The next mainline installment of Square Enix’ legendary RPG franchise, Final Fantasy XVI is set to release on June 22, nearly 3 years after it was first announced. Anytime a Final Fantasy game is released it’s a big deal, and this one is no different. What’s an even bigger deal is that the game was announced as a (timed) PlayStation 5 exclusive.
A recent Game Informer interview shed new light on why Final Fantasy XVI won’t be coming to other platforms for awhile. The subject of the interview, game producer and designer Naoki Yoshida (aka “Yoshi P”) had this to say on the PS5 exclusivity.
Final Fantasy, being one of Square Enix’s very important franchises up there with Dragon Quest and the Kingdom Hearts series – when we do begin development, we do approach multiple platforms, multiple companies, about releasing the game. And when you approach them, they’re going to come back to us with their offers.”
Whether the same terms are put on the table for each of these platforms remains unclear. Square Enix has had a longstanding relationship with Sony going all the way back to the days of the original PlayStation and Sony’s entry into the video game industry.
Anyways, a Windows PC version of Final Fantasy XVI isn’t out of the question once the timed PS5 exclusivity expires. But for Xbox, it remains less likely considering that Final Fantasy 7 Remake never materialized for Microsoft’s console.
Via Forbes.