The US regulators seem to be siding against the acquisition, though Microsoft is appealing.
Sony has been one of the companies trying to sabotage the Microsoft acquisition by claiming it would be bad for the market to have such a large publisher and game developer become exclusive to Xbox, and Microsoft is shooting back that Sony itself is leveraging third party exclusive deals that prevent releases on Xbox.
Microsoft specifically cites "Xbox Exclusion Agreements" that Sony has signed with publishers like Square Enix and Konami.
Four games cited to be under the exclusion are:
- Bloodborne
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Silent Hill 2 Remake
https://twitter.com/KoreaXboxnews/statu ... xXscMV9-cw
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/final-fa ... t.1648431/
However, this is not necessarily a fixed thing. Notably FFXVI trailers now cite that it is timed for a year. However, neither Bloodborne nor FFVII have released on Xbox despite being out for several years.
Bloodborne was understandably a project worked on collaboratively between Sony's former Japan Studios and FromSoft. The original FFVII, was historically tied to Playstation being involved, but no idea if that plays a part with the remake. FFXVI is undoubtedly an expensive game, and there are still a lack of PS5s available so userbase considerations may play a part in the timed exclusivity clarification. Originally the game was being built on PS4 before the decision to make it PS5 exclusive.
What position Silent Hill 2 Remake is in is unknown.