As part of the ongoing trial between the Federal Trade Commission and Microsoft, an internal email sent by Bethesda senior vice president of global marketing and communications Pete Hines expressing frustration regarding Xbox’s inconsistent exclusivity policies has surfaced. According to the document, the email was sent to three of his Bethesda colleagues–Tood Howard, Jamie Leder, and Todd Vaughn–in February 2022.
First shared by Axios reporter Stephen Totilo via Twitter, the email begins with Hines stating he was “confused” by Microsoft representatives stating that the company is “committed to Sony” and “will make them [Call of Duty and other popular Activision games] available on PlayStation” in 2022 blog post. He then asked, “Is the below not the opposite of what we were just asked (told) to do with our own titles? What’s the difference?”
After sharing an excerpt of the Xbox blog post mentioned, Hines added: