Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has a clear opinion on exclusive games.
The current FTC hearing about the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard acquisition has been hella juicy. All kinds of top-tier names have said all kinds of wild stuff, including PlayStation boss Jim Ryan slamming Game Pass and Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick delivering disappointing news about the Switch 2.
Of course, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella can’t miss out on this. And damn, did he deliver.
Microsoft CEO Talks About Console Exclusives
A big talking point during the FTC hearing is platform exclusivity. Starfield (and potentially The Elder Scrolls 6) will be Xbox-exclusive and Sony definitely doesn’t want that to happen to Call of Duty, should the acquisition go through.
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When Nadella was asked about that, he delivered a surprising and incendiary answer:
If it was up to me, I would love to get rid of the entire exclusives on consoles, but that’s not for me to define especially as a low share player in the console market. The dominant player there [Sony] has defined market competition using exclusives, so that’s the world we live in. I have no love for that world.
Wow, who would have expected that? Not just going against the idea of exclusives, but blaming Sony for that being such a big thing in gaming? Strong play, for sure.
Can you actually believe what he says? Exclusives are strongly limiting your install base, which is probably why Microsoft has expanded the Xbox brand so strongly to PC. But it always made sense to have unique, brand-defining mascots and IPs and it will continue to be that way. Or can you actually imagine having Halo on PlayStation? Nah, me neither.
Either way, good play. Let’s see if it will help Microsoft with the FTC or not.
All quotes are from The Verge, who are reporting live from the FTC hearings