There is trouble again between Sony and Microsoft. As the head of the studio “Arkane”, Harvey Smith, says, Microsoft told the team after the acquisition of Bethesda that there would be no “PlayStation 5” version of their new online shooter Redfall (Xbox, PC), but Microsoft denies that.
What the studio chief says: In an interview with IGN France, Harvey Smith said that there had been a “series of changes” in September 2020, when Microsoft bought the company Bethesda, which also includes the Arkane studio.
“No PlayStation 5. Now we are doing Game Pass, Xbox, and PC.”
What Microsoft says: In a statement to GameSpot, Microsoft denies that they have cut Redfall from the PS5:
We have not removed any games from PlayStation. In fact, we have even increased our footprint of games appearing on Sony’s PlayStation since we acquired Zenimax, and the first 2 games we released were exclusive titles for the PS5.
Developer statement on Redfall doesn’t fit Xbox’s strategy
What’s behind it: The background of these two contradictory statements is the acquisition that Microsoft is planning. Because Microsoft aims to acquire the company “Activision Blizzard” for billions of US dollars since January 2022 and add it to their gaming offerings for Xbox. However, both Activision Blizzard and Microsoft are such huge companies that they need approval from regulatory authorities worldwide for the acquisition.
Sony is against this merger because they fear that Microsoft could become too powerful and deny Sony access to games, especially Call of Duty.
Microsoft, on the other hand, desperately wants this merger and therefore wants to make it clear that they do not seek dominance and that games should certainly continue to appear on PlayStation. However, this contradicts Microsoft’s behavior before 2022, when they were clearly on the hunt for exclusive titles and specifically acquired Bethesda for exclusive titles, explicitly telling PlayStation players: “No, the new role-playing games from Bethesda that you are looking forward to will not come to PlayStation, they will come to PC and Xbox.”
Microsoft wanted to appear large, but since 2022, as small and harmless as possible
It seems that the studio head of Arkane let something slip and told the truth – which no longer fits into Xbox’s plans:
- When Microsoft acquired the company Zenimax, including Bethesda, it was still Microsoft’s goal to signal to players: “Come to us, we will soon have super-exclusive titles from Bethesda that you cannot play on PlayStation.” – It was clear that Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield would not appear on PlayStation
- However, since 2022, since Microsoft has been trying to acquire Activision Blizzard, the message is rather: “Hello, we are Microsoft, we are totally harmless, we mean no harm. Of course, we will continue to bring all games to Sony – please let us buy Activision Blizzard now.”
This change of strategy at Microsoft since 2022, to belittle themselves and elevate Sony, has led to very strange statements:
Microsoft CEO diminishes Xbox: “We are number 4 or 5 in gaming – Sony is number 1”
