Microsoft continues to try to buy gaming giant Activision Blizzard, but opposition to the acquisition comes primarily from rival console maker Sony. In the meantime, the Federal Trade Commission has also gotten involved, according to which Microsoft would be able to suppress their competition in the video game industry with this purchase.
It’s Sony’s fault: Final Fantasy 16 and Silent Hill 2 will not be released for Xbox
Sony itself is probably primarily concerned with the Call of Duty franchise, although Microsoft has already promised several times and even made agreements with Nintendo, among others, that they would continue to publish the popular shooter series for other consoles. Now Microsoft has defended itself against the FTC by drawing attention to Sony. Sony is said to have ensured that some well-known games cannot appear on Xbox consoles.
In particular Microsoft names titles here like Bloodborne and the remake of Final Fantasy 7, but also the upcoming games Final Fantasy 16 (buy now ) and the remake of Silent Hill 2 are affected. Microsoft itself writes that such strategies are not uncommon in the video game industry, so the company is particularly bothered by the partnerships with third-party publishers such as Square Enix and Konami.
“In addition to exclusive content, Sony has also entered into agreements with third-party publishers that require Xbox to be ‘banned’ from the platforms on which those publishers can distribute their games. Some prominent examples of these agreements include Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Bloodborne, the upcoming Final Fantasy 16, and the recently announced Silent Hill 2 Remastered.”
We already know from both Silent Hill 2 and Final Fantasy 16 that the titles will only be available on the Sony platform for a certain period of time. So far we have assumed that the games will also be released for other consoles after this period, but according to Microsoft itself this is probably not the case. However, at least the two games could still appear on PC.
