Sony Alludes to Elder Scrolls VI Being Xbox Exclusive as It Argues Against Microsoft’s Activision Deal

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by
William D’Angelo
, posted 5 hours ago / 2,500 Views

Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in a newly published document by the UK regulators, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), has released its response to the CMA’s provisional findings (PF) to Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Sony states the concern with the deal is about future releases of Call of Duty and not previous releases. Sony points to Microsoft making future ZeniMax games Xbox console exclusives including “Starfield and Elder Scrolls.” The mention of The Elder Scrolls could allude to The Elder Scrolls VI being an Xbox console exclusive.

“Microsoft is fond of arguing that, with its prior acquisitions, it did not make the existing, already released games it acquired exclusive to Xbox,” reads Sony Interactive Entertainment’s response. “But the foreclosure concern in this case is not about past releases of Call of Duty.

“It is about the impact of Microsoft making new Call of Duty releases (which are launched every year) exclusive, as it has done for the new releases of Starfield and Elder Scrolls following the acquisition of ZeniMax in 2021.

“As the PFs explain, these releases were announced in 2018 and were not expected at that time to be Xbox exclusives. It was only after acquiring ZeniMax that Microsoft’s Phil Spencer revealed that, all along, the deal had been about ‘delivering great exclusive games’ for Xbox.”

Sony added that using Minecraft as an example for keeping a game multiplatform isn’t relevant as it is a single release, while Call of Duty gets a new release every year.

“Second, Microsoft points to Minecraft as an example of an acquisition where it did not pursue exclusivity. But this example is not relevant to an exclusivity strategy regarding future releases of Call of Duty,” Sony added.

“Minecraft is a single release game that is already in users’ hands: unlike Call of Duty, there are no future releases of Minecraft. The CMA correctly points out that Minecraft’s ‘legacy monetisation model of a one-time fee for lifetime access and updates…differs significantly from Call of Duty, where users buy the new premium iteration of the game every year for a higher fee.’

“SIE therefore agrees with the PFs that the more relevant indicator of Microsoft’s intentions on exclusivity for Call of Duty is the ZeniMax deal.”

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer recently stated Microsoft plans to treat Call of Duty the same way it does with Minecraft keeping the game multiplatform and available on as many platforms as possible.

We want to increase the places where people can play Call of Duty,” said Spencer at the time. “I think a little bit like Minecraft. I think when we acquired Minecraft, our monthly active player base was 20-30 million. I’m doing this from memory, but I think that’s about the size Minecraft was. And I think it’s about maybe 120 million monthly players on Minecraft.”

Microsoft has signed multiple 10-year deals in recent weeks to bring Call of Duty and Xbox games on PC to more platforms.

If Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition is approved Call of Duty games will release on Nintendo platforms. The new legally binding 10-year agreement will guarantee Call of Duty games will release on Nintendo platforms the same day as Xbox with “full feature and content parity.” This is so those on Nintendo platforms “can experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty.”

Microsoft has also signed 10-year agreement with three cloud streaming services to bring Xbox Games on PC to the services. This includes Nvidia’s GeForce Now, Ukraine-based Boosteroid, and Ubitus.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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