The Federal Trade Commission’s request for an injunction stopping that acquisition heads toward opening arguments this week, the federal regulator cites one piece of what it calls “powerful evidence” that it can’t trust Microsoft’s assurances. In short, as the FTC puts it, “Microsoft’s actions following its 2021 acquisition of ZeniMax speak louder than Defendants’ words.”
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This is about Microsoft’s options to build a better quality library, not a defense of Sony’s timed exclusivity practices (practices which Xbox also used when on top during the 360 era).
Still, Sony did nurture the studios they acquired and developed quality titles through those studios that pushed them ahead and gave them the reputation of having a “prestige” library. Even recently, Returnal is an example of such nurturing.
Nothing prevented Microsoft from competing except their own poor management decisions to milk franchises dry from the 360 era without adequate quality controls and a general incompetence at developing a comparably prestigious library since that generation.
Microsoft being blocked from throwing their much larger bags of money at acquiring one of the biggest publishers in the industry does not mean their only option is to do timed exclusivity deals.