Sony is requiring developers to ‘exclude’ Xbox, Microsoft says

As Sony continues to argue the proposed Microsoft takeover of Activision Blizzard would harm competition in the gaming space, the PlayStation-maker is also apparently keeping keeping some third-party games from launching on Xbox, according to its big rival.

Microsoft reckons Final Fantasy 16, Bloodborne, and the Silent Hill 2 Remake won’t ever hit Xbox consoles because Sony has effectively strong-armed their developers into excluding Xbox.

As part of the response to the UK government’s probing of the Activision Blizzard deal, Microsoft says that while exclusivity partnerships aren’t uncommon, there are some arrangements that are harmful to developers and gamers.

“In addition to having outright exclusive content, Sony has also entered into arrangements with third-party publishers which require 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 Remake [sic] (Bloober team).”

Silent Hill 2 Remake, for example, was designed to be 12-month Sony exclusive, but has’t yet arrived on the Xbox. Now, it appears it won’t arrive at all. The comments were spotted by Korea Xbox News (via Eurogamer) and seem to be attempting to convince competition authorities that Sony isn’t a squeaky-clean onlooker in the gaming wars.

In an effort to get the $70 billion takeover over the line, Microsoft has pledged to keep Call of Duty on all of the major platforms for at least ten years. The US government’s efforts to put the kibosh on the deal may not make that pledge necessary.