May2023
News COD Going Xbox Exclusive 'Would Not Significantly Harm Competition', Says EU
The European Commission weighs in
Well, Xbox's huge Activision Blizzard deal has been officially approved in the EU! The region is happy with the concessions Microsoft has made in regards to cloud gaming, and going off some of the statements in its new report, the European Commission wa
March2023
News US Senator Takes Jab At Sony's '98% Monopoly' Of High-End Games In Japan
Xbox has a small footprint in the region
Xbox's ongoing pursuit of Activision Blizzard has been the centre of attention in the gaming sphere for months now, as Microsoft continues to try and secure approval for its huge deal. This has meant we've spent plenty of time following court proceedings as of late, and recent comments from a US senator mean...
Reaction Should Xbox Produce A Mid-Gen Upgrade If Sony Launches 'PS5 Pro'?
Striving to compete
A huge gaming rumour doing the rounds today (via Insider Gaming), is that Sony is planning on launching a mid-gen PS5 upgrade, with a "tentative release date" of late 2024. If such a device exists and launches around that time, that would put a Sony 'PS5 Pro' console right in line with when Xbox launched its mid-gen Xbox One X...
Report Xbox Feels UK CMA Has 'Significantly' Overestimated The Impact Of COD Exclusivity
If it ever happened
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is one of the various regulatory bodies currently overseeing Xbox's Activision Blizzard deal, with the authority consistently hypothesising why the deal could, and possibly should, be blocked. One of those reasons is related to Call of Duty, with the CMA even suggesting that
News Microsoft Granted Access To Certain Sony Docs As FTC Continues To Scrutinise ActiBlizz Deal
Some access granted, some denied
Many of you have probably been following Xbox's ongoing Activision Blizzard negotiations, with Microsoft still trying to secure regulatory approval for its mammoth deal. As was perhaps expected, Sony has become one of Microsoft's biggest obstacles for the deal going ahead, and it looks like the PlayStation owner will...
February2023
News Xbox's Phil Spencer 'Excited' To Bring First Party Game To PlayStation Plus
The Xbox-developed title comes to PS Plus in March
Xbox may be struggling to strike a deal with Sony over Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal, but it doesn't seem to be stopping other agreements going ahead between the two gaming rivals. During yesterday's State of Play livestream, Sony announced that Xbox's Minecraft Dungeons i
News Baldur's Gate 3 Devs 'Aren't Playing The Exclusivity Game' With PlayStation
Despite yesterday's 'State of Play' trailer
Update: It turns out the Xbox version of Baldur's Gate 3 has run into some technical issues during development, which is why it hasn't been announced as of yet. We've covered this story elsewhere on Pure Xbox: <related ids="145700"> Original story: One of yesterday's biggest 'State of Play'...
News Xbox Says It's Offering 'Better Deal' Than Sony's Current COD Contract, Which Expires In 2024
"It's a better deal for Sony than the one they have right now"
Microsoft has been very upfront about offering Sony 10 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation following Xbox's Activision Blizzard acquisition, an offer also extended to Nintendo this week. Even though the likes of Nintendo have now accepted the deal, the PlayStation owner is yet to accept...
News Microsoft And Sony Fail To Make Activision Blizzard Agreement At EU Court Hearing
The Xbox owner has a contract "ready for Sony to sign"
After today's EU court hearing regarding Xbox's purchase of Activision Blizzard, the landscape has changed significantly. Nvidia has agreed a deal with Microsoft, Nintendo has entered an agreement with Xbox - things are looking up. However, there's still the small matter of PlayStation owner...
News Sony Feels Microsoft Is Committing 'Obvious Harassment' In Relation To ActiBlizz Deal
What is going on?!
Not too long ago (although it all seems like a blur at this point), Microsoft ordered Sony to attend court to present its findings regarding Xbox's Activision Blizzard purchase. That court trial hasn't gone ahead yet — the hearing is currently planned for August 2nd — but it seems like Sony isn't too happy with Microsoft's...
January2023
Reaction Xbox Needs A New, Reliable Competitor For PS5's 'DualSense Edge'
Giving us the edge
A lot of Xbox fans will be seeing Sony's brand-new, high-end controller doing the rounds in gaming circles at the minute, with PlayStation finally getting into 'Xbox Elite' territory with the 'DualSense Edge'. The Japanese company's new PS5 pad is an impressive-looking bit of kit, building on what Xbox first introduced with the...
News Microsoft Orders Sony To Attend Activision Blizzard Court Hearing This Summer
For the FTC trial
Things are getting real now! As part of Xbox's ongoing tussle over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has issued a subpoena to Sony - summoning the PlayStation owner to attend an FTC court hearing this summer. According to a new filing in the overall case, Microsoft issued the legal order on January 17th, expecting...
News 'The Last Of Us' Ads Have Started Appearing On Xbox This Week
Hey, it's free real estate
HBO's 'The Last of Us' TV show is proving incredibly popular right now, as PlayStation brings its exclusive post-apocalyptic game series to the TV network. While we can't play the games themselves on Xbox, we can of course watch the show there, and Microsoft & HBO seem to be taking advantage of that fact. Adverts for...
Video DF 'Face-Off' Draws Interesting Comparisons Between Xbox Series S And PS4 Pro
The Series S is the clear winner overall
As a result of the two systems containing a similarly powerful graphics processor, Xbox Series S has often drawn comparison to Sony's PS4 Pro in the visuals department. Of course, the Series S is much more advanced in other areas, but looking purely at graphical power, the two consoles are pretty close on...
News Xbox Boss Phil Spencer Praises Sony's New PS5 Accessibility Controller
'Project Leonardo' is currently in development at PlayStation HQ
Earlier this week, Sony unveiled its own version of Xbox's Adaptive controller - a device built to enable anyone to game comfortably and effectively. While we don't know all of the details on Sony's version — 'Project Leonardo' — just yet, Xbox boss Phil Spencer is already liking...
November2022
Another round
In yet another twist in the ongoing Xbox vs. PlayStation ActiBlizz drama (yes, that's definitely its official name now), the UK CMA has revealed Sony's response to the authority's recent "Issues Statement" concerning the acquisition. A
News Xbox's Phil Spencer Adamant Call Of Duty Will Remain On PlayStation 'Longer Term'
"Native. Call of Duty. On PlayStation!!"
Well, this is a debate for the ages! Once again, Xbox has come out to defend its position regarding the future of Call of Duty, this time via a new Phil Spencer interview with The Verge. Phil seems adamant that Xbox will continue to support CoD on PlayStation well into the future, even touching on a...
News Xbox's Phil Spencer Chimes In On Sony's God Of War Ragnarok Launch
You love to see it
Ahead of God of War Ragnarok's PS5 launch, Xbox exec Aaron Greenberg popped up on Twitter last week to express his excitement about playing Sony's latest exclusive title. This is a typical sight for an Xbox exec at this point; the team is open and honest about what they're playing! Well, now that the game is out there in the wild,...
News Microsoft Reacts To EU's 'In-Depth' Investigation Of Activision Blizzard Deal
"We want people to have more access to games, not less"
The European Commission is the latest authority to launch a deeper investigation into Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the region now looking at all aspects of the deal. The EU has set itself a March 2023 deadline to make a call on the merger, and Microsoft could then be...
News Take-Two CEO Says It 'Doesn't Make Sense' To Launch Day One With Xbox Game Pass
"I don't think that ever made sense"
Oh boy, here we go again! Much like Sony's recent comments on day one subscription service releases, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick believes launching "frontline titles" day and date doesn't make sense from a business perspective. As part of Take-Two's recent quarterly earnings report, Zelnick discussed...
News Xbox Exec 'Looking Forward' To Playing PS Exclusive God Of War Ragnarok
Crossover
God of War Ragnarok reviews have been doing the rounds since yesterday's embargo lifted, and it's safe to say the PlayStation exclusive is going down rather well. Our sister site Push Square granted it a rare 10/10 score, and it seems that reviews like these are tempting some of the folk over at team Xbox to try out the game as well. We...
October2022
News As It Turns Out, Modern Warfare 2 Has Plenty Of PlayStation Exclusive Content
Here's what we're missing out on
Activision's latest Call of Duty title is now out in the wild, which means players are getting their hands on all the content the game has to offer. As has been the case for a number of years now, PlayStation has its own set of exclusive content in this year's Modern Warfare 2, and it's quite an extensive list...
News Microsoft Intended To Release Xbox Game Pass On PlayStation, Sony 'Blocked' It
PlayStation Game Pass?
More and more information from the UK authority's scrutiny of Xbox's ActiBlizz deal is starting to trickle out, and this drop is a juicy one. Again via The Verge's Tom Warren, Microsoft has discussed Game Pass and the fact that the service could have been on PlayStation, had Sony wanted it. In defending its Activision...
News Xbox Argues With UK Regulator Over Activision Blizzard Deal
"The CMA's concerns are misplaced..."
Right, the gloves have come off over at Microsoft HQ it seems. The Xbox owners have begun, well, arguing with the UK's competition regulator regarding its 'Phase 2' analysis of the Activision Blizzard merger. In short, Microsoft is accusing the UK CMA of taking Sony's comments into serious consideration without...
August2022
Reaction Will Xbox Follow PlayStation In Raising Console Prices?
Update: Microsoft issues a response
Update: It looks like we've got our answer! Microsoft has issued a statement today to various outlets suggesting that the price of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will remain the same - at least for the forseeable future. Phew! Here's the full quote: “We are constantly evaluating our business to o
