Microsoft Accuses Sony Of Paying Publishers To Keep Games Off Xbox Game Pass

Over the years, there have been many different forms of console exclusiveness. You have a studio that makes games for your hardware. In recent years, this has grown into things like console-specific content within games.

Do you think now is the right time? The battle between Microsoft and Sony may have gotten more intense with a new claim made.

Microsoft pushed back against Sony when they objected to the purchase of the company. Microsoft is firing back at Sony after they argued that the purchase would be anti-competitive to the PSone.

Microsoft accused Sony of paying for blocking games from Game Pass.

According to documents filed with Brazil's national competition regulators, Microsoft's ability to expand Game Pass has been hampered by Sony. Blocks are paid by Sony to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass.

It does feel like the logical extension of the practice of paying for timed exclusives where you are effectively paying to keep a game off a rival platform for a period of time. This has been done by Microsoft and Sony before.

This accusation feels like it's going to get worse. There is a chance of a bidding war between Sony and Microsoft as to which game gets to come to PS Plus or XBOX Game Pass. According to Microsoft, Sony is just paying developers not to come to Game Pass only, meaning that the game would just be sold for full price on both the PS and XBOX platforms. It doesn't feel out of place for Sony, who has been known to charge developers so crossplay could be implemented using the PS3 platform.

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I'm surprised that Sony is offering more money to developers to keep games off Game Pass than Microsoft is, but there may be more to it. If you take that deal, Sony might not promote your game as much on the PS4 as it would on the PC. I don't think Sony would refuse to release a game because of a Game Pass deal.

There is no defense of this practice from a consumer point of view. This isn't a fight over the rights to offer games as part of the subscription service, it's a fight over the rights to not use the rival's service. In this scenario, the XBOX players just lose. Microsoft is saying that Sony doesn't want this deal to go through because they've been trying to sabotage Game Pass for a long time. Their objections should not be taken into account.

If Sony responds to Microsoft's claims, this fight is likely to go on for a long time.

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