PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has said that he doesn’t see Starfield being Xbox console exclusive as anti-competitive.
That’s what the Sony executive said in his recorded video deposition as part of the ongoing FTC/Microsoft trial yesterday. Among other witnesses, Ryan yesterday testified through a video deposition during which he was asked about some Bethesda games being Xbox console exclusives, including the upcoming Starfield and Arkane’s recently-released Redfall (which we knew was first planned for a PS5 release as well). According to Ryan, he has no issues with exclusive titles as a differentiating factor.
“I don’t like it, but I don’t view it as anti-competitive”, the PlayStation boss said about Starfield being an Xbox console exclusive. Ryan said the same about Redfall being an Xbox console exclusive. “I don’t like it, but I fundamentally have no quarrel with it”.
What Ryan basically has been saying is that he doesn’t like what Microsoft is doing making Bethesda or other titles exclusive to Xbox/PC, but his main concern appears to be the potential impact of Call of Duty becoming exclusive.
The ongoing FTC vs Microsoft trial has already revealed interesting details about Microsoft’s decision to merge with Activision-Blizzard, including fears of Starfield skipping Xbox. As such, Microsoft seemingly bought Bethesda/Zenimax to stop Sony from getting Starfield.
“When we acquired ZeniMax one of the impetus for that is that Sony had done a deal for Deathloop and Ghostwire… to pay Bethesda to not ship those games on Xbox”, Xbox Boss Phil Spencer testified last week. “So, the discussion about Starfield when we heard that Starfield was potentially also going to end up skipping Xbox, we can’t be in a position as a third-place console where we fall further behind on our content ownership so we’ve had to secure content to remain viable in the business.”
As always, we’ll update you as soon as more relevant information from the FTC/Microsoft hearings comes in.
