Microsoft bought ZeniMax Media in 2021, and along with it bought a number of upcoming games from its various game studios. One of them is Starfield, and it"s due to be released in less than two months as a console exclusive for Xbox Series S and X.
The long-awaited space-based RPG is expected to be a huge sales hit for Microsoft. However, the company predicted that Starfield would have sold 10 million units on Sony"s PlayStation consoles if Microsoft decided to sell the game for that platform.
That info comes from filings made by the Federal Trade Commission during its current legal battle against Microsoft to keep it from acquiring Activision Blizzard. Axios"s Stephen Totilo posted this filing on his Twitter account.
The FTC stated that during testimony from Microsoft"s Xbox chief financial officer Tim Stuart, he stated that when the company was looking at making Starfield exclusive, the prediction was that it would sell 10 million units of Starfield if it was released for the PlayStation consoles. The same sales number was also given to ZeniMax"s upcoming Indiana Jones game.
Had missed this from Xbox CFO Tim Stuart"s testimony, but FTC says Microsoft had forecasted 10 million sales on PlayStation for "both Starfield and Indiana Jones" before taking them exclusive, deciding it could recoup through Game Pass and extra Xbox sales pic.twitter.com/5KdpDzKDZD
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) July 13, 2023
In the end, it was decided to make both Starfield and Indiana Jones Xbox console exclusives. Microsoft felt that it could make up for the loss of any PlayStation unit sales with increases in Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and also with increases in Xbox console sales. The filing added:
Mr Stuart testified that Microsoft needed fewer dollars in the short term to make up for the financial impact of exclusivity of ZeniMax games on Microsoft.
Starfield is due to launch on September 6 for Xbox and PC. ZeniMax"s Indiana Jones game, which is being developed by MachineGames, does not yet have a release date.
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