Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford is fairly active on Twitter, oftentimes sharing Borderlands 3 SHIFT codes along with his opinions on industry happenings. Recently, Pitchford tweeted about the relationship between Sony and Microsoft in the wake of the latter's massive acquisition of Activision Blizzard, saying that, in his mind, the two console giants "have never been competitors."

Pitchford's comment has some people scratching their heads, as Microsoft and Sony have clearly been competing with each other ever since the original Xbox was released to go head-to-head with the PlayStation 2 decades ago. While the companies have occasionally been friendly, the "console wars" have seen both Microsoft and Sony secure third-party console exclusives in an attempt to drive sales away from competing platforms, and they have also taken potshots at each other for controversial decisions. For example, Sony once released a video mocking the Xbox One's original used games policy, while Xbox fired back at Sony for how complicated it is to upgrade the PS5's storage compared to the Xbox Series X.

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The Gearbox Software CEO explained his stance in a series of tweets, characterizing Sony as a consumer electronics company and Microsoft as a software company, and that Sony should eventually "be happy" with Microsoft software running on PlayStation hardware. "Sony's like, 'They better not pull Call of Duty from our platform!' Microsoft's like, 'Bro - having our games on your platform is what we've been trying to do all along. I guess spending $2.5b on Minecraft wasn't enough to convince you?'" This is in reference to Microsoft acquiring Mojang years ago yet still releasing Minecraft on PlayStation platforms.

There is one problem with Pitchford's point, and that is not all of Xbox's acquisitions have been treated like Mojang. While Microsoft has opted to keep Minecraft on PlayStation platforms, it's not doing the same with The Elder Scrolls 6 or future Bethesda games. Microsoft has made it clear that it acquired Bethesda to gain console exclusives for Xbox as well as bolster its Xbox Game Pass lineup, meaning PlayStation will be missing out on some huge upcoming games like the upcoming Starfield, for example. And while Xbox has left the door open for future Call of Duty games to be multi-platform, it's also said that some Activision Blizzard games will be Xbox exclusives.

Pitchford believes that the ultimate goal for Xbox is to become a gaming OS without need for a physical "box." There may be something to this down the line, though it remains to be seen if Nintendo or Sony will ever allow Xbox Game Pass to run on their respective platforms.

In the meantime, rumors are swirling that PlayStation is prepping its own Xbox Game Pass competitor. If so, it would continue to put Microsoft and Sony in direct competition in yet another arena, as the two will be battling it out to become the dominant game subscription service on the market.

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