If the highly anticipated open world science fiction RPG Star field coming out next year does not come on PS4 or PS5. That seemed obvious when Microsoft announced the purchase of publisher Bethesda in a groundbreaking $ 7.5 billion deal over a year ago, but it took the Xbox team until a few months ago to admit it. Now it does the same dance The Elder Scrolls VI.
Bethesda’s distant continuation of Skyrim it won’t be on Sony’s consoles either, a fact that Xbox boss Phil Spencer only narrowly confirmed in a new interview with British GQ. “It was confirmed that next year Star field, probably the biggest game of the year 2022, will only be Xbox and PC, ”wrote the magazine. “Spencer says he sees the same thing for The Elder Scrolls VI. “
Spencer then said a whole bunch of words that weren’t “exclusive”.
“It’s not about penalizing another platform as I fundamentally believe that all platforms can continue to grow,” he said British GQ. “But to be on Xbox I want us to be able to offer the full package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about it Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true if I think of one of our franchises. “
None of this means anything. It’s just a spoonful of marketing chatter to crash the medicine. Microsoft spent a fortune buying some of the biggest blockbuster game series and the studios behind them because they wanted to make them exclusive. That’s what companies do. Is Insomniac Still Playing Xbox Games? No it is not. Sony Spent $ 229 million to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The fans are still so incredulous that Microsoft could do that to people like that Fail, Wolfenstein, and Downfall, but that they keep holding them a bizarre glimmer of hope that the multi-platform door is not already closed in front of their noses. And so Spencer says things like, “We’re recording other consoles case by case“And” some new titles in the future that will be exclusively for Xbox and PC players. “
Shortly after the deal was first announced, Spencer provided this lengthy non-answer
This deal was not made to take games away from another player base. Nowhere in the documentation we put together did it say, “How do we stop other gamers from playing these games?” We want more people to be able to play games, not fewer people to be able to play games. But I’ll also say in the model – I’m just answering directly the question you had – when I think about where people are going to be playing and how many devices we had, and we have xCloud and PC and Game Pass and our console base, me doesn’t have to deliver these games on any platform other than the platforms we support for the deal to work for us. Whatever that means.
TL; DR: Fallout 5 not coming to PS6.
But because Spencer can’t say this without risking the wrath of longtime fans and console war meme lords, he has to describe the move as something other than a disappointment to millions of people who bought the wrong box. In October 2020 it said, “This deal was not made to take games away from another player base.” This week it said, “It’s not about punishing another platform.”
What else could it be about? This is the point of isolated ecosystems like video game consoles and smartphones. They exist to collect rent from people who invested too much to leave, in part because games are so expensive. It’s one of the few ways companies have found out how the math works (at least for their shareholders).
It is possible that there is a world where something exclusive is positive for the majority of players. Hard to see the money in arcane Dishonored 3. It’s less difficult when it could become the loss leader on a subscription service like Game Pass, and I really want to Dishonored 3. But if it ever does, you can bet the farm won’t appear on the next PlayStation. Because Microsoft wants you to give your money instead of Sony, even if that means robbing you The Elder Scrolls VI.
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