FTC v. Microsoft: all the news from the big Xbox courtroom battle
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That was the reaction from Xbox’s Matt Booty to Nvidia putting games on GeForce Now without Microsoft’s permission. Microsoft was “not putting our first-party IP on competing streaming or subscription services. No effing way,” in a 2019 email from Booty.
He then went on to recommend in a March 2021 email to Xbox chief Phil Spencer that Bethesda’s games be pulled from Nvidia’s GeForce Now shortly after the acquisition. “We have pulled all Xbox Game Studios titles from GeForce Now, so as to not compete with xCloud,” said Booty. “I would recommend that in the absence of any other plans that we do the same for Bethesda titles.”
Microsoft signed a deal with Nvidia recently to bring its Xbox PC games to GeForce Now and try and appease regulators like the FTC.
Asked why Booty was keen to remove Microsoft’s games from GeForce Now previously, he said he was frustrated at Nvidia. “I was frustrated at the process. We did not have clear deals in place with Nvidia for the use of our IP. They were putting games onto our service in some cases without our permission.”
