Bethesda, too, is confused about Microsoft keeping COD on PlayStation when it made Starfield exclusive

The United States’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC)’s trial with Microsoft continues to be a source of all sorts of juicy corporate tidbits, the sort that never gets discussed in public. The trial, which is currently underway, was initiated after the FTC successfully managed to win a temporary restraining order that brought the company’s preposed merger with Activision Blizzard to a halt.

One major argument Microsoft has been relying on when facing regulatory bodies worldwide, has been its commitment to keep Call of Duty on all platforms for at least ten years. The publisher repeatedly said that it wouldn’t make financial sense for it to make the top-selling shooter exclusive to Xbox.

However, some have raised concerns about Microsoft’s true intentions down the line, citing recent example of its acquisition of Bethesda, which saw it make all current and future games exclusive to Xbox – including the highly-anticipated Starfield.

It seems Starfield and The Elder Scrolls maker Bethesda was likewise confused about the preferential treatment. Bethesda executive Pete Hines emailed other top executives (Todd Howard, Todd Vaughn, Jamie Leder) to express his frustration.

As revealed by Axios’ Stephen Totilo on Twitter, Hines sent the email in February 2022 following a blog post by Microsoft president Brad Smith, in which he made clear Microsoft’s intentions with Activision Blizzard’s games should the acquisition go through.

“I’m confused, is the below not the opposite of what we were just asked (told) to do with our own titles?” wrote Hines.

“Did anyone at Xbox think about giving us a heads-up on this? Todd [Howard] is going to DICE in a couple of weeks, you don’t think a journo might find [Howard] and press him on why the below is ok for COD or any Activision Blizzard game, but not TES6 or Starfield?”

Xbox head Phil Spencer said that “it’s too early” to say whether future games from Bethesda, such as The Elder Scrolls 6, will be exclusive to Xbox. For his part, Hines also said exclusivity is decided on a title-by-title basis, when asked about that email (and others) on the stand.