Xbox
Xbox wants to get rid of exclusives, but blames PlayStation for not being able to
The CEO of Microsoft stated that Sony is the one that’s forcing the industry to have exclusives as competition, and claims he doesn’t want them.
The fight between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States and Microsoft is happening live before a federal court, where the tech giant is trying to convince the judge that the purchase of Activision Blizzard will not make a dent in the fair competition of the video game market. In this context, the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, has directly blamed PlayStation for the continued existence of exclusive games, as reported by The Verge.
“I grew up in a company that always believed that software should run in as many platforms as possible, and that’s just the Microsoft I grew up in, I believe in that,” he pointed out. However, the executive did not hesitate to point towards Sony as responsible for not being able to walk on that path.
“If it was up to me, I would love to get rid of the entire, sort of, exclusives on consoles, but that’s not for me to define, especially as a low share player in the console market that the dominant player there has defined market competition using exclusives and so, that’s the world we live in. I have no love for that world.”
A call with the president of Sony
According to Nadella, he has no love for the world of exclusives, but Xbox has been forced to follow a similar strategy. Given Sony’s concerns regarding the possible exclusivity of Call of Duty, the CEO of Microsoft has revealed that he contacted the president of Sony to explain his plans. before the acquisition announcement was made official.
“I wanted to make it very, very clear to [Kenishiro] Yoshida-san, who is someone I have a fantastic relationship with, that there should be no ambiguity in our support for the Sony platform going forward, and that with Activision, our relationship in fact if anything should be, you know, this will help us reinforce our commitment to their platform.”
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard has already been approved in more than 40 countries, including the European Union, although it was rejected by the United Kingdom.
Source | The Verge