Final Fantasy VII Remake and the Silent Hill 2 remake will only be available on Xbox with the consent of PlayStation.
In its response to the CMA’s issues statement in relation to Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the software giant has stated that Final Fantasy VII Remake and the Silent Hill 2 remake cannot be released on Xbox. The reason mentioned by Microsoft is that Sony has signed an “Xbox exclusion” agreement with some third-party publishers for several games, including both the Silent Hill remake and FF VII Remake.
In its response, Microsoft explained to the CMA that exclusivity strategies are not uncommon in the games industry, and that other market participants have access to their own content. It argued that both Sony’s and Nintendo’s exclusive first-party games rank among the best-selling in Europe and worldwide. Current Sony exclusive content includes prominent first-party titles such as The Last of Us, Ghosts of Tsushima, God of War, and Spider-man.
The Xbox parent company added that, in addition to having outright exclusive content, Sony has also entered into arrangements with third-party publishers that requires the “exclusion” of Xbox from the set of platforms these publishers can distribute their games on. Some prominent examples of these agreements include Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix), Bloodborne (From Software), the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix) and the recently announced Silent Hill 2 remastered (Bloober team).
The mention of Bloodborne in Microsoft’s response comes as a little odd, as the game doesn’t fall in the category of third-party arrangements. It was fully funded by PlayStation and was developed by From Software in collaboration with Sony’s Japan Studio. It was more akin to the exclusivity situation with Death Stranding, where the IP also belongs to Sony. Nevertheless, the other titles mentioned by Microsoft do indeed fall under the category of third-party deals, which, apparently, include an “Xbox exclusion” clause.
efnPeej on December 23rd, 2022 at 21:56 UTC »
This is the third article I’ve seen about this today and not a single one of them provides any proof other than MS statement to CMA, despite the fact that they’d have no knowledge of a contract between Square Enix and Sony, and putting Bloodborne in the mix, which is a Sony IP and fully funded by them, is just disingenuous.
I’m not trying to carry water for PlayStation, it’s just getting more and more absurd the more Sony and MS keep having their comments go public. This shit is getting more and more fact-free and it’s embarrassing for everybody.
Harry_Flowers on December 23rd, 2022 at 19:45 UTC »
Everyone is just doing their best to compete in this business. Being aggressive about IP’s, contractual arrangements, and exsclusivity in general is to be expected from all console manufacturers.
As annoying as it comes off, that’s just how it goes and not sure why everyone is so surprised. Nintendo is one of the (imo THE MOST) aggressive when it comes to this stuff, but no one ever gives them any shit.
Fanboys need to relax and grab some popcorn while we all let these corporate juggernauts slug it out for a bit. Choosing sides is dumb with this kind of stuff.
rvnender on December 23rd, 2022 at 18:35 UTC »
Man Sony is just filled with irony and they don't even get it.