Microsoft’s Phil Spencer addressed the topic of platform exclusivity at yesterday’s Xbox and Bethesda roundtable event, which spurred a variety of conflicting headlines across games media. To address the elephant in the room, yes, Microsoft’s Bethesda acquisition is all about exclusive games. However, Spencer has reiterated on numerous occasions that exclusivity will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
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]
