Jim Ryan on Starfield's Exclusivity: 'I Don't Like It, but have No Quarrel With It'
Sony CEO Jim Ryan „has no quarrel” with Starfield's console exclusivity. What's more, he doesn't see it as anti-competitive.
Conducted by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, evidentiary hearing concerning the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft regularly provides new, behind-the-scenes info about the relationship between the Redmond giant and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE).
On one occasion, the head of the Xbox brand, Phil Spencer, admittedthat thecompany has lost the "console war," and another time it came to light that the CEO of Sony, Jim Ryan, stated that the company is not afraid of the lack of a Call of Duty series on PlayStation... although it is using this argument to prevent the unwanted merger.
On the third day of the hearing, Sony's boss was said to have commented the fact that Starfield will come out exclusively for Microsoft's platforms - i.e., Windows PCs and Xbox Series X and S. Interestingly, this doesn't seem to bother him as much as one might think.
"I don't like it, but I have fundamentally no quarrel with it. I don't like it, but I don't view it as anti-competitive," admitted Jim Ryan.
This is surprising, since it is the potential console exclusivity of Call of Duty that seemed to be what Sony objected to the most, begging international regulators to prevent the merger between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard. What's more, SIE begrudgingly pointed out Starfield as the game that is set to eventually skip PlayStation after the Redmond giant made another acquisition - buying ZeniMax, and with it the company that makes the game, Bethesda.
Sony's unabashedly hypocritical stance, which has come to light during the ongoing evidentiary hearing, suggests that the company cares only about blocking Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard at all costs. "And maintaining its leadership position in the console market." - certainly would add Phil Spencer. For a change, he stated recently that the Redmond giant purchased Bethesda precisely out of concern that Starfield would be released exclusively on PS5.
Starfield will be released on PC and XSX/S on September 6, 2023. Today we learned that Bethesda is working "exclusively" with AMD when developing the game. Since the Xbox Series X and S have processors and graphics cards from the Santa Clara-based company, the decision seems entirely logical.
