PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has been speaking today as part of a pre-recorded deposition for the FTC hearing regarding Microsoft's attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard, and as part of it, he revealed that he doesn't think Starfield's Xbox exclusivity is "anti-competitive".
Ryan also made similar comments about the recently released Redfall. Here's what he had to say:
On Redfall: "I don't like it, but I have fundamentally no quarrel with it."
On Starfield: "I don't like it, but I don't view it as anti-competitive."
Despite this, Ryan continues to remain concerned about Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard, explaining as part of his deposition that Sony still believes Microsoft "intends to use Call of Duty to disadvantage PlayStation in terms of the availability or the manner in which the game is made available on PlayStation consoles, and to drive PlayStation gamers to the Xbox platforms, specifically Game Pass.”
Going back to Starfield and Redfall, Ryan also mentioned that he originally expected both games to be part of PlayStation, simply because "pretty much every other Bethesda game had been multiplatform prior to the acquisition”. He ended up learning of Starfield's exclusivity following Microsoft's purchase of ZeniMax a couple of years ago.
What are your thoughts about this? Let us know down in the comments section below.
[source ign.com]
Comments 47
Jim knows that you can’t claim something is wrong when you have done it yourself.
When Sony acquired Naughty Dog or Insomniac (or many others) they ensured the future games they developed were exclusive to their platform.
It wasn’t illegal or wrong or “anti-consumer” then so Microsoft doing so with Bethesda isn’t either.
It’s not rocket science.
The follow-up question that should have been asked of Jim Ryan is how the Activision-Blizzard acquisition is any different.
So it’s only anticompetitive when it’s Call of Duty. Sure. Makes sense. /s
@Suda52 but Microsoft isn’t buying an entire market, they are buying a publisher.
What are you even talking about?
@Suda52 and Sony started with Psygnosis (creators of Wipeout) in 1993 before Xbox even existed.
They have since bought Bend, Naughty Dog, Insomniac and many more, including Bungie as the latest.
Nothing Microsoft is doing is different to what Sony has done, just that Microsoft is making an acquisition on a larger scale than Sony has done.
Activision-Blizzard put themselves up for sale. They were not forced to be bought. If Microsoft didn’t buy them someone else would have.
So what is your point?
Edit: On your second point. Microsoft didn’t say they wanted to spend Sony out of business, one executive said that in an email. That doesn’t mean it becomes company policy or that it was adopted. And trust me, I’m sure Sony’s executives have also theorised how to beat Microsoft at business. As someone who works with big firms for marketing, I can assure you it isn’t uncommon to hear people talking about competition like that.
@Suda52 I think people seem to forget that Sony only buy independent developer's with a handful of IP's each vs Microsoft who are buying Publishers that have multiple development studios, thousands of staff and way more than an handful of IP's.
Sony also acquire studios who didn't really put games onto xbox to begin with, and bunjie are staying multiplatform, vs Microsoft who buy publishers that sell all their biggest games on playstation.
@Kienda not really the same naughty dog has never made game for xbox and insomniac has always been predominantly playstation only having sunset overdrive and fuse on xbox. So when sony bought them xbox didn't really lose anything while Bethesda has a bunch of games they've developed for playstation over the years.
@Suda52 Yeah, Activision alone has more staff than all of Sony's studios put together and then some.
@Suda52 Also i wouldn't even consider their other purchases indie studios. Ninja theory, Obsidian, Playground games and Undead Labs are all making AA to AAA games.
Lessee here....Skyrim just announced it hit 60 million total sales. Pretty sure Ole Jim would love to get his market share of Starfield sales, especially considering Sony doesn't have a single exclusive in the top 10 All-Time. People can cry about Microsoft buying this and that, but at least they aren't crying to the feds about Sony's exclusivity contracts with Third Party studios. Which is a huge problem.
I don't like ff7 remake being a timed exclusive but I don't see it as anti competitive how's 'bout that. Come on now Jim Ryan wats the hol'dup?
Maaan. I get this court hearing is technically very relevant to gaming right now but the amount of articles on both sites that are clearly just going to stoke vile fanboyism in comment threads is mind numbing at this point. Lol.
Look, I know Microsoft buying a whole publisher doesn't equate to exclusivity deals, but it's still feels like the pot calling the kettle black.
Sony used Call of Duty exclusivity to disadvantage Xbox for years.
Yes, availability to certain things was still timed, but some of that time expired when the next game came out - essentially making that content less impactful as core fans moved on to the new game.
Sony uses FOMO to its advantage.
Just like if Sony got exclusivity of Starfield for a year. FOMO would make people buy PlayStation consoles instead of Microsoft consoles and by the time the Xbox version released, everyone already got their PlayStations and wouldn't be going back. It makes the Xbox version somewhat irrelevant except for those who already bought into the ecosystem.
If Final Fantasy VII Remake every comes to Xbox, it won't move the needle for Xbox because people already got PlayStation to play the game ages ago. It will be nice for the Xbox-only crowd, but it won't suddenly sell consoles like it did when it released on PlayStation.
And Phil swore under oath that Call of Duty will stay on PlayStation. The only difference is that Microsoft isn't playing favorites and every platform will have content parity one day one.
@Suda52 : The "whole entire market"? At the close of the last fiscal quarter Activision-Blizzard held 2.8% of total industry revenues. And sure, that's a lot for one company, but it's nowhere near a significant portion of the overall market and it's still a lot less than the gap between Microsoft and Sony.
Him saying he doesnt like exclusivity might be the single greatest hypocrisy in gaming.
@Kienda
They didnt even say they wanted to do it, they said they were in a position to do so, and then simply suggested to invest 2-3 billions on acquisitions for the following year. Thats not even suggesting an attempt at actually doing what they thought they could do.
Will be happy when they spend them out of business and we finally get back to playing games instead of interactive movies.
It's not anti-competitive because Microsoft owns the studio. Anti-competitive is what you do, pay third parties to exclude the Xbox platform. That and your market dominance is why Microsoft buys studios.
Gaming revenue in 2022:
Sony: $28.2b
Microsoft: $16.2b
Tencent: $13.9b
Nintendo: $13.8b
Even after the ABK acquisition, Microsoft will still be behind Sony and don't forget that ABK was looking for buyers so I don't know what FTC and CMA are doing. They should be glad it's going to be more balanced now in the so-called high-end market.
@UltimateOtaku91 The only reason Sony don't buy entire publishers is because they can't afford it. Anybody with two brain cells can see how aggressive Sony's business practices are and to pretend they wouldn't do this if they had the cash is either plain ignorance or just pure fanboyism. It's plain to see that they've literally been trying to put Xbox out of business with their antics but as soon as Xbox decides to fight back by flexing their wallet, Sony cries foul. They brought this upon themselves.
@old-dad get back to? You do know MS and Sony entered the gaming industry at more or less the same time so there was never really a time when only one made the “games”.
I’ll never believe anything that comes out of Jim or Phil’s mouths. Of course fanboys will continue to lap it up though defending their mega corp and why they are so friendly and nice and just want love and cuddles. They have one priority and that is their bottom line. I would do the same in their positions because no doubt any shift in either direction will affect their bonus targets.
Jim doesn't have a leg to stand on at this point considering Sonys past and current practices...
All I can say is that $7.5 billion deal to acquire ZeniMax Media, are money well spent. I still don't get how Sony spent almost half of that to buy Bungie with no exclusivity. Unless if they plan to beef them up to make a CoD alternative
No, @Suda52, they did not say they want to spend Sony out of business.
This is the full comment:
"A different view to the general view below might be that we (Microsoft) are in a very unique position to be able to go spend Sony out of business..."
The start of that comment is especially important. Booty is basically saying that people may have the opinion that Microsoft are able to put Sony out of business. That is both true, as they actually could, if that was their aim, and also not the strategy that Microsoft are employing. It's also evident that Sony are vey much in the lead, and Microsoft have not bought up all the competition.
Let's face it, if Microsoft really wanted to, they could buy Sony. They could easily make Sony an offer they just could not refuse, and watch them waltz off into their mansions in the sun, whilst Microsoft ran the gaming industry.
Whatever else has been said, this is a perfectly reasonable statement to make.
Its a shame then that we just cant all agree thats a sensible position and move on, but once again pure decends into spats, accusations and open hostility.
I swear more people come to this site to argue than to chat with like minded fellow gamers. Its a sign of the hyper-polorised tribal mentality that seems to rule our once civil cultures. An old guy like me can only shake my head and hope im gone before we all take each other out. If im still around, Ill be going down with a gamepad in my hands 😊
Jim is just angry that he is the MySpace of buying/locking content and Phil took it and made it the Facebook of buying/locking content. Don't be mad because a bigger, stronger monster decided to wake up and be the bigger, stronger monster it is.
@LoquaciousB Sony bought Bungie for 3.6 billion. Not every acquisition is 68.7 billion. Zenimax/Bethesda was only 7.5. Ninja Theory was purchased for 114 million.
@Suda52 they shouldn't Stop, as Sony have done worse with constant money hatting etc.
MS almost lost Starfield, glad MS stepped in, Sega would be a perfect fit for Xbox and Sega would welcome that with open arms for sure, they worked together in Dreamcast days and Xbox OG days!
@Savage_Joe Bungie is remaining multiplat, in fact its part of Bungie's terms on being bought.
@Moonglow That makes sense, it's not the same every year. I think that when Sony acquired Bungie they were planning this apparent switch to MMO but not every MMO game will be Fortnite.
@Suda52 Shouldn't you be on the Push Square website forums?
@Suda52 not to the same amount at all, that was marketing mainly. Sony have stood by this since PS4 days, Xbox haven't done it as much, they were forced to this gen, because Sony threatened to kill off Xbox completely. You shouldn't believe any thing JR says, he's deluded!
@Suda52 we can share opinions of course, it's cool, but Xbox will be supported here more, that's all, fed up with the FTC and ABK, just want it done to be honest, then Jim talking crap makes it even worse! Draining that's all!
@Suda52 Blocked? Wtf It best not be blocked!
Disagree with most of that, Sony been doing it way longer and for worse, it's business of course, but Sony are more of the bad guy for sure! That is easy to see the last 10 years for me!
@Suda52 Also Timed is fine, I'm talking content and full blocks my friend.
Well of course he would say this, Sonys entire business model is built in exclusive games and deals with first and third party publishers. Dhurr.
@Suda52 There's plenty of 3rd party developers out there. SquareEnix, Konami, Capcom, EA, Epic, Ubisoft, Valve, the list goes on and on. I fail to see how Microsoft is buying out the whole market. The idea that Microsoft has control over the market and Sony will fail because of the ABK acquisition just comes across as gaslighting.
Duh, if he did he would be the biggest hypocrite ever. Of course he doesn’t have a problem with exclusivity.
Does anyone remember when CapCom made a few GameCube exclusives?
People b*tch*d and moaned until CapCom broke contracts and made them for Sony.
@Suda52
Final Fantasy VII remake says hi.
Does anyone remember that Sony bought exclusivity for some games so that SeGa and Nintendo could not get them?
Does anyone remember that Sony buys timed exclusives or content for for games?
Does anyone remember that Sony tried to steal Nintendo IP before they made their first System/Console?
I said this in another article:
No Company (Nintendo, Sony, XboX) should be allowed to buy 2nd and 3rd party producers/developers.
ALL 2nd and 3rd party games MUST be available on ALL systems.
The strength of 1st party games is what should determine a system's success.
If a developer goes under, only then should the main three be able to buy an IP. Or do joint IP.
@Suda52
Sorry brother. I don’t do others work for them, not without being paid. It’s called the internet, use it. It’s common knowledge FF VII remake was gonna be a timed exclusive, right up until Sony stepped in.
@Suda52
Sorry, the info on FF VII remake was a long time ago, long long before this trial. It was supposed to be 9 months to a year exclusivity for PS. Then it turned into longer and now it’s likely never being released on Xbox. That’s due to Sony making it so. So sorry, wasn’t referencing the court case.
That said, since you brought up the court case, NOT A CHANCE in hell Phil says those things under oath and lies about it. Due to discovery for this case, MS was granted access to a crap ton of Sony documents that Sony fought tooth and nail to keep secret but were forced to turn over by the ruling of the FTC. Included in those papers were all deals made with 3rd party developers and publishers over the last like 5+ years and it was after those papers were turned over that Phil stated that Sony pays to keep games off of Xbox. If it were untrue, you can bet your ass Jim Ryan would have refuted it. He didn’t. And we can’t verify what’s in those papers since they are still secret corporate info that only MS and its lawyers could see. Anyone with any common sense knows it’s true. Again, Jim Ryan’s utter silence on the matter is all the proof anyone needs as well as the timing of Phil staying as such, just after getting all of the info on Sonys 3rd party dealings.
If you want to think otherwise, all the power to ya. Me personally, given the circumstances around it, I would bet my life it’s true. And just as I can’t provide the proof to back up such claims, you can’t provide proof that refutes them.
@RIghteousNixon You are right, Phil confirmed that to the judge and Jim didn't deny anything that Phil said, including the facts that Sony paid for keeping games off Xbox, Final Fantasy VII Remake included. Jim didn't answer when the judge asked if he would make Call of Duty exclusive if Sony acquired ABK so the answer is yes, he would. Otherwise he would have answered no.
People that say that Phil lied at the trial after swearing under oath and that Jim just let his lies go through are irrational Sony fans.
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