FTC v. Microsoft: all the news from the big Xbox courtroom battle
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The FTC is now questioning Phil Spencer about Call of Duty and negotiating deals with Activision for the Xbox Series S / X version for around the launch of that console in 2020.
A document mentions the revenue split offered, and we heard yesterday that Activision wanted a better split to work on an Xbox Series S / X optimized version.
The FTC is trying to establish the idea of Microsoft acquiring content so it doesn’t have to pay these fees and can have exclusive content. “If you own content you don’t have to pay for exclusive content?” asks the FTC.
“We don’t pay for exclusivity on our own platform,” says Spencer. He does note that Sony apparently signs deals to keep third-party games off Xbox.
“When a competitor is actively signing third-party games to skip our platform, it became more important to us to secure third-party games on our platform, inclusive of Call of Duty.”
