[UPDATE: A Microsoft spokesperson has issued the following statement on today’s proceedings: "Microsoft wants to take gaming into the future by meeting gamers where they are across platforms, while Sony wants to protect its dominant position. That’s why our leaders have shown up in person to testify about how this merger benefits gamers". Original Story Follows.]
During the third day of the US Federal Trade Commission vs. Microsoft court proceedings, Sony's Jim Ryan spoke via recorded deposition and, among other things, criticized Xbox Game Pass and claimed publishers did not like it. Though the court case is tied to Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, everything from Microsoft's Game Pass model to the Nintendo Switch's relevancy on the market had all come up as various talking points.
Specifically, Ryan's comments come as part of a video deposition where Microsoft's lawyer asked about a meeting that took place after Microsoft announced its intent to buy Activision Blizzard. Said meeting was about a month afterward, where Ryan was speaking to PlayStation Investors.
As reported by VGC, Microsoft's lawyer relayed that Ryan told the investors that he spoke with "all publishers" and that "they unanimously do not like Game Pass because it's value destructive." Microsoft's lawyer asked if this was true, to which Ryan responded by saying he believes it to have been true, and then the lawyer followed up by asking if Ryan did, indeed, speak to all the publishers. Ryan's response was simple, stating that he talks to publishers all the time and that "this is a very commonly held view over many years by the publishers."
Of course, "all" is hard to quantify. Many indie developers, for example, have praised Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft's support that accompanies a game launching there. On the other hand, it has been publicly noted before that Xbox Game Pass can cannibalize sales to some degree, and perhaps that is what Ryan is referring to for AAA publishers launching their games on Xbox Game Pass. At least from a consumer perspective, though, there is a reason that Xbox Game Pass has the many subscribers that it does. Ultimately, it's still up in the air as to how this trial ends and how Xbox Game Pass, among other things, continues to play a role.
There have been a number of previously kept secrets gone public, though, because of these court proceedings. These include, but are not limited to, Microsoft's considerations of purchasing gaming giants like Sega and Bungie, Sony's wariness about putting PlayStation dev kits in Activision's hands for future Call of Duty games, Bethesda's concern when it learned Call of Duty would be multiplatform, the confirmation that IO Interactive's Project Dragon would be Xbox exclusive, and much, much more. It'll likely continue for the next couple of days, as well.
Source: VGC