FTC: Starfield was supposed to receive a version on PS5, but was canceled. Microsoft “motivated” to harm PlayStation
The US Federal Trade Commission provides additional documents on the Microsoft transaction with Activision Blizzard. According to American officials, Starfield was supposed to reach the PlayStation 5, but the Redmond giant intervened in the case.
As you know, Redfall was supposed to debut on PS5, but Microsoft changed the developers’ plans – the developers had to concentrate exclusively on Xbox and PC, but as a result, it is unlikely that anyone would complain about the absence of this project on the PlayStation console.
However, the FTC claims that the identical situation has developed with Starfield, which also had to reach the PlayStation 5, but Microsoft blocked the development of the third version of the game. The Federal Trade Commission is convinced that the giant from Redmond is motivated enough to harm PlayStation, and the company may bear "short -term losses".
The actual FTC conclusions are greatly edited, but they have the idea that Microsoft is motivated for short -term losses to damage PlayStation and monopolize the markets of high -tech, cloud and game solutions. Microsoft denies that it strives for exclusivity and that these are real/separate markets.
FTC wants to block the Microsoft transaction with Activision Blizzard, and the corporation presents a number of documents to damage the company and show that the Redmond giant does not act for the benefit of the industry and negatively affects the market with its activities related to Bethesda.
Nevertheless, Microsoft emphasized that she still needs to offer exclusive games, but many future things from the Zenimax teams will be released on the PlayStation and Nintendo consoles:
- Redfall/Starfield are available only on Xbox/PC: "To maintain the need to offer exclusive content, while limiting the economic costs and damage to the brand focused on players".
- Redfall "Provided minimal sales"
- "There are many more" Future Games Zenimax will be released on PS/Nintendo
After the release of Redfall, messages appeared that shed light on a problematic game development cycle that suffered from a number of problems, including the lack of a clear vision, a high level of staff retirement and the inability of the studio to replace vacant positions. In fact, the development was so bad that Arkane allegedly hoped that Microsoft would cancel or restart the project after acquiring the studio. However, Microsoft chose not to intervene.
Earlier this month, the head of the Xbox Game Studios, Matt Buti said that there are currently no plans to close Arkane Austin, the Arkane team that developed Redfall.