Microsoft CFO Says Making Call of Duty an Xbox Exclusive Was Never Discussed

Microsoft CFO Amy Hood in her written declaration submitted as part of the Microsoft vs FTC hearing said they never discussed the possibility of making Call of Duty an Xbox console exclusive

[SullysCigar]

Lol I'm sorry, but that has to be bollocks.

[Jin_Sakai]

I believe nothing they say at this point. All lies.

[Lightning77]

If it's "all lies" then why is the FTC getting embarrassed and destroyed this past week. Not just by MS but by the judge itself?

If they were lying about everything wouldn't the judge call out MS in all fronts?

I'm trying to make sense out of your statement.

[Jin_Sakai]

“If it's "all lies" then why is the FTC getting embarrassed and destroyed this past week. Not just by MS but by the judge itself?”

You mean how the Judge’s son works for Microsoft and they are worried about her being bias against the acquisition.

[-Foxtrot]

People on here keep making out the FTC are being slaughtered…like super bad but a quick look around it’s not as bad as they make out

MS have also made themselves look pretty f****** stupid if we play that card.

[Lightning77]

A conflict of interest in that case is highly illegal and they would throw Judge Corely out.

You're just reaching now.

[Sonic1881]

"I believe nothing they say at this point. All lies."

Yup I have to agree with you there. What else is new

[__SteakDeck__]

Lightning77 an Xbox fanboy. Lol

[__SteakDeck__]

@SoulMaster She also said “why the fuss over a shooter video game” Lol

[S2Killinit]

MS literally lie with every single thing that comes out of their mouths.

[InUrFoxHole]

@Jin
Lol. The truth is the FTC didn't have a leg to stand on. That's why your complaint is the judges son. The Merritts of the case don't stand. So now all the crying will be about the judges son

[blacktiger]

mofo, I'm from the 90's Microsoft is like a devil, now they are just a bad guys. I gota say they are improving. Another 70 years more well get Microsoft in Sony's reputation.

[lelo2play]

Don't think Sony gamers have thought this through... just have to say, Be Careful What you Wish For.

If I was Sony gamer, would be praying for Microsoft to purchase Activision. COD will continue being mutiplat and Playstation gamers wouldn't loose much. Microsoft wouldn't be aloud to purchase any more big studio/publishers.

If Microsoft don't purchase Activision, they will go after other developers that Sony gamers actually might care about. Developers that can be turned in to making exclusive Xbox/PC games like Bethesda. By then, the CMA and FTC won't have the COD excuse to refuse the purchase.

I'll say it again... Be Careful What you Wish For.

[Crows90]

A bad thing happening isnt somehow good because other bad things may happen otherwise down the line.
Thats an inconsistent position.

MS shouldnt be allowed to continue buying up developers at the rate they have been. You may be right but if the deal is allowed there really is no reason to not allow smaller deals...and quite frankly almost any other developer is a much much smaller deal in comparison.

[DarXyde]

For me personally, that would involve the purchase of Square, Kadokawa, or Sega. I don't see that happening though. By then, you have to go through Japanese regulators, and I don't think they would be as receptive to that acquisition as they were to ABK. Besides, Sony and Tencent own two-thirds of FromSoft, so really, what can they do there? Given that Japanese titles are Xbox's biggest weakness (at least from what I see) and they haven't bought one of the major publishers, perhaps it is because they can't? Identity is a big thing in Japan and I do not foresee them forgoing that. Would they be open to Japanese acquisitions? Square, maybe. I don't think so for Sega.

Just my thoughts on the matter.

If anything, I would say they're eyeing up WB. There were talks of that a while ago that never materialized anything. Just might, though.

[ApocalypseShadow]

Sorry. I wouldn't be praying for them to get Activision just so they can monopolize the industry. Think again. Don't think you've thought things through.

And, Microsoft would have to be careful of what they wish for in buying favorite franchises and companies that are favorites on PlayStation and make more money on PlayStation. Leading to a boycott of their systems and services worldwide in gaming. Something I know they don't want. They think they are worse off now. PlayStation gamers worldwide boycotting them would either force them to keep products on PlayStation or see their numbers get worse.

Casuals don't care about Microsoft. If they did, they would still be playing Xbox and waving their hands with Kinect on Xbox instead of their phones and tablets. The core gamers are the ones who actually buy multiple games and support multiple developers. Without the core audience, those franchises would drop like a bad habit.

So I say again, Microsoft had better be careful who they go after in trying to take away games from the majority. It won't be pretty.

[outsider1624]

"If Microsoft don't purchase Activision, they will go after other developers that Sony gamers actually might care about."

This right here proves MS is shitty and pathetic. They already bought bethesda ( a multi platform publisher). And now if they dont have activision they'll go after other publishers? All that money and they can't concentrate on their own studios?

What i wish for is Sony to concentrate/continue on making quality exclusives. Had enough of this drama. The faster this ends the better.

[RauLeCreuset]

It's a valid concern, one that you're trying to leverage to get Sony gamers to cheer for the deal, but what's to stop MS from doing another acquisition under that same logic after acquiring ABK?

The problem is the general permissiveness many of the regulatory systems have for allowing wealth to circumvent and harm actual competition. That critique includes the CMA, which has blocked the deal, and the FTC, which is trying to block it.

The attitudes of the regulatory systems in evaluating effects on a market have been to ignore the acquisition of all of the other ABK multiplats to debate whether COD is big enough to change MS' position in the market. When that is the determining factor, why should Sony gamers hope the deal goes through?

What's to stop MS from acquiring more big multiplat studios or publishers, none of which are going to have a single franchise as big as COD, and applying that same test (Is (insert franchise) big enough to put Xbox ahead of Sony?) to justify acquisition? Are Sonic, Persona, Virtua Fighter, or Like A Dragon going to pass that test if COD can't?

Not all unfair practices result in a monopoly. They're still unfair business practices. The word "monopoly" is not in the FTC's mission statement. It does mention protecting the public from unfair business practices and unfair methods of competition.

It's simple. The richest kid on the block should not be able to gobble up titles popular on other platforms to lure away gamers they failed to properly compete for over the two decades they have been in the market. Look at all the games under ABK other than COD. Phil said it himself. Xbox failed when it mattered most, and consumers made their choice. The attitudes of regulatory systems are entirely too permissive of rewarding that failure and punishing consumers by entertaining the idea that MS should be able to take hostage titles popular elsewhere to force consumers into their ecosystem.

[PapaBop]

So if Microsoft buys Activision then there is no worries because they'll still be making multiplatform games but if Microsoft buys another developer then Sony fans should be worried as they might make those games exclusive? There is a huge gaping flaw in that logic which I can only guess that you're gullible enough to take anything MS says at face value.

[DarXyde]

Um...maybe. Hood's statement is a bit open to interpretation:

"The possibility of making Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox was never assessed or discussed with me, nor was it even mentioned in any of the presentations to or discussions with the Board of Directors."

You have to be careful with interpreting this statement, it's a bit loaded. The first part of that statement "was never assessed or discussed with me" can mean three things: (a) the plain face reading that neither occurred, (b) it was never assessed, or (c) it *was* discussed with her. Either you take them together, or individually which would indicate one of them is true. The second part "nor was it even mentioned[...]" is pretty straightforward. I suppose it's also possible to lie about it because it's not really practical to prove a negative here unless they have documented every communication in copious detail. But there's also a simpler reading of this: Xbox exclusivity. Of course this won't be Xbox exclusive because PC exists, as do Nintendo platforms. I think this is actually the most accurate interpretation: talks of Xbox exclusivity never occurred. The real question is "did MS have any discussions of which platforms would be omitted?"

Onto the second part of that quote:

"I understood the necessity of keeping Call of Duty on other platforms. The acquisition’s strategic rationale and financial valuation are both aligned toward making Activision games more widely available, not less."

This is interesting. I'm willing to give this a good faith interpretation in that, yes, they stand to earn back a lot of their acquisition spending faster if they keep things open and expand upon that by including Nintendo and streaming to mobile devices. I think that's a fair statement.

....but if I approached this as a skeptical person, I'm really iffy on her saying she "understood the necessity of keeping Call of Duty on other platforms." Objectively, "understood" is the past tense of "understand", so is it reasonable to suggest that she no longer holds this understanding? Additionally, making these games more widely available is open to interpretation. There are more Switches out there than PS4s and PS5s, so technically, opening access to Switch and restricting access to PlayStation would be a net expansion, no? Even just to mobile phones, that's damn near universal access, and, therefore, also a net expansion.

I don't like the idea of being so cynical and paranoid, but Microsoft is very good at veiled messaging. Spencer notes he'd like to keep those games on PlayStation if Sony allows it, but what does that mean? Will there be the requirement to allow Microsoft's subscription services on PlayStation? Is it only going to be available through streaming? That they are willing to put these games on PlayStation with important, deal-breaking caveats? I feel like there are important questions that aren't receiving their due follow-ups. If they can answer those questions unequivocally, I think we can have a much clearer understanding of what they mean.

Given that Microsoft wasn't willing to cleave off Call of Duty and instead opting for decade deals, they must be under the impression that having it is essential to their strategy. As a bargaining chip, perhaps. Very lucrative franchise, after all.

I don't really know what they plan to do, but we'll find out if the merger is successful. I would personally rather it failed spectacularly, but let's see what comes of it. Then, we will assess what Microsoft will do.

[Zeref]

It was never discussed, with her.

Headline is misleading.

[jznrpg]

That’s Bs too

[Zeref]

@jznrpg

I mean of course it is, everything Xbox does is BS according to yall, but let's at least be accurate.

[frostypants]

*never discussed in any recorded conversation

[isarai]

Bull! That would've been the conversation before going through with the offer just like you did with Zenimax

[Zeref]

It was never discussed, with her.

Headline is misleading.

[Fishy Fingers]

COD would make MS more money being multiplat then it ever would as an xbox exclusive.

Its cute to think this is some chest beating contest. Its about revenue.

[MrDead]

"COD would make MS more money being multiplat then it ever would as an xbox exclusive." really!!

So if it's only about revenue when can we expect Bethesda games to be released on Bethesda's biggest revenue generator in the console market?

[Fishy Fingers]

If that bethesda game was releasing annually and year on year the biggest seller across every platform probably, yeah.

Its a 10x purchase over zenimax, you think even MS (a public traded company with shareholders not fanboys) can justify $70b and owning the biggest cash cow in gaming only to cut its return in half to sell some more xboxs? Naive mate. Take 40% of Sonys COD revenue, year in, year out.

[MrDead]

You think MS when it has total control of a huge percentage of the biggest IP's and publisher's in gaming are going to allow others to play? Giant companies like MS do this all the time, take the initial loss and make the industry uncompetitive for competition. Naive mate to take a tax dodging mega corp at its word... especially when you look at every other industry this has happened to.

[giovonni]

MrDead as soon as we can expect Final fantasy seven to go Multiplatform too or Street Fighter V to drop multiplat… I mean those games are love and adored by all fan bases. But, I’m sure you’ll find away to move the goal post on those. look it’s very simple, when a Bethesda game releases year over year and makes the same amount as COD expect to see it on PlayStation. Games such as elder scrolls which release every few years can and should be exclusive to who ever owns them. You want to play it so bad, and you’re a gamer get an Xbox, or get a PC. The only thing preventing you from playing these games is just you and this fanboy loyalty you have.

[MrDead]

Poor giov, confusing single games to entire multiplatform publishers and then talks about moving goal posts. Its amazing the swill you fanboys gulp down to defend MS activity hurting the industry he cares about... Also if you look at my comment history you'll see I don't game on console, some gamers like myself care more about a healthy industry

[shinoff2183]

Fishy fingers

So would bethesada games. They sold much better on ps systems.

[giovonni]

Shinoff2183 so, that’s not MS strategy. It’s crazy how the Sony Pony Phony’s consensus is for MS to compete, but it has to be based upon their reasoning, their “moral compass” and should still benefit them. Profits should only be maximized when they say so. “ oh COD sells more on PlayStation therefore it should stay on PlayStation forever. Sorry business doesn’t work like that either adapt or move on to something else.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"Its cute to think this is some chest beating contest. Its about revenue."

"We can out spend Sony out of business"
- Microsoft

This is definitely a "chest beating contest". Cute indeed.

[Fishy Fingers]

Juicy quote from 2019 huh.

[-Foxtrot]

@FishyFingers

It doesn't matter when it was said

If you make a suggestion about doing something, then do things that comes across like you are acting on that (buying two massive publishers for billions) then it’s safe to say you are putting that idea into action

That’s what this is

If the FTC and the CMA weren’t on their case and this was approved ages ago they’d probably be eying up another publisher right now for 2024 or 2025. This whole court case has probably put a pin in it because they know they wouldn’t be able to get another publisher approved with all this heat over Activision.

[Crows90]

@fishy fingers

Boy what you type with those fingers sure is fishy.

[Outside_ofthe_Box]

"Juicy quote from 2019 huh."

Yes, Microsoft has changed their minds and now cares about the well being of the Playstation business unlike in 2019.

[BlackTar187]

Lmao - this guy just eluded to a very recent comment as if 2019 wasn’t just a couple of years ago and had no relevance.

[Rude-ro]

^naive and I hope you will always just be an employee.
Would hate for you to wake up to the cutthroat world of owning your own business.

It is literally leaked and confirmed the intent is to bury Sony out of the market.

[Majin-vegeta]

If you beleiev this i have some beachfront property to sell ya in Arizona

[-Foxtrot]

Lies of P-hil

[MrDead]

Only the simplest of idiots would believe that, you've banned Bethesda from releasing games on it's most profitable console platform... close your legs MS your breath stinks.

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Lies my friend this can be bs imo.

[FallenAngel1984]

Phil Spencer said Bethesda games will release on a case by case basis on rival consoles yet he can’t even confirm if ES6 will be on PS5. Not to mention that article about Microsoft deciding all future Bethesda games be exclusive

I can’t trust their word

[GamingSinceForever]

No they won’t make it exclusive that would be asinine.

What they might do is make it available on GamePass day one with exclusive content. Which in my opinion would be well within their rights as an owner

[purple101]

This is the best one yet.

Popcorn ready

[talocaca]

"We didn't even know Activision made that title".

At this point I wouldn't be surprised to read that statement.

[badz149]

"Cod is a type of fish, why are we fighting about it in court? is it so wrong for us to buy some fish for ourselves?"

[hiroyukisanada]

It's about owning what makes the most money on Playstation and trying to get them to bend the knee. They decided not to get better at game development and just buyout everyone else. I have no respect for Xbox. When Nintendo failed miserably with the Wii U, they innovated with hardware and great first party games.
Same with Sony.
Xbox did what? Just bought 20+ studios. Sure back compat enhancements were cool but no big exclusives except Forza.

[derek]

Microsoft contributes nothing to gaming at all. They could dissappear today and it would have zero impact.

[BlackTar187]

They are a poison to any industry they enter.

[Tedakin]

Except for Sony skyrocketing all of its prices. 120 dollars games incoming.

[fsfsxii]

Thankfully we live in a free market, at the end of the day the consumer dictates the reasonable price.

[Sephiroushin]

Seems MS love to copy what works for other companies just like the prices hike too...
Microsoft be like "we dont need to increase game prices", but fast-forward to hey have a broken mess by the name of redfail, i mean redfall for 70$ because you know games should be 70$ not $60 or the "we dont need to increase gamepass prices or consoles prices", then MS again we are increasing gp prices and consoles prices as well; hey JP you people don't buy our stuff so yeah the price hike includes you as well ... and like fsfsxii says, we live in a free market and consumers dictate the prices, sadly 70$ didn't have a meaningful effect since Sony itself mentioned they sell a bit less quantities but they make more money overall I guess the same goes for every publisher and this is why MS or even Nintendo also increased their prices

[Gamerscore2077]

Come on MS, the cat is out of the bag. Just tell the truth.

[MIDGETonSTILTS17]

Sooooo then why limit your deal with Sony to 10 years, hmm?

[DigitalDaniel]

Because nobody ever makes deals in perpetuity unless it's royalty type deals.
Any deal must have an option to be negotiated after x amount of time. Perpetuity deals kills that option for all parties involved

[TheColbertinator]

Don't believe that for a second. COD is the elephant in the room for Activision and there is no chance it wasn't a critical point for the purchase

[Minute Man 721]

😆 🤣 😂 😹

[Ninver]

I call bs

[jznrpg]

You would at least discuss it or you are stupid. Of course this is just a lie

[mastershredder]

Lol. Oh yeah it was. Puhlease. And you did not wear shoes to those meetings either. Such absolute bull. You’d never be where are now if that was not a topic AND it would have been asinine if you had not. Nice scum of earth exec team you got there MS.

Remember kids, crooks, thieves and liars come in all forms and there are waaaaay more in the western gaming industry, where its fashionable to be a north american-style cooperate piece of shi7. Amy’s a yes-man/woman. She’s gonna stick her sellout neck and still get a nice payout to squash any shame she could have ever felt.

[jjb1981]

Honestly, for CoD players, MS can only make the franchise better at this point. The game has gone to crap on console/PC. Apparently the mobile version has like 60 million players and that's what they want. Bobby Bundles doesnt care about the IPs and just wants his golden parachute and not have to spoon with his cell mate. I don't think these IPs can get any worse than they have. I'm sure this Xbox exclusivity has been discussed before but their CFO is playing dumb. It's been discussed, but not with her. Plausible deniability.

[ziggyzinfirion]

Yeah, just like how better MS did with Redfall.

[jjb1981]

MS was mostly hands-off with the development. Nice try though.

[gold_drake]

of course they have

the lies.

[Exvalos]

Do they expect anybody to believe that other then, xbot zealots

[GrmpyolGamer]

How many times do you people need to hear it? The ABK deal is not about CoD for Xbox it's about Mobile and PC. CoD was always going to remain on all platforms. MS is even going to put it on more platforms than it was previously on. You are all blinded by brand loyalty and fanboyism.

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

yeah... sure lol ms can't make games worth tf so they're buying everything to monopolize the industry. who tf do they think they're fooling? lol

[GeoramA]

"Microsoft says"

You know you're about to hear a lie.

[Rimeskeem]

It may have never been discussed but I am pretty sure a few people made decisions are at least put the idea out there.

[neomahi]

BULL. FACED. LIE. If you actually believe this, you're the most ignorant and gullible human being on the face of this planet, or at least one of them

[RiseNShine]

Because MS wants to spend billions to share the joy of gaming with the rest of the world, no matter the console, and I have rainbow unicorns coming from my lower back.

[DigitalDaniel]

Who knows what was really said between Xbox and Activision. But lot of you act like Sony is all clean and truthful. They literally got Jim Ryan on record in court lying to the public. Now, Sony isn't the one who's being sued by FTC and Jim Ryan lied to the public and not in court (that they can prove), so there will be no legal consequences for Sony.

But make no mistake, their lies and hypocrisy is on record in black and white for everyone to see.

Might want to keep that same energy

[purple101]

What was the lie from Jim ryan

[GooGobbler]

Yeah but "10 years is enough for SONY to develop an alternative to COD"

[anast]

Always watch the body because the head can fool you.