Bethesda, too, is confused about Microsoft keeping COD on PlayStation when it made Starfield exclusive

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit with Microsoft continues to be a source of all kinds of juicy corporate trivia, the kind that is never discussed in public. The lawsuit, which is currently ongoing, was launched after the FTC was successful in obtaining a temporary restraining order that halted the company’s proposed merger with Activision Blizzard.

A major argument that Microsoft has relied on when confronting regulators around the world has been its commitment to keep Call of Duty on all platforms for at least ten years. The publisher repeatedly said it wouldn’t make financial sense for it to make the best-selling shooter an Xbox exclusive.

However, some have raised concerns about Microsoft’s true intentions going forward, citing the recent example of the Bethesda acquisition, which made all current and future games exclusive to Xbox, including the highly anticipated Starfield.

It seems that Bethesda, creator of Starfield and The Elder Scrolls, was also confused about preferential treatment. Bethesda exec Pete Hines emailed other top executives (Todd Howard, Todd Vaughn, Jamie Leder) to express his frustration.

As revealed Stephen Totilo of Axios on TwitterHines sent the email in February 2022 following a Microsoft blog post president Brad Smith, in which he made clear Microsoft’s intentions with Activision Blizzard games should the acquisition go through.

“I’m confused, isn’t that the opposite of what we were asked (said) to do with our own titles?” Hines wrote.

“Did anyone at Xbox think to give us a heads up about this? Todd [Howard] going to DICE in a couple of weeks, you don’t think a journalist can find [Howard] and ask him why the following is fine for COD or any Activision Blizzard game, but not TES6 or Starfield.”

Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that “it’s too early” to say whether future Bethesda games, like The Elder Scrolls 6, will be Xbox exclusives. For his part, Hines also said that exclusivity is decided title by title, when asked about that email (and others) in the booth.