Tom Warren

“The Diablo franchise is built on this idea that you battle an unstoppable evil, which is the devil effectively.” That’s not something I expected to hear at this hearing, but that was Sarah Bond, head of Xbox creator experience, explaining Diablo to Judge Corley.

In an interview with GameSpot in 2021, Pete Hines, Bethesda’s head of global publishing, apologized to PS5 players who won’t be able to play Starfield as it’s exclusive to Xbox. “All I can really say is I apologize, because I’m certain that that’s frustrating to folks but there’s not a whole lot I can do about it.”

We’re on a 15-minute break so it’s time to recap what we’ve heard so far. The FTC’s opening statements largely focused on the main pillars of its case against Microsoft: Xbox exclusives, the Switch is a separate console, and cloud competition concerns.

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.

“We would have to adjust graphics and assets to run on Nintendo platforms,” says Xbox Game Studios chief Matt Booty. This would involve lowering frame rates and less complexity in games like Call of Duty. The FTC argues it would essentially be a new version of the game and that the Switch is separate to “high performance” Xbox and PlayStation consoles.

“People are moving to mobile,” says Microsoft counsel Beth Wilkinson. Microsoft offers up a breakdown of revenues across the gaming market and 94 percent are playing on mobile phones in a $145 billion mobile gaming market. Wilkinson argues Microsoft buying Activision is an opportunity for a mobile presence with Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and more.

Microsoft’s counsel, Beth Wilkinson, starts with the Xbox maker’s arguments. Microsoft argues Sony has been the leader in the console market and wants to protect its revenues. Wilkinson argues the acquisition will allow Call of Duty to be streamed via the cloud and available on a subscription service.

The FTC will call on two Nvidia executives to testify about cloud gaming and how the company has overcome technical limitations and latency. This is a key argument in the FTC v. Microsoft case, as Microsoft argues cloud gaming is simply an additional feature right now. Microsoft signed a deal with Nvidia for Xbox PC games. “What’s notable is Nvidia initially opposed this transaction, they signed one of the side deals… and then they supported,” says the FTC.