less like a feature and more like a bug, ruining their ability to do business on certain platforms and reach larger markets of people. Nadella, for instance, mentioned that he had "no love" for exclusives, while Kotick emphasized that taking Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox would be "very detrimental" to business.

All of this is in line with Spencer's comments. Collectively, Xbox and its witnesses and lawyers appear to be making the argument that the entire idea of exclusivity is a loathesome one they play along with because Sony forced their hands. If Sony would just stop paying for exclusives like Final Fantasy XVI, they argue Xbox wouldn't have to do deals like it has with Activision just to compete.

It's not shocking, either, that Sony Interactive Entertainment head Jim Ryan sang a distinctively different tune yesterday in his video deposition. He noted that while he "didn't like" Redfall and Starfield going exclusive to Xbox post-Zenimax acquisition, he