Naoki Yoshida, producer for Final Fantasy 16, has provided some details on why the game will be a timed PS5 exclusive for at least six months. Essentially, it boils down to Sony having provided “generous support” for FF16, particularly in terms of technical side and its ability to market the game moving forward.
Sony helped with FF16 optimization and will provide promotional support
In an interview with Japanese site 4Gamer (as translated by Genji_JPN on Twitter), Yoshida wanted to explain the PS5 exclusivity because he suspects that fans don’t really know why Square Enix would enter into these types of contracts in the first place. He says:
This time, there was a portion where we were developing together with SIE engineers who know the hardware thoroughly down to the core and we received generous support in optimization that we could not manage on our own and so on.
Additionally, Yoshida says that Sony will help in doing “promotions together globally.” Also, not having to make Final Fantasy 16 for multiple platforms at launch means that Square Enix could “invest more man-hours into things such as building the game and optimization.” Having both technical and promotional support was a big factor in deciding to make FF16 a timed PS5 exclusive.
A lot of news on Final Fantasy 16 has been revealed in the last few days. Yoshida has also explained why the game wasn’t possible on PS4, and that the game will have an Arcade Mode and a Leaderboard. Director Hiroshi Takai said that the game’s structure was inspired by God of War. A demo of the game will be released about two weeks before the game’s release.
