FF16 Director: “think it's possible – probably even likely," future FF games will be day 1 PC release

[Bryank75]

Amazing that they want their games pirated so much sooner.

Square only seem to go from bad to worse at a business level.

 

[On Demand]

The consoles are form factor PC's running x86 tech. Games are developed on high end power PC's and then ported to consoles. Dev kits are literally used just to optimize them and not brick the box. There are no major advantages unless you're an internal studio because no third party publisher is going to waste more money, time and resources trying to squeeze out an extra 2% of what the console offers for minimal return. Also, both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are basically identical. One has a slightly better GPU/CPU at set speeds while the other has a faster SSD. The ONLY advantage for the exclusivity is for the platform holder, period. It does not benefit the consumer/player at all. Wow, I get to play it on my PlayStation 5 before Xbox, yay!! Wait, I still have to pay for it??? WTF is the difference then? The only difference is that 30% of the money goes to Sony instead of Microsoft. Big deal, who cares. And since so many games usually require multiple patches, you're not even getting your money's worth in the first place. I played FF XVI on PS5 day one in performance mode you know running at like 720P. Is that what my exclusivity buying me in 2024? 720p? LMAO

You just said whole bunch of nonsense. The usual bullshit narrative that consoles are just PC’s in a box. No they are not. They have custom hardware that’s specifically designed around a closed system and getting most performance out of it. With Sony and their hardware, that’s definitely so.

Mark Cerny even had to mention this during the PS5 hardware talk. That they don’t go shopping at a store and buy PC parts and put them into a console box. Yes they use AMD architecture, but it’s a bespoke design made by Sony. It’s completely different from the standard PC architecture.

The Last Of Us part 1 ran like complete shit on PC. No amount of high end PC CPU and GPU could handle the game. PC hardware does not have the decompression system the PS5 has. You can’t brute force a console game like that on PC. You have to design around it and develop with PC’s own set of features.

According to your logic that console are just PCs. That should have never of happened.

Also, developer's choice my ass. EVERY developer wants more people to play their game(s) that they spent years working on, NOT less. Publishers make the decisions, not the developers. And they usually make money oriented decisions. Problem is that most deals like Square Enix FF deal with Sony is a decade old and what looked like a great deal in 2015 probably looks like shit now a decade later. It's also NOT about just the sales. It's about getting the IP out there to see if you can interest others in your games. To get those who weren't interested before like me. Also, when you release your games everywhere, you may get people into your other franchises and what games you've released.

Wanting more people to play your game doesn’t mean making it for every single platform on the planet. You can make a game for one console and still reach the audience you want. You say it’s not just about sales it’s about getting the IP out there. That’s a contradictory statement. If a game doesn’t sell nobody is going to notice it. New consumers or previous consumers. Multiplatform games have word of mouth and sales issues too.

Developers, publishers, whoever, do have to make a choice. And if it’s the one where the can spend the least money and development time, while getting help from the console manufacture like Sony, they’ll gladly take that option. That’s how it always worked and happened.

“Sony deal with FF is a decade old and what looked like a great deal in 2015 probably looks like shit now a decade later”

You have no fucking clue the terms and content of any deal with Sony and Square Enix. Or even when any deal was made.

You also have no fucking clue what constitutes a bad deal with Square Enix.

Sony partnerships with SE have never been bad. Sony didn’t get FF7 and FF16 for free. Or Forspoken. They paid them while helping with development and marketing. Square Enix didn’t have a gun to their head from Sony. They knew what deal they were doing and they like those partnerships with Sony.

Should we listen to you? Or Square Enix themselves?

SE developers also addresses the difference with console and PC development and how you can’t just port to PC so simply. Making the game PS5 only is easier.

Directly debunking the foolishness you were saying above

Final Fantasy XVI PS5 Exclusive Because Sony Co-Developed The Game and Can Better Market It

Why is Square Enix giving Sony the gift of a PS5-exclusive Final Fantasy XVI? Partly because Sony helped make the game.

wccftech.com

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www.4gamer.net

4Gamer:

Regarding the PC version of FFXVI, Mr. Yoshida's comment on the distribution became a hot topic, but please tell me again.

Mr. Yoshida:
First of all, FFXVI will not be able to release other platform versions for half a year after the release of the PS5 version due to the time-limited agreement with SIE. However, I think many of you probably don't know why you sign such a contract.

4Gamer:
Probably from the player's point of view, I think it's like "for hardware manufacturers to sell their own hardware during the contract period."

Mr. Yoshida:
Of course, I think there is such an expectation on the side of the hardware manufacturer.
However, from our point of view, it is important to get technical support to sign such a contract with a hardware manufacturer. This time, there is a part that seems to be developed with a group of SIE engineers who know the fundamentals of hardware, and they are generously supporting optimization that we can't handle on their own. It is.
In addition, by not developing on a multi-platform premise, you can put man-hours into creation and optimization.
In addition, "How much will it cost if it is converted into money?" Such promotions can also be done together globally.
Technology and promotion support is something you would like to receive if you can.

4Gamer:
It's a contract not only because it's a money problem, but also because it's related to the quality of the game.

Mr. Yoshida:
However, "half a year after the release of the PS5 version, you will be able to play FFXVI on various platforms including PC" is a completely different story. FFXVI has been designing, building, and optimizing games that rely on the performance of PS5. If you simply put this into the PC version as it is, you can't have the same experience unless it is an expensive PC that costs nearly 300,000 yen. As you know, the game environment that uses a PC is different from person to person, so in order to work in as many environments as possible, you have to optimize it considerably for the PC. If you say that you can do it in half a year after the release of the PS5 version, it's a little unrealistic

Mr. Takai:
If you are a little familiar with it, you may think, "I'm making it in a PC environment, so if it works on PS5, you will be able to run it on a PC right away," but surprisingly, that's not the case. In the production environment, there are parts that work on a PC.

And for FF7 Rebirth. I posted this before and I’m going to keep posting it until people get the fucking point that multiplatform games isn’t some savior where everything works out perfectly all the time. Exclusive games have huge advantages

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/video-games/2024/03/06/final-fantasy-vii-rebirth-platform-exclusive/

I'll sometimes get a publisher that releases a game im into and will then research what that publisher and development studio have previously released. While it's not all the time, I will at times find other games (obviously older) that im now interested in playing. If you limit your IP's to one audience of consumers, you'll never grow it which means eventually, the publisher will get turned off to that IP especially if it's under-performing in sales and engagement which means you may not get another one.

I want more games and them to be everywhere because it increases the chances of them being successful and in turn, gives me more of them later on. It's that simple for me.

None of this changes the fact that exclusive games can sell a lot and reach a large audience.

Plenty of people have looked to play more of a studio’s games they enjoyed. That’s not only done for multiplatform games. That’s doesn’t even make any sense to believe so.

 

[64bitmodels]

The Last Of Us part 1 ran like complete shit on PC. No amount of high end PC CPU and GPU could handle the game.

Notice how you are using past tense language and not present. If PC couldn't run the game how come they got the game to a much more playable state months later? If the hardware was so different nothing would have changed.

I can cite rift apart, a showpiece PS5 SSD title that ended up running perfectly on 7200 rpm PC HDDs and SD cards... without directstorage. At launch with little patches. What gives?

Wanting more people to play your game doesn’t mean making it for every single platform on the planet.

It quite literally os when you spend 6 years and 200 million on your projects. At some point you start to regret all the money you lost from not being on other platforms.

And before you mention Sony deals, squenix would not be porting to PC at all if they were completely satisfied.

Should we listen to you? Or Square Enix themselves?

We're listening to Square Enix right now and they say they want more multiplatform games- not just a PC but as a whole.

Exclusive games have huge advantages

Would you still be a fan of exclusive games if Nintendo (hypothetically) made a powerful Switch 2 and made aggressive deals to keep games exclusive to that platform? How about if Valve all of a sudden started doing money hatting of their own I.E EGS?

If shit hits the fan are you still a fan?

 

[On Demand]

Notice how you are using past tense language and not present. If PC couldn't run the game how come they got the game to a much more playable state months later? If the hardware was so different nothing would have changed.

I can cite rift apart, a showpiece PS5 SSD title that ended up running perfectly on 7200 rpm PC HDDs and SD cards... without directstorage. At launch with little patches. What gives?

You lack reading comprehension.

I clearly said you have make the game around PC hardware. You can’t just port the game. Naughty had to do exactly that to fix the PC version. TLOU is designed around the PS5 hardware. It doesn’t work just doing a simple port to PC. Digital Foundry also talked about this.

That shows console and PC hardware are different from each other and consoles are not just “pc parts in a box”

It quite literally os when you spend 6 years and 200 million on your projects. At some point you start to regret all the money you lost from not being on other platforms.

Again, this type of narrative makes it seem like every single multiplatform game sells millions. They don’t. There are plenty of games that were released on every platform and sold horribly.

You guys act like there aren’t any exclusive games that sell more than multi platform games. There’s plenty.

And before you mention Sony deals, squenix would not be porting to PC at all if they were completely satisfied.

Sony’s exclusive contracts are not permanent. That’s why they’re bringing it to PC. Same as with FF7 remake that got ported. Square Enix is a 3rd party developer not first party (yet).

You guys make up the worst excuses on why Sony’s deals with SE didn’t work and SE is disappointed or whatever. Please stop. You are all wrong.

We're listening to Square Enix right now and they say they want more multiplatform games- not just a PC but as a whole.

You aren’t paying attention at all. I provided many sources on the strong beneficial relationship with Sony and Square Enix. They are always looking for a partner to work with and Sony fits that best. There words not mine. Making games for other platforms doesn’t change any of that.

Square Enix saying they want more game on other platforms is just PR talk for shareholders. They are already a 3rd party developer with games everywhere. Yes even on Xbox

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Those games don’t sell on Xbox which is why you always see reduced support. It’s the same cycle every time.

That statement about going multiplatform is redundant. But it wasn’t meant for us. It’s business speak for the suits.

Would you still be a fan of exclusive games if Nintendo (hypothetically) made a powerful Switch 2 and made aggressive deals to keep games exclusive to that platform? How about if Valve all of a sudden started doing money hatting of their own I.E EGS?

If shit hits the fan are you still a fan?

Nintendo already gets the most Square Enix exclusives. Which you guys never bring up when arguing the whole Square Enix multiplatform change. You want to blame everything on Sony.

It general, the type of games Nintendo and Valve could make exclusive would be very limited anyway.

 

[64bitmodels]

Again, this type of narrative makes it seem like every single multiplatform game sells millions. They don’t. There are plenty of games that were released on every platform and sold horribly.

You guys act like there aren’t any exclusive games that sell more than multi platform games. There’s plenty.

multiplatform games still sell better on average. Outside of like what, Nintendo? Sony sales are pretty OK and are comparable to that of any other AAA publisher with tons of marketing.

And even those guys want PC/Switch ports too. Sony has been porting their library to PC for 5 fucking years now.

The budgets and dev times are getting higher. You cannot afford to limit your audience the way exclusives do when a single failed game costs you a quarter to half of a billion bucks.

Ports cost minimal money. You can invest 250,000 bucks and get a couple million out of it. All those Sony PC releases that sold less than 5 mil? Still profitable. Even if it's after the release, it's still better than permanent exclusivity.

Sony’s exclusive contracts are not permanent.

A quick question, why are they not permanent? Why doesn't SE make more permanent exclusivity deals?

I provided many sources on the strong beneficial relationship with Sony and Square Enix. They are always looking for a partner to work with and Sony fits that best.

Nintendo already gets the most Square Enix exclusives.

.....

You want to blame everything on Sony.

I am not doing that. I asked that question because I am wondering if you are willing to stick up for exclusivity on other platforms.

If BG3 stayed an honest to God PC exclusive would you defend that?

Are you fine with TOTK and Mario Odyssey being Switch exclusives?

Would you even be fine if Xbox left their games exclusive on their console?

I am just questioning your loyalty to this idea of exclusivity being beneficial.

 

[KvallyX]

Great news for me, IF I switch to PC.

 

[On Demand]

multiplatform games still sell better on average. Outside of like what, Nintendo? Sony sales are pretty OK and are comparable to that of any other AAA publisher with tons of marketing.

No they don’t. Where is the data that says that? Even if they do the point is exclusive games can sell millions just fine. And often sell more than games on more than one platform.

And even those guys want PC/Switch ports too. Sony has been porting their library to PC for 5 fucking years now.

And they’re idiots for doing that.

Being down in quarters and can’t meet year end sales targets. Shareholders are even starting to question their stupidity with putting their games on PC.

The budgets and dev times are getting higher. You cannot afford to limit your audience the way exclusives do when a single failed game costs you a quarter to half of a billion bucks.

Ports cost minimal money. You can invest 250,000 bucks and get a couple million out of it. All those Sony PC releases that sold less than 5 mil? Still profitable. Even if it's after the release, it's still better than permanent exclusivity.

More platforms equal more development time, more money, more testing. Sales are not guaranteed just because a game is on everything. You talk about about budgets increasing yet believe going multiplatform will address that. No it won’t. It isn’t free. So it’s all still a risk.

Exclusives come with the safety of the platform holder helping with development cost and marketing the game. That’s much better than putting your game everywhere on your own hoping it can reach a large audience.

A quick question, why are they not permanent? Why doesn't SE make more permanent exclusivity deals?

Because they are a 3rd party developer? They make games for all platforms.

They also have no problem with exclusive partnerships like the one they have with Sony.

.....

Ok? That helps my point.

I am not doing that. I asked that question because I am wondering if you are willing to stick up for exclusivity on other platforms.
If BG3 stayed an honest to God PC exclusive would you defend that?

Are you fine with TOTK and Mario Odyssey being Switch exclusives?

Would you even be fine if Xbox left their games exclusive on their console?

I am just questioning your loyalty to this idea of exclusivity being beneficial.

I don’t believe you get what I’m saying. All my point was that developing a game for one console comes with many advantages over developing for many. Why would I have a problem with a game like BG3 staying exclusive to PC? I don’t even care about PC games. If the developer wanted it exclusive, cool. There’s nothing to defend.

First party games being exclusive are a natural thing. Why would Nintendo and MS keeping their owned in house games exclusive be something to complain about or defend?

MS purchases of 3rd party studios and publishers caused complaint because all those games were already multiplatform. But as we already know, that doesn’t matter anymore.