SoloKingRobert is mad.
Judge Corley apparently said so:
As a game publisher, Sony’s PlayStation Studios, is responsible for blockbuster hits like
God of War, The Last of Us, and Spider-Man, the vast majority of which can be played only on
PlayStation. (See PX7053 (Ryan Dep. Tr. Vol. I) at 20:16–20:23; RX5055 at 015–016.) And as a
purchaser of third-party games,
(PX7054 (Ryan Dep. Tr. Vol. II) at 107:10–18.; Dkt. No. 283,
6/23/23 Tr. (Spencer) at 357:12–16.)
Sony views exclusive content as crucial to PlayStation’s continued success and to
“differentiate [their] platform.” (PX7053 (Ryan Dep. Tr. Vol. I) at 212:19–23; RX0079.) As a
result, Sony offers far more exclusive first- and third- party titles than Xbox. (PX7053 (Ryan Dep.
Tr.) at 169:24–170:2; Dkt. No. 283, 6/23/23 Tr. (Spencer) at 362:17–23.) Sony also enjoys “an
enormous competitive advantage” because it can draw on the intellectual property of “Sony
Music, Sony TV, and Sony’s film library” for its game development. (Dkt. No. 285, 6/28/23 Tr.
(Kotick) at 723:13-16.) The number of exclusive games available on PlayStation dwarfs the
number available on Xbox, with eight exclusive games on PlayStation for every one on Xbox.
(RX2098-001 (“Overall, for every 1 exclusive Microsoft game, PlayStation has 8 of them.”); see
Dkt. No. 284, 6/27/23 Tr. (Bailey) at 684:3–25; RX5055 at 018–019, Exs. 11A, 11B; Dkt. No. 285,
6/28/23 Tr. (Nadella) at 849:1–8 (“The dominant player [i.e., Sony] there has defined market
competition using exclusives and so that’s the world we live in.”).)
Sony has often paid third-party studios to “skip” Xbox—either entirely or to delay a title’s
release on Xbox. (Dkt. No. 283, 6/23/23 Tr. (Spencer) at 313:4–8.) For example, on June 22,
2023, while this trial was happening, Square Enix released Final Fantasy XVI, the latest release in
the iconic Final Fantasy franchise, exclusive to PlayStation 5. Previous versions of Final Fantasy
shipped on Xbox, but the reason Final Fantasy XVI is a PlayStation exclusive is because Sony
“pa[id] to exclude Xbox.” (Id. at 312:20–313:8, 441:18–443:1.) ZeniMax, too, was paid by Sony not to ship Deathloop or Ghostwire for Xbox, and one of the reasons Microsoft bought ZeniMax
was concern Sony would also arrange for Starfield to go exclusive and skip Xbox. (Id. at 314:16–
24.)
The cat is out the bag. We always knew she would rule in favour of Microsoft.
It's just really good that Microsoft themselves never paid for exclusivity ever...
Also that 8 to 1 figure seems to only be true because of japanese only games
