It’s not breaking news that Microsoft is going into E3 with a tarnished image. Despite all the gains the tech giant made with gamers in the US, Microsoft has lost all the good will in spectacular fashion that started with their less then well received Xbox One announcement. Since then, Microsoft has gone on and announced that they will “kill Sony” at E3 and that they’re investing a $1 billion into gaming. PlayStation is well known for its first party exclusives with games like God of War, Uncharted, Killzone, and Gran Turismo to name a few, Microsoft on the other hand tends to opt for paying for exclusives as oppose to investing in first party studios.

While in the past, Microsoft has paid 3rd part studios like EA and Activition for timed exclusives to DLC and game releases, it looks like the company is taking things to the next level and paying off multi-platform developers to not show their PS4 title at E3.

Now according to NeoGAF poster famousmortimer who accurately foretold some PS4 information, Microsoft is getting their hands extra dirty at this E3:

 I’ve talked to more people since then though and this isn’t the usual jostling for publishers on stage that happens at E3. Microsoft is throwing BIG money around to reverse course on idea that they aren’t a games console. The rumors are that PS4 versions of multiplats, by those who do take the money, won’t be shown AT ALL. Not on stage and not on the show floor. 

According to him, Microsoft has also been able to woo in long time PlayStation exclusive developers Insomniac Games for an exclusive title on the Xbox One. With an array of first party games, this shouldn’t a big concern for Sony in the long term though it gives you a pretty grim outlook on the state of the industry and how crucial disruptive and altering a paycheck can be. If this is true, shame on you Microsoft and shame on the developers who are accepting thing.

Update:

On the last paragraph, I had accidentally referred to Insomniac Games as Naughty Dog. The article has been changed to reflect that. Thanks to our kneed Twitter follower Anihl8r.

Discuss:

Do you think if the above practice is true that it’s just good business or is that going too far?