An internal email from Bethesda’s Pete Hines reveals that Microsoft had told Bethesda its titles were to become Xbox exclusives, and Hines seems frustrated to see the “opposite” being said to the public regarding Activision Blizzard games.
When Microsoft announced it had acquired ZeniMax, the writing felt on the wall for PlayStation fans, that the biggest titles coming from Bethesda in the future would now be exclusive to Xbox.
As time passed, that seemed to be exactly the case, with Redfall and Starfield both named as Xbox exclusives, though PlayStation fans are probably not all that miffed about the latter of those two skipping PS5.
Then when Microsoft announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, fans took a different approach, believing there was ‘no way’ Microsoft would take Call Of Duty and other Activision heavy-hitters off PlayStation, and publicly that’s what Microsoft has been trying to echo.
This internal email from Pete Hines however dated back to 2022 shows that Microsoft was saying one thing to Bethesda, another to Activision Blizzard and the public.
“I’m confused.” begins Hines. “Is the below not the opposite of what we were just asked (told) to do with our own titles? What’s the difference?”
Hines then copies part of the Xbox blog post where it promised Sony regarding future Activision titles, “that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love. We are also interested in taking similar steps to support Nintendo’s successful platform.”
“Did anyone at Xbox think about giving us a heads-up on this?” said Hines. “Todd’s [Todd Howard] going to DICE in a couple of weeks, you don’t think a journo might find him and press him on why the below is ok for COD or any Activision Blizzard games, but not TES6 or Starfield? Or at any/every future interview he does?”
We don’t know how Xbox responded to Hines’ email, but we do know that Hines maintained titles from Bethesda would be made exclusive to Xbox or not on a “case-by-case basis” when asked about it in the courtroom for the FTC’s lawsuit against Microsoft.
Source – [Axios]