Xbox thinks Game Pass can make up for lost sales of Starfield and Indiana Jones on PlayStation

Microsoft feel that game pass can offset the sales that the company will lose by not having Indiana Jones and star field on PlayStation.

According to court documents filed by the FTC in its attempt to stop Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the government body cited testimony from Microsoft Gaming’s CFO Tim Stuart (thanks, IGN).

Stuart stated that Microsoft forecast that the company would sell more than 10 million units of the games on PlayStation, a forecast made before the company made the Bethesda and Machine Games titles exclusive to Xbox.

The FTC document states that Microsoft feels it can “offset the losses incurred from taking the ZeniMax Games exclusive through the advantage of Game Pass and increased console sales.”

Stuart’s testimony also indicated that Microsoft needed fewer dollars in the near term to offset the financial impact of ZeniMax Games’ exclusivity on Microsoft platforms.

Microsoft acquired Bethesda’s parent company ZeniMax in 2020, bringing other studios under the Microsoft umbrella, giving it a huge boost in both developer numbers and intellectual property. The Rockville, Maryland-based company was one of the largest private gaming companies at the time, with 2,300 employees worldwide, and boasted one of gaming’s biggest hits, The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, which sold more than 20 million copies.

The FTC recently lost its offer for a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft’s settlement with Activision Blizzard and appealed the decision in court. The judge presiding over the initial case rejected the FTC’s appeal, bringing the acquisition one step closer to completion.