The legal disputes between large companies are very interesting because usually there are documents shared that reveal some interesting details about their business.
Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is no exception, with a new document from Microsoft generating a misunderstanding about Bloodborne’s exclusivity.
According to legal documents from Sony and Microsoft, both companies have used arguments that fans of both companies consider absurd and pathetic in order to achieve their end.
Microsoft, for example, took the opportunity in a recent document to talk about exclusivity in order to defend its purchase.
Microsoft, apart from reiterating that Sony has more and better exclusives, mentioned that Sony makes agreements with external publishers to prevent their games from coming to Xbox consoles and gave as an example Final Fantasy VII Remake, Final Fantasy XVI, Silent Hill Remake and Bloodborne.
Microsoft thus implies that like Final Fantasy and Silent Hill, Bloodborne belongs to its developer, FromSoftware in this case, and that PlayStation has an exclusivity agreement that prevents the company from bringing the title to Xbox consoles.
The truth is, however, unlike those franchises, Bloodborne was an IP that was born as property of PlayStation and is not FromSoftware.
So the difference is that the project was originated (funded and published) by PlayStation and only asked FromSoftware to take over the development.
The same happens with Death Stranding, franchise that although developed by Kojima Productions, it is owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE).
Similar is the case with SIE’s IPs Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human, developed by Quantic Dream (a former independent studio), and ELDEN RING and Dark Souls, owned by Bandai Namco Entertainment, but whose development was handled by FromSoftware.
The opposite happens with Armored Core VI, developed and published by FromSoftware due to the fact that it is a franchise owned by FromSoftware.
That being said, PlayStation rightly does not allow Bloodborne to come to Xbox consoles, as Xbox does not publish Xbox Game Studios exclusives on Sony consoles.
We took the opportunity to better illustrate and make the issue clearer to talk about Bayonetta, originally a SEGA franchise, and in this case Microsoft’s argument could apply, as Nintendo is the one who decides whether to bring the games in the series (Bayonetta 2 and later) on PlayStation or Xbox, as, although it does not have the rights to the IP itself, it has taken it upon itself to finance the projects.
For its part, Microsoft itself is no stranger to these practices. suffice it to recall Sunset Overdrive, an exclusive title for Xbox consoles that was not owned by Microsoft, but rather by third-party developer Insomniac Games, but which, due to an exclusivity agreement, did not make it to Sony consoles. Curiously, following Sony’s purchase of this developer in 2019, it by extension also got the rights to Sunset Overdrive.
How do you feel about the exclusivity issue that is giving PlayStation and Xbox so much to talk about? Let us know in the comments.
