Microsoft claims that Final Fantasy XVI and Silent Hill 2/FFVII remakes will never be released on the Xbox.

Microsoft disclosed certain information in its 111-page lengthy answer to the Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom. Everyone first overlooked these particulars; however, the @KoreaXboxNews Twitter account brought attention to them.

According to Microsoft, Final Fantasy XVI, the Final Fantasy VII Remake, and the Silent Hill 2 Remake will never be published on Xbox platforms since Sony has inked exclusive arrangements with Japanese companies Square Enix and Konami.

In the video game business, it is not unusual for companies to use techniques of exclusivity while other market participants have access to their material. The exclusive first-party titles published by Sony and Nintendo consistently place high on lists of the most successful video games in Europe and the rest of the globe. The unique material now offered by Sony includes well-known first-party titles like “The Last of Us,” “Ghosts of Tsushima,” “God of War,” and “Spiderman,” amongst others.

In addition to having unquestionably exclusive content, Sony has also made deals with third-party publishers requiring the “exclusion” of Xbox from the list of platforms on which these publishers can distribute their games. This is in addition to the fact that Sony already possesses such content.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake (which was developed by Square Enix), Bloodborne (which was developed by From Software), the planned Final Fantasy XVI (which will be produced by Square Enix), and the recently announced Silent Hill 2 remastering are some notable instances of similar partnerships (Bloober team).

The unique material offered by Nintendo includes well-established properties renowned worldwide, such as Super Mario, Zelda, Xenoblade, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing.

The Final Fantasy VII Remake gave us a taste of what’s to come with this. It has been two and a half years since the game was made available on PlayStation platforms and one year since it was made available on personal computers, but there has been no indication that an Xbox port is in the works.

It was thought Sony had struck a one-time deal to keep Microsoft’s Xbox off the FFVII Remake trilogy. Still, it appears that the same will apply to Final Fantasy XVI (scheduled to release on June 24th, 2023, exclusively on PlayStation 5), even though Final Fantasy XV was released on Xbox One on the same day it was released on PlayStation 5.

Similarly, Konami said two months ago that they would remake Silent Hill 2 for both PlayStation and personal computers. Xbox fans, on the other hand, have not given up hope that Microsoft’s platform will be able to run the game at some point in the future. After all, the first version of the game was released on the original Xbox only three months after it was made available for the PlayStation 2. (in North America).

The release date for the remake of Silent Hill 2 has not yet been announced. Still, the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second chapter of the FFVII Remake, is planned for late 2023 as yet another PlayStation 5 exclusive.

In other Microsoft-related news, the business has responded to the attempt by the United States Federal Trade Commission to prevent the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.