I think he means “much better”? It baffles me that a site like that criticizes Square’s exclusivity while cheering for MS to consolidate the whole industry.
Also, the source is Era, yeah.
IKR? Always read between the lines. Frankly this should be a PlayStation-centric report and why would it having exclusivity on an IP be a bad thing? Whether it's 1P or 3P doesn't really matter; the audience is being taken care of (vast majority of FF players are already on PlayStation), the devs are being taken care of (more access to 1P resources, marketing, transmedia initiatives etc.), the pubs are being taken care of (coverage of costs, co-marketing & distribution, etc.).
It's just another example of "PS might have something Xbox doesn't, which is ANTI-CONSUMER and BAD!!". Because we already know, these type of people want Xbox to be a literal copy of PlayStation but without having earned any of that clout of its own merit. Just like a lot of them IRL.
We have yet to see what MS will do with their newly acquired IP, so there’s nothing really to critique them on…yet.
Sony buying favor with SquareEnix and keeping FF off Xbox is the same exclusionary bs ppl claim to be against. Show some good faith and call it out on both ends.
Speak of the devil. Sony isn't buying favor with SE; they're securing association of an IP already strongly associated with their brand, in a power play akin to MS's buying publishers to associate their brand with IP like TES and DOOM. Sony just has the temperament of not wanting (or needing) to consolidate a 3P publisher into a 1P asset and therein shrink the independent 3P market as a result.
So unlike with MS and Zenimax, Square-Enix can still publish other games on other platforms, or do deals with other platform holders. They still have that freedom, unlike Zenimax and unlike ABK. Maybe stop buying into the "pro-consumer" PR Microsoft were peddling the past few months and the talking points thereof, and realize that in corporate warfare (remember, these platform holders are competitors), you need as many advantages that make you unique as you can get.
It's hilarious to think some folks feel Sony will just sit by and "only" do smaller partnership initiatives or software partnerships with indie devs, or "only" look into GaaS releases, or "only" keep doing as they've always been doing with the 1P traditional output, as a fully sensible response to what's transpired. Stuff like this, if the rumor is true, are to help secure the platform's value in the mid to long-term.
If you actually like PlayStation as a gaming platform for its own qualities and not just as a counter-existence to Xbox, I don't see why you would be upset with this type of rumor. I mean TES VI is very likely going to be an Xbox platform-exclusive, and I don't take issue with that. It is what it is. I don't "hate" or dislike Microsoft for that in and of itself (I do however, dislike their hypocritical messaging and contradictory stances in trying to play both sides, even to the surprise of Zenimax themselves, when it comes to exclusivity of content).
It should be the same thing here but, of course, people are always going to have double standards when it comes to PlayStation :/
t.co
