It’s the fourth day of the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) case againstMicrosoft, andPlayStationboss Jim Ryan is taking the stand. In pre-recorded testimony, Ryan is giving evidence and taking questions from Microsoft’s lawyers. He’s certainly not holding back either.
When the topic of subscription-based gaming is raised, Ryan says other publishers “unanimously do not like[Xbox] Game Pass.” He goes on to say that this is a “very commonly held view by publishers”, who find Game Pass to be “value destructive”, rather than a good opportunity to get their games in more hands.
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“I talked to all publishers,” says Ryan, courtesy ofThe Verge. “They unanimously do not like Game Pass, because it’s value destructive.”
In a follow-up question, Ryan also says that he doubts thatActivision Blizzardboss Bobby Kotick would putCall of Dutyon Game Pass if the acquisition falls apart.
Of course, we only have Ryan’s word to go on right now, and he has an obvious interest in presenting Game Pass releases as a better deal for Microsoft than other publishers. However, many in the gaming community have long wondered if Game Pass' business model is sustainable. For its part, Microsoft has assured fans that itvery much takes Game Pass usage of a game into account, not just its earnings - since it has also admitted thatbeing available on the service harms sales.
Most recently, Xbox shared that Redfall was an example of a title performing quite well on Game Pass,despite a negative reception otherwise. It certainly seems that not all titles are doomed on the service, and in this case, can actually be boosted by being available to users who don’t have to fork over any extra cash to play.
However, this is far from Microsoft’s primary concern right now. Going back to the FTC trial, it has to convince the US regulator that its acquisition of Activision Blizzard is not anti-competitive, and won’t lead to it having a monopoly on the industry.
It isn’t just regulators concerned about the deal. Yesterday, as part of the FTC trial, it came out thatBethesda isn’t happy that its own games have to be Xbox exclusive, but Call of Duty won’t. Indeed, it would be an unprecedented move for Xbox to acquire a company for so much money and offer to share the games with Sony and other companies. Starfield and The Elder Scrolls 6, on the other hand, will be limited to PC and Xbox consoles. Bethesda’s Pete Hines was particularly frustrated that his team hadn’t been given a heads up either, suggesting there are some communications issues behind the scenes.
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