In a response to a query asking the EU commission regarding the claims of FTC lawsuit against Microsoft, they have claimed that Microsoft didn’t break any commitment to them.
FTC has filed a lawsuit against Microsoft to block the ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard for them. One of their claims is that Microsoft initially promised to release major releases on PlayStation when they were acquiring Bethesda Softworks. They backed out from their claims later and made games like Redfall and Starfield exclusive to the Xbox platform.
However, in a response to MLex (via), the EU commission which is also working with Microsoft on this acquisition has clarified that Microsoft hasn’t backed down from any claims after the Bethesda acquisition.
“Microsoft didn’t make any ‘commitments’ to EU regulators not to release Xbox-exclusive content following its takeover of ZeniMax Media, the European Commission has said, ” quotes MLex.
“The commission cleared the Microsoft/ZeniMax transaction unconditionally as it concluded that the transaction would not raise competition concerns,” the EU watchdog said in an emailed statement to MLex.
Basically in their statement, they assessed that even if Microsoft blocked access to the Bethesda Zenimax games library from PlayStation, it wouldn’t have a major impact on the games lineup for their competitors. The competitor here in this case is the Sony PlayStation platform.
While Microsoft has been more open to Nintendo regarding releasing their multiplatform games and has just committed to a ten-year deal with them which will lead to Call of Duty titles coming to Nintendo’s platform, Sony hasn’t been as friendly to them. This is understandable given that Nintendo is not the main competitor to Xbox but rather PlayStation is, not just in games but also in terms of demographics.
Microsoft Activision acquisition is expected to close sometime in 2023 but the recent FTC lawsuit has threatened its completion, although Microsoft is also planning to take them to court over it.
