In the ongoing legal challenge to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard brought by the Federal Trade Commission, a chat between Microsoft CFO Tim Stuart and Xbox executive Matt Booty revealed that sometime in November 2021, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer decided to make all ZeniMax games exclusive going forward — no exceptions.

Phil Spencer originally said releasing Bethesda/ZeniMax games on PS5 will be decided on a case-by-case basis

After the announcement of ZeniMax’s acquisition, Spencer said on multiple occasions that the status of publisher’s future releases will be decided on a case by case basis. In court this week, Microsoft went on record to say that “many” future ZeniMax games will release on PlayStation platforms. But Spencer had already decided in a November 2021 meeting that this won’t be the case.

“Phil [Spencer] told them all titles going forward, Xbox exclusive,” Booty said to Stuart in a chat. “All games going forward?” Stuart asked. “Not just new IP, but ALL games going forward? Wow.” The two then went on to discuss the negative financial impact of this decision.

When the FTC brought this up in front of Judge Jacqueline Corley during Spencer’s testimony, he claimed that he didn’t remember the specifics of the meeting.

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Pete Hines questioned Microsoft’s PS5 strategy for Bethesda games

Hines first emailed ZeniMax and Bethesda leadership, including Todd Howard, a snippet of Microsoft’s announcement regarding the Activision Blizzard merger and Call of Duty’s multiplatform status. Hines seemed annoyed and wanted to know why Bethesda wasn’t given a heads-up about the deal and why Activision’s handling is the “opposite” of how Bethesda is being handled.

Hines then reached out to Spencer via an email that was milder in tone than the one above, expressing his surprise at the announcement while reiterating that Bethesda was told to do the “opposite” of what Microsoft wants Activision Blizzard to do, especially with Call of Duty.

This email is particularly interesting in light of Hines’ deposition, during which he claimed that keeping Starfield exclusive to Xbox consoles was the right thing to do from a development standpoint.

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Microsoft canned PS5 versions of several Bethesda games post-acquisition

The Federal Trade Commission has long argued that Microsoft reneged on the promises it made when acquiring ZeniMax media by canceling games that were originally meant to release on the PS5 as well. It has now been confirmed that Redfall, Starfield, and MachineGames’ Indiana Jones were all planned for the PS5 until the acquisition.

In its defense, Microsoft says that it needs to offer some exclusive content to Xbox players, and neither Starfield nor Redfall have established communities on PlayStation. The company chose to remain mum about The Elder Scrolls VI, and it was Bethesda’s Pete Hines who spilled the beans about Indiana Jones.

Microsoft says Redfall’s exclusivity has no material impact on console sales, especially since the game was “widely panned” by critics and generated “minimal sales.” “At the same time, Xbox expects that many other future ZeniMax titles will be shipped on PlayStation and Nintendo,” the court document reads.

Which Bethesda games will grace the PS5 with their presence remains to be seen.

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Bethesda games’ Xbox exclusivity mentioned by both Sony and FTC in legal filings

The FTC wants Hines to testify about Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda as part of ZeniMax Media in relation to “Microsoft Gaming decisions about video game content.” The FTC has previously said that Microsoft reassured regulators that it would not engage in anticompetitive activities but reneged on that promise by making games like Starfield and Redfall exclusive, and alluding to making The Elder Scrolls VI exclusive despite the franchise’s strong history on PlayStation platforms.

Both Sony and FTC have also referenced Hines’ 2021 apology to gamers over Starfield’s Xbox exclusivity. When the game was originally announced, its platforms were not made public and ZeniMax was not part of Microsoft.

Elsewhere, Microsoft has taken aim at Sony’s Jim Ryan for appearing in court via video, pointing out that its own executives will be appearing in person.

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More Ghostwire: Tokyo content

While Kimura would love to expand the game, he’s also aware that it’s far too early. In an interview with IGN Japan, as translated by GamesRadar, he said that “when things calm down a bit more, and when I’ve cooled down a bit more, I’ll have ideas for DLC and sequels, and I’ll want to make them.” He then added that this is just a theory as “nothing has been decided yet, so I can’t tell you anything more than that.” While the ending of Ghostwire: Tokyo would make the possibility of post-game story DLC and a direct sequel a bit difficult, there’s no reason why there couldn’t be additional chapters added mid-game, or even new powers or enemies.

Things are complicated by the fact that developer Tango Gameworks is now a Microsoft studio. For now, the game will remain exclusive to PS5 consoles until 2023, but any future content may wait until exclusivity is over to be released. A sequel will almost certainly involve some form of Xbox exclusivity instead. The game continues to receive updates in the meantime, the latest adding VRR support and removing progression blockers.

In other news, a new PS5 bundle appeared today that included the disc version of the console with Horizon Forbidden West. The bundle is still in stock at Shopto in the UK as long as you don’t mind a couple of additions. Elsewhere, Sony has corrected a listing for Gotham Knights that erroneously claimed the game had four-player co-op.

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The job listing notes that the game will be triple-A quality. The new Senior Technical Animator will work from the company’s office in Richardson, Texas. Not much else is mentioned aside from some technical experience requirements, such as in-depth knowledge in Havok physics and the Maya modeling program.

When it comes to long-running first-person shooters from iD Software, there are a few obvious examples. First is the Doom series, the latest of which was Doom Eternal released in 2020. However, iD Software has added multiple updates to Doom Eternal since its release and will likely continue to do so for some time. Most recently, iD Software added a Horde mode and BATTLEMODE 2.0 to Doom in a new update last week. Therefore, the Doom series is not a likely candidate for a new title.

Another possibility is the Wolfenstein series. Wolfenstein: Youngblood released back in 2019, and hasn’t seen much activity since. Unfortunately, Youngblood wasn’t exactly well-received and featured some pretty lukewarm storytelling elements. It’s also important to note that iD Software also created the Rage franchise.

Finally—and arguably the most promising—we have Quake. While a remastered version of Quake released earlier this year during the virtual Quakecon, iD Software hasn’t released a new title in the series since 2017’s Quake Champions. Recent rumors of a Quake reboot title with a female protagonist also support the possibility that the FPS title is the next Quake entry.

What famous long-standing iD Software action-FPS series would you like to see receive a new game? Let us know in the comments below.

[Source: Gamerant, Reddit]

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In a video interview with GameSpot, Hines echoed what fellow Bethesda executive Todd Howard said recently – that being exclusive allows studios to streamline development and become more focused. However, he understands why this situation is disappointing for some Bethesda fans, and revealed that he too is a PlayStation 5 player.

“I don’t know how to allay the fears and concerns of PlayStation 5 fans other than to say I’m a PlayStation 5 player as well and I’ve played games on that console and there’s games I’m going to continue to play on it, but if you want to play Starfield, it’s PC and Xbox, sorry,” said Hines. “All I can really say is I apologize, because I’m certain that that’s frustrating to folks but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it.”

Hines also suggested that Xbox boss Phil Spencer is looking into ways to bring Microsoft-published games to players beyond Xbox consoles and PC.

“They’re looking to bring Xbox gaming to folks who don’t own a Series S or X or even a PC but want to play the kinds of games that we’re bringing to Game Pass and we’re bringing to Xbox,” Hines continued. “So wherever and however that Xbox ecosystem expands obviously we’re excited about that.”

There have been rumblings about Game Pass possibly landing on the Nintendo Switch. At the moment, it’s hard to imagine Sony allowing the service on PlayStation.

[Source: GameSpot]

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According to Howard, Microsoft’s vision aligns with Bethesda’s in that Microsoft wants to “get games to more people.” While this statement seems contrary to what the acquisition is about, Howard is referring to Game Pass.

He said:

You don’t ever want to leave people out, right? But at the end of the day, your ability to focus and say, this is the game I want to make, these are the platforms I want to make it on, and being able to really lean in on those is going to make for a better product.

By focusing on those platforms, you really get to lean in a lot on making it the best it can be for those systems. And we’re big believers in all of the avenues that Xbox and Microsoft are doing to get games to more people. Whether that’s the integration with the PC, which is huge for us, the cloud streaming and all those things. So I think it’s about taking a long term view. And our belief that those things are really fundamentally good. So we see it actually opening up more and more and more so that people’s ability to play our games – via Game Pass and other things – their ability to play our games doesn’t go down. It goes up dramatically.

Howard concluded that Bethesda being part of the Microsoft family is “great” for the gaming community.

[Source: The Telegraph via Wccftech]

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At Thursday’s roundtable, Spencer clarified that while Microsoft has contractual obligations, referring to Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo‘s PlayStation 5 exclusivity, some Bethesda games have legacy on different platforms and not all games going forward will be Microsoft exclusives.

“So obviously I can’t sit here and say every Bethesda game is exclusive because we know that’s not true – there are contractual obligations that we’re going to see through as we always do in every one of these instances,” Spencer said. “We have games that exist on other platforms and we’re going to go support those games on the platforms that they are on. There are communities of players, we love those players, and we’re going to invest in them. And even in the future there might be things that have either contractual things or legacy on different platforms that we’ll go do.”

Spencer went on to add the obvious: Xbox players should expect exclusive games out of the deal. Bethesda’s acquisition is also about “delivering great exclusive games for you that ship on platforms where Game Pass exists.”

Arkane Games separately confirmed that Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax hasn’t had any impact on Deathloop‘s development.

[Source: Video Games Chronicle]

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Reiterating previous commitments to make sure Bethesda games are at least better or best on Xbox platforms and services, Microsoft said “Gamers should know that Xbox consoles, PC, and Game Pass will be the best place to experience new Bethesda games, including some new titles in the future that will be exclusive to Xbox and PC players.” The post from Phil Spencer avoids laying out any additional specifics for the time being, just saying they’ll have more to share later this year. It seems their plans will heavily focus on Xbox Game Pass, however.

The Bethesda post is similarly curt and vague, setting the stage by saying “First, let me say that we’re not making any landmark announcements or changes right now.” However, it seems the intention is that the studios will continue to operate much as they have in the past, only with “more support and resources” than ever before.

“The expectation is that Bethesda Softworks and our studios will continue as we have in the past, just with more support and resources than we’ve ever had before,” Bethesda’s post says, before turning attention to Game Pass. “Obviously, Game Pass has been an important initiative for Xbox, and we’ll be working on putting even more of our games into Game Pass than ever before. Beyond that? Stay tuned, we’re just getting started together.” Bethesda doesn’t mention anything about exclusivity of its games or the potential of them still coming to other platforms.

Finally, both posts take some time during this moment of celebration to honor Bethesda founder Robert Altman, who passed away last month. They say that his spirit of family, loyalty, creativity, and the power of gaming will live in in the future collaborations made possible by this acquisition.

Bethesda also put together a video highlighting the journey so far and marking the beginning of the journey yet to come as the company embarks on a new chapter as a Microsoft first-party studio.

For now, the only future games from the ZeniMax studios confirmed coming to PlayStation are Deathloop, a PS5 console exclusive coming from Arkane, and Ghostwire: Tokyo from Tango Gameworks and published by Bethesda Softworks. There are also ongoing games like Fallout 76 and The Elder Scrolls Online that will continue to be supported on PlayStation. The platforms of announced titles like The Elder Scrolls VI, Starfield, and the Indiana Jones game are still unknown, as are potential platforms for future games in existing Bethesda franchises and any new IPs the studios create under the Microsoft banner.

[Source: Microsoft, Bethesda]

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