Microsoft claims Sony paid developers ‘blocking rights’ to keep games off Xbox Game Pass

Last Update: 11 August 2022, 10:59 IST

Microsoft has claimed that Sony is paying developers to keep content away from Xbox Game Pass.

While Microsoft’s claims seem to suggest that Sony is paying developers to eliminate competition, the PlayStation maker may be paying it for exclusive rights to its streaming services.

Microsoft and Sony are fierce competitors when it comes to gaming. Xbox vs PlayStation isn’t just a debate, but a real rivalry in the gaming market, so much so that one can pay developers to keep games away from the other’s consoles. According to a recent report, Microsoft has claimed that Sony pays developers ‘blocking rights’ to prevent them from adding content to Xbox Game Pass.

The claims come as part of a document filed with Brazil’s national competition regulator and as part of a review Microsoft’s Multi-billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In a document filed on August 9 to the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), Microsoft says, “Microsoft’s ability to continue expanding Game Pass has been hindered by Sony’s desire to stifle such growth. ” ,Sony Pays for ‘blocking rights’ to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services,” the document states.

Now, while it may seem like Sony is paying developers not to put their content on Microsoft’s services, there may also be a possibility that Sony is paying for these ‘blocking rights’ for exclusive rights to its streaming services. or there may be clauses in the agreements that prevent certain games from being published on rival subscription services.

While Microsoft is alluding to Sony’s blocked rights in its filing, last year’s Apple vs. Epic trial revealed that the Xbox maker itself is considering reducing the revenue split with PC games in exchange for giving streaming rights to Microsoft. Had been. Had the company gone ahead with this, it would have meant exclusive streaming rights to some games, which would have prevented them from being shown on the competition’s services.

Brazil’s CADE is asking Sony and other Microsoft rivals about the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Sony previously responded to the regulator by claiming that it would be difficult for other developers to create a franchise that is Activision’s Call of Duty and that the deal could hurt Activision Blizzard’s game prospects on PlayStation consoles.

read the breaking news And today’s fresh news Here