Sony has been accused going around "paying" developers to keep their games from being hosted on Xbox Game Pass by Microsoft, who also said that they're the ones responsible for the slow growth of Team Green's game subscription service.
LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 28: A detailed view of a PS4 controller as players practice during day one of the 2019 ePremier League Finals at Gfinity Arena on March 28, 2019 in London, England.
PlayStation Lifestyle reports that this accusation was made in documents Microsoft sent to the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense. It is not known exactly why the Brazilian authority was involved in this, but one could assume this is part of the current negotiations regarding the impending $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard (via ResetEra user Idas).
According to Microsoft, Sony allegedly pays for "blocking rights" that stop developers from not only putting their games on Game Pass, but also other competing services. There is no apparent confirmation of this accusation, other than the fact that Microsoft is obviously trying to sweeten the pie so regulators would let their ActiBlizz purchase go through.
If proven true, then Sony's strategy of blocking developers from having their games on Xbox Game Pass would play into Microsoft's advantage and help bring the ActiBlizz acquisition one step closer to approval. Sony, of course, wouldn't want that, as they argue that the publisher and developers' games - specifically the Call Of Duty franchise - being added to Game Pass would lead to a market "tipping point."
Either way, Microsoft is also calling out Sony's decision to adopt the "buy-to-play" model when it comes to their first-party games (i.e. you can only play The Last Of Us on PlayStation consoles). Team Green is saying that Xbox Game Pass "threatens to compete more effectively" with Sony and PlayStation's model, and that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and its IPs would basically stamp out the entire competition.
This is really just two gaming industry giants trying to prove which one of them is not going for a monopoly (wink wink). But whatever happens, Xbox and PlayStation will remain the two undisputed leaders of the market - it's now just a matter of who leapfrogs the other for the time being.
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Microsoft Is NOT Making Games Xbox Exclusive - At Least For Now
Here at GameNGuide, we recently reported that amidst fears of big-name ActiBlizz IPs like Call Of Duty are going to be Xbox-exclusive, Microsoft has reiterated that this was never in the plans.
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 10: Phil Spencer, vice president of Microsoft Game Studios at Microsoft Corp. speaks during Microsoft Xbox news conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo at the Galen Center on June 10, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. Thousands are expected to attend the annual three-day convention to see the latest games and announcements from the gaming industry.
According to the tech giant, making Call Of Duty exclusive to Xbox simply isn't going to be as profitable. Microsoft is, after all, a multi-billion-dollar business trying to make money. Shutting the door on millions of potential customers who want to hold on to their PlayStation consoles would make absolutely zero business sense.
Furthermore, Microsoft has reiterated time and time again that they're not going to pull Call Of Duty off of PlayStation even in the earliest days after the announcement of the Blizzard deal.
As to what exactly they plan to do with Blizzard's IPs once the deal pushes through, that's anyone's guess at this point. But don't expect all of those games to be exclusive to Xbox consoles because at the end of the day, Microsoft isn't really looking to make a profit on console sales.
They're focusing on getting as many people as possible into the Xbox ecosystem - with or without consoles. Software is the one way they look to make money on, not hardware.
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