As a witness in the judgment between Microsoft and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the purchase of Activision Blizzard, Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that there were discussions about Starfield not being released for Xbox, before Microsoft bought the ZeniMax and Bethesda.
Spencer’s testimony was peppered with questions about third-party exclusivity deals, where the Xbox boss also confirmed that Sony signed a deal with Square Enix to keep Final Fantasy XVI exclusive to PlayStation 5 on consoles.
Spencer said that Xbox “needed to work a lot with a lot of partners, given the competitive situation we had against the market leader,” speaking of Sony. He also stated that Xbox was worried about losing Starfield after seeing other Bethesda titles like Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop release exclusively for PS5. Spencer said that Xbox had to secure content for its platform, through its acquisition of Bethesda, to “remain viable in the business.”
In 2020, when Microsoft announced its plans to buy Bethesda, journalist Imran Khan reported that Sony was negotiating a temporary exclusivity with Starfield. After that, in early 2021, reports began to emerge that Starfield would be released exclusively for Xbox Series.
The trial is in its second day and could determine the outcome of the purchase of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft for US$ 69 billion.
