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Comment by yesco | Hacker News Reader

I assume the main concern is Call of Duty becoming an Xbox exclusive

Meanwhile there are countless games from AAAs to indies that are Steam or Epic Games exclusives but I guess that's also okay for whatever reason. Just because I can install multiple stores on my PC that doesn't make it better when it's locked in to one store.

If the current situation sucks then doesn't it makes sense to block moves that would make it suck even more?

Doesn't it? Why not?

I won't play Epic exclusive games. Valve put so much effort into Linux as a platform that they've bought my loyalty. When I see a game go from a Steam pre-order Epic exclusive it basically disappears from my RADAR.

I recall Mechwarrior 5 suffering that fate.

Pre-orders on Steam turned into Epic exclusive caused an uproar. It came out on Steam a year later and I waited another year after that, then waited for a sale.

And got a patched, polished game with mods - fun for co-op with friends.

I don't think my "protest delayed" purchase 2+ years later made an impact on them. But it sated me.

Whatever. At lease Epic didn't make anything. There's a bug difference between getting an exclusive or a timed exclusive because you partially funded a studio over just dumping buckets of money on a game that's basically done to make sure it doesn't end up on Steam for a year. I don't want to reboot or mess with other emulators. Steam works on Linux. Let me buy your game on Steam.

Valve doesn't really do "exclusives" with Steam the way other platforms have exclusives. If a game is only available on Steam, it's not because their was a contract signed or money paid to enforce that. It's because the developer or publisher has decided not to make the game available elsewhere for their own reasons.

Because as the FTC will tell you, exclusives are generally good for competition except for a few circumstances with monopolist companies. They clearly think Microsoft owning Activision would be one of those circumstances.

https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-a...

Microsoft has already committed to releasing Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms and Steam, so that's probably not any part of the concern.

Microsoft decided to make several of Bethesda's titles including Starfield and Redfall Microsoft exclusives despite assurances it had given to European antitrust authorities that it had no incentive to withhold games from rival consoles.

Sounds like the FTC does not trust Microsoft’s assurances.

For how long?

10 years.

I just don’t get that. Either the market advantage / concentration is ok or it’s not. Why let them have what they claim is an inappropriate share, just later?

If Sony/Nintendo/others can't make a popular FPS in 10 years that isn't a Microsoft problem.

Well I’ve loved the Fallout series and Skyrim, and paid for them several times, but now that MS has bought Bethesda, TES VI will not be n Playstation. I presume this means the next Fallout too. I’ve been Microsoft free (personally) for several years, and I’m not building a PC again just to play these games. I hate this kind of thing, even when it works in my favor (Horizon), and I don’t want this sort of crap to continue to proliferate.

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