FTC v. Microsoft: all the news from the big Xbox courtroom battle
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No not that Bond! Sarah Bond, head of Xbox creator experience, is explaining Xbox Game Pass to Judge Corley. “When we first started the program it was new... there was concern expressed by publishers,” says Bond. “We do licensing agreements to ensure overall that it’s beneficial for both sides. What we’ve found is that it actually generated a lot of discovery of games.”
Microsoft says 60 percent of people who played Human Fall Flat, a puzzle game, had not played that type of game before. 40 percent of that 60 percent then went on to purchase a puzzle game in the Microsoft Store.
Bond also discusses Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, which includes Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud). The FTC argues cloud gaming is a separate market, but Microsoft claims it’s just a feature right now. “It’s a feature and delivery mechanism, most of our usage is on console.” But Microsoft has bigger cloud gaming ambitions to stream its Xbox games to iOS and Android and reach billions of players through a dedicated Xbox mobile store.
