Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says exclusive Activision games make no sense

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s case against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) took a fresh turn earlier this week when Microsoft Chief Operating Officer and Chairman Satya Nadella testified in the court. During his 45-minute-long testimony Nadella explained how FTC’s concerns against the acquisition made no sense.

For the unversed, FTC has asked the court to stop the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft on the grounds that it would give the company, which makes Xbox gaming consoles and sells Xbox Game Pass subscription, exclusive access to the games developed by Activision, which includes the extremely popular Call of Duty franchise. The watchdog has argued that this, in turn, would stifle competition and leave other major gaming companies, which includes Nvidia, Nintendo and Sony out in the cold.

The Microsoft Chairman, on the other hand, disagreed with FTC’s concern stating that making games by Activision Blizzard exclusive to Xbox will make no sense for the company. “I grew up in a company that always believed that software should run on as many platforms as possible,” Nadella said during his testimony, as reported by Reuters.

When asked if Microsoft would have any incentive to refuse to allow the games on Sony’s PlayStation in order to sell more of its Xbox consoles, Nadella said, “It makes no economic sense and no strategic sense.”

Furthermore, Nadella also said that he wants to end having Xbox exclusive games completely, but it wasn’t entirely up to him being a ‘low share player’ in the market.

“If it was up to me, I would love to get rid of the entire exclusives on consoles, but that’s not for me to define especially as a low share player in the console market. The dominant player there [Sony] has defined market competition using exclusives, so that’s the world we live in. I have no love for that world,” Nadella said, as reported by The Verge.

What Activision CEO said on the matter

Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, who also testified in the court earlier this week along with Nadella, agreed with his assessment. “You would have a revolt if you were to remove the game from one platform,” he said, adding that making Call of Duty Xbox exclusive ‘would alienate many of the 100 million monthly active users and hurt its popularity’.

It is worth noting that while the $69 billion acquisition is facing hiccups in the US, it has already been approved in many parts of the world, including the European Union.