Contrary to popular belief, Square Enix claims that it approached multiple platforms and publishers for Final Fantasy 16 and landed on PS5 exclusivity because Sony made the best offer. There have been a lot of speculations about Square Enix’s relationship with Sony and Microsoft in recent months, and Final Fantasy 16’s exclusivity has been hotly debated.
Producer Naoki Yoshida explains why Final Fantasy 16 is PS5 exclusive
Speaking to Game Informer, Yoshida said that Square Enix doesn’t develop games with the intention of restricting them to a single platform. However, the company has to look at all available options and weigh out pros and cons.
“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,” Yoshida said, “And when you approach them, they’re going to come back to us with their offers.”
While Yoshida understandably can’t divulge details of Square Enix’s business deals, he did reveal that in Final Fantasy 16’s case, Sony simply came back with the best offer that included access to PlayStation developers and programmers. Yoshida also said that initially limiting games to one platform makes things “easier” from ” a developer and programmer perspective.”