Microsoft has once again stated that creating and developing its own Xbox exclusives is more expensive than Playstation exclusives. The company justified its statement by the difference in the fan base of the two devices, as in its opinion, it believes that the more audiences you have, the easier it will be to manufacture and develop exclusives.

Microsoft has made this argument for the cost difference in developing exclusives between Xbox and PlayStation in another lawsuit ahead of its legal showdown with the FTC that is set to begin today. The FTC is seeking an injunction to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard until its investigation into the merger is complete.

Microsoft says that the larger a console's user base, the easier it is for the manufacturer to secure third-party exclusives. The company's statement further notes that even first-party exclusives don't cost Sony as much as they do Microsoft. It added:

“The larger the user base of potential buyers of the platform relative to competitors, the smaller the market segment needs to be 'buy-out' (internal or external) to acquire an exclusive game. Exclusives are much more expensive on Xbox than on Sony.”

Microsoft also says that the ratio of PlayStation exclusives to Xbox exclusives is 8 to 1. That is, for every 8 exclusives in the Sony-owned market, there is only one Microsoft exclusive, and that is a large number.

Finally, Microsoft proposes that Sony acquire game publishers the size of Activision. So it says it doesn't care about this issue, but that it encourages the unification policy.

This deal is still exciting and reveals details we didn’t expect to see made public, so stay tuned for more coverage.