Microsoft CEO: If It Were Up To Me, I'd Get Rid of Exclusives
Satya Nadella "has no love" for the battle over exclusives in the video game industry.
Exclusivity has been the biggest topic of debate during the Xbox FTC hearing, but if it were up to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the video game industry would move away from exclusive games altogether.
On the witness stand during today's proceedings, Nadella explained that he wants to get rid of console exclusives, but Microsoft has to fall in line with the market leaders to stay competitive.
"If it was up to me, I would love to get rid of the entire sort of exclusives on consoles, but that's not up to me to define," Nadella said. "Especially as a low share player in the console market that the dominant player there has defined market competition using exclusives, and so that's that's the world we live in... I have no love for that world."
"I would love to get rid of the entire sort of exclusives on consoles...
The "dominant player" Nadella is referring to is certainly Sony, which builds its PlayStation library on the back of AAA exclusives like God of War, Horizon, Spider-Man, and more.
Nadella also explained that his general philosophy is to put software on more platforms, not fewer, saying, "That's the Microsoft I grew up in, I believe in that."
Earlier today, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick also spoke on the topic of exclusives, saying he has no plans to remove Call of Duty from PlayStation because the move would be "detrimental" to Activision's business.
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Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over seven years of experience in the gaming industry with bylines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
