Day 4 of Xbox FTC Trials: Bobby Kotick and Jim Ryan Agree on One Thing – No Match for Game Pass – IGN

Another busy legal day in the books, the case of FTC v. Microsoft will end tomorrow. It was a surprisingly quiet day compared to previous ones, with Microsoft head Satya Nadella giving soft evidence, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick speaking calmly to his FTC interrogators, and plenty of financial news.

We also saw, briefly, Nadella’s collaboration with Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on the love of Candy Crush. Interesting.

Detachment From Me, But Not From You

Console isolation has been part of how video games have worked since the beginning of video games. But hearing Xbox and friends say this a few days ago, everyone in the industry hates the idea.

Figures such as Microsoft head Satya Nadella and Activision CEO Bobby Kotick today make isolationism seem less and less like a virus, destroying their ability to do business on other platforms and reach mass markets of people. For example, Nadella said that he has “no love” for it, while Kotick stressed that taking Call of Duty to Xbox would “really damage” the business.

All of this is in line with Spencer’s comment. Together, Xbox and its witnesses and lawyers seem to be arguing that the whole idea of ​​exclusivity is a dirty trick they’re playing with because Sony forced their hand. If Sony would just stop paying for fantasy games like Final Fantasy XVI, they argue Xbox wouldn’t have to act like it has Activision to compete.

It’s no surprise, then, that Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan sang a very different tune yesterday at his video. He added that while he “didn’t like” Redfall and Starfield going to Xbox post-Zenimax, he “didn’t argue with it” and didn’t see it as anti-competitive. Ryan fails to get on a high horse when Xbox has already shared information in court that PlayStation alone is superior to Xbox. Where they draw the line is, of course, on Call of Duty: a franchise so large and successful that (the FTC and Sony argue) the very idea of ​​being the only one could create an impossible problem for PlayStation.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine how Xbox taking over Call of Duty alone isn’t going to make a big return on Xbox. The loss of Sony’s huge market share would reduce the already existing profits of Call of Duty, and (as several bosses have reminded us) the same fantasy “desire” that the game’s audience can cause could hurt the brand. But one thing to keep in mind is that Ryan isn’t thinking about when Xbox takes over Call of Duty next week, month, or year, in comparable markets. In fact, Ryan seems to fear the tables are actually turning, becoming a Call of Duty-less future in which the PlayStation is, for whatever reason, down, as the Xbox is now.

Safely on top of the world, the PlayStation would be better off without Call of Duty. But Ryan knows that this won’t last forever. The “console wars,” online as they may be, do indeed come out with winners and losers. While PlayStation may be confident in its plans for five years, or even ten years, at some point, Ryan is worried that the promise of Spencer Call of Duty will end. And when that happens, if Sony is still on top of the world, the loss of Call of Duty would be devastating.

It makes sense to be anti-isolationist when isolationism is the weapon of the winners, and you are the loser. But markets are unpredictable. There is no way to guarantee where any of the contenders will be ten years from now. Ryan seems to believe that if he’s not on top when the deal ends, Xbox will do to Sony exactly what Sony has been doing to Xbox for years… Whether he’s right or not, it’s up to the court to decide.

Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard: The Story Now

Who, Exactly, Hates Game Pass?

During his video presentation, Jim Ryan tried to say that he talked to “all the publishers” and that, unanimously, they all hate Game Pass. Was he right? It’s hard to say.

A Eurogamer report in 2019 surveyed developers on their views on Game Pass, and they came out more mixed than Ryan did – but that was four years ago, and the respondents were mostly mid-level developers, not big publishers. No More Robots’ Mike Rose has the latest ideas on what service is best, but that’s just one example. To hear Xbox tell it, the service is good for developers, although it also admits it hurts game sales. In comparison, the public testimony of the companies talking about Game Pass looks good across the board. So what was Ryan talking about?

One guess can be made from today’s testimony from Bobby Kotick, who like Ryan, seems to dislike Game Pass. When asked, he admitted that he is not a fan of multiplayer subscriptions, which is why Activision games (mostly, though not entirely) have failed to appear on them. He emphasizes that while there is no clear internal rule that Activision games should not appear in subscriptions, he does not think there is a strong business sense that would motivate him to participate if Activision remains independent.

I don’t agree with the idea of ​​a multiplayer subscription service as a business going forward, but we do [Activision and Microsoft] can agree to disagree

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Once the acquisition is made, they accept that they won’t have Game Pass whether they like it or not. “I don’t agree with the idea of ​​a multi-sport subscription service as a business going forward, but we do.” [Activision and Microsoft] they can agree to disagree,” he said.

Kotick’s aversion to multiplayer subscription services on principle is understandable. He does not want to benefit from it. Why on earth would they put Call of Duty on Game Pass when Activision is making $70 from millions of units sold? How does a subscription make Diablo 4 work if people are already paying? If Activision’s games were too small, or had a short tail of sales, it would make sense to put them on a subscription service and get guaranteed revenue. But Activision Blizzard’s games have reached a level of popularity where they are no longer needed. It’s the same reason why GTA 5 hasn’t even been available on Game Pass in the decade since its release: it doesn’t need it. Subscriptions only cost sales.

Which brings me back to Jim Ryan. Game Pass is a great option for developers who need Game Pass funding guarantee, as their offers are not guaranteed enough. But I suspect that Jim Ryan hasn’t spoken to Mike Rose or Tequila Works or any of the other developers that Eurogamer spoke to. I suspect Jim Ryan is talking about the big publishers who don’t want Game Pass, either because they have their own game installation services (EA or Ubisoft) or because they are Take-Two, Activision Blizzard, or Nintendo: so big that a guaranteed return in exchange for all their products would be stupid .

Leaks in Boats

One last quick aside for today before we go. Perhaps the most interesting revelation today did not happen in court. It happened because some lawyer or assistant or someone didn’t pay enough attention to the sharpie he used to write highly confidential documents.

Trials like this are a good time for gaming, not because of what’s revealed in the general system, but because secret gaming companies keep releasing stuff like this, causing true secrets to be dumped into evidence files. Aside from the sharpie disaster above, last week we saw an entire display containing the secrets of a company that Xbox thought it wanted to buy, which was pulled out of a folder and replaced with a brand that’s far, far away. large black boxes made of plaster. I expect we’ll see more of the same tonight and tomorrow, since the entire evidence folder was taken off the internet after the sharpie incident.

All of this is funny, but it has very important consequences. Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley has been a good game for all of this, but here it is Epic v. Apple, the justice system in the US has made it clear that although it will allow the protection of the official secrets of the company, it is not here to do PR work. video production companies. Inevitably, the game companies fighting in court over every aspect of this on a large scale will result in consumers benefiting from a surprising, retrograde, business exposure. The more they fight, the more we know.

There is one day left in court, and a decision will be made in the following days. You can check out our daily roundup right here on IGN for updates on everything that’s happening in the FTC v. Microsoft, daily, and detailed analysis of the first day, the second day, and the third day before the trial. we will meet again tomorrow.

Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find him on Twitter @duckvalentine.