Xbox has temporarily blocked PlayStation Plus free games. New documents reveal this fact.
Who knew court battles could be such an exciting spectacle? Microsoft is currently engaged in litigation against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to secure approval of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and this trial has exposed all sorts of games industry drama you could possibly expect.
Since December 1st, we’ve come to learn that Xbox Series X/S nearly missed out on Call of Duty releases altogether; Microsoft seriously considered trying to acquire Sega; DayZ 2 was and possibly still is being developed at Bohemia Interactive — to name but three things discovered so far – just scratching the surface.
Gaming Route reported on heavily redacted court documents submitted by Sony that reveal Microsoft had signed exclusivity deals to guarantee certain titles would arrive as day one releases for Xbox Game Pass and that these agreements prevented those titles from making an appearance on rival subscription services – specifically PlayStation Plus as one such competitor of Xbox Game Pass which suggests Sony might have missed out on certain games over time.
Documents related to these purported deals reportedly did not specify any games affected, leaving us in the dark as to exactly which titles PS Plus subscribers may have missed out on. Last year however, in an investigation regarding Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision, Microsoft claimed Sony paid for “blocking rights that prevent developers from adding content for Game Pass and competing subscription services”, thus suggesting both companies engage in similar practices.
