MICROSOFT IS ACCUSED OF REMOVING REDFALL FROM THE PLAYSTATION!
2Recently, there have been claims that Microsoft pulled games from PlayStation, specifically, that it didn't want Bethesda's Redfall on PS5. The Redfall game designer Harvey Smith allegedly stated that after Bethesda's acquisition by Microsoft, the company's stance was "no PlayStation 5". However, it's unclear whether a PS5 version was in development or just a suggestion.
Following these claims, Microsoft has responded by stating that it hasn't pulled any games from PlayStation and, in fact, has "expanded our footprint of games" after releasing PS5 exclusives Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo on Xbox. In a statement to Eurogamer, a Microsoft spokesperson said, "We haven't pulled any games from PlayStation. In fact, we've expanded our footprint of games that we've shipped on Sony's PlayStation since our acquisition of ZeniMax, and the first two games we shipped after closing were PlayStation 5 exclusives. We did the same thing since our closing of Minecraft as we extended the reach of that franchise."
The spokesperson also mentioned that all the games that were available on PlayStation when Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in March 2021 are still available on PlayStation, and content updates have continued to be released for PlayStation and PC. They also clarified that future decisions on whether to distribute ZeniMax games for other consoles will be made on a case-by-case basis.
Recently, Microsoft has been in the news for its bid to acquire Activision Blizzard. As part of its promise to retain Call of Duty's multi-platform status, Sony suggested that Microsoft could withhold access to existing or future Call of Duty games to "impair PlayStation's competitiveness" or release a version filled with bugs. This speculation caused some to wonder whether Microsoft would keep its Call of Duty promise should the takeover bid be accepted. However, Microsoft's statement on Redfall seems to counter this speculation.