In an email disclosed during the FTC v. Microsoft, Matt Booty, head of Microsoft's Xbox Game Studios, encouraged Xbox CFO Tim Stuart to spend a large amount of money on acquiring gaming content in 2019, aiming to compete with Sony on subscriptions. The revelation comes from an exchange of emails that is part of the process.
The email is part of a discussion about Xbox Game Pass, with the rest of the message chain hidden. However, it looks like Microsoft has considered reversing the idea of releasing its own games on Game Pass on launch day, something Booty wasn't happy with. "If we go back to simultaneous releases, it's going to be hard to convince people that things like Mixer or xCloud have any chance of surviving either," he said