Microsoft and Sony are fierce rivals when it comes to console gaming. Microsoft Xbox vs Sony PlayStation rivalry is not just debated but also shows how cutthroat the gaming console world is, so much so that it is claimed one is paying developers to keep games off another’s console.
A recent report says, Microsoft has claimed that Sony pays developers ‘blocking rights’ to stop them from adding content to Xbox Game Pass. The claims come as part of a filing with Brazil’s national competition regulator and as a part of a review for Microsoft’s multi-billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
“Microsoft’s ability to continue expanding Game Pass has been hampered by Sony’s desire to inhibit such growth,” Microsoft claims in the document filed on August 9 at the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in Brazil. “Sony pays for ‘blocking rights’ to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services,” the document added.
While it looks like Sony is paying developers to not allow content on Microsoft’s console, it also may be that Sony could be paying these ‘blocking rights’ to own exclusive rights to its own streaming services, or maybe adding clauses so that games are prevented from being released on Xbox.
While Microsoft is highlighting Sony’s blocking rights in its filing, last year’s Apple vs Epic trial had shown that the Xbox manufacturer itself was considering lowering the revenue split with PC games, which would be an exchange for grant of streaming rights to Microsoft. Had the company gone ahead with plans, it would have meant exclusive streaming rights on some games, and would prevent them from being featured on competitors’ consoles.
Brazil’s CADE has been asking Sony and other Microsoft rivals about the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Sony had previously told the regulator that it would be difficult for other developers to create a franchise that rivals Activision’s Call of Duty and that the acquisition might dent the prospects of Activision Blizzard’s games on PlayStation consoles.
