In an interview with the Washington Post, Final Fantasy series producer and the director of the original ‘Final Fantasy VII’ Yoshinori Kitase discussed the benefits of working exclusively with PlayStation on the remake series saying in part, “The seamlessness of the world in “Final Fantasy VII Rebirth” was made possible by focusing on developing for a single platform.”
Kitase went on to say, “This would not have been possible if ‘Rebirth’ was planned as a multiplatform project. Its development exclusively for the PlayStation 5 made it easier for the team to focus on building a world with diverse geography, indoor and outdoor areas populated with activities, characters friendly and hostile, all seamlessly represented with no ‘loading screen’ interruptions. Developing games for multiple platforms, by contrast, usually creates more work that focuses on porting rather than iterating on a game’s design.”
“Had it not been on a single platform, the world map would not be seamless, and game design may have had to regress significantly,” Kitase told The Washington Post in an interview, through an interpreter. Kitase is the director of the original “Final Fantasy VII” from 1997, as well as many classic projects from publisher and developer Square Enix.”
Christian Svensson, vice president of second- and third-party content ventures and strategic initiatives at Sony Interactive Entertainment lamented Kitase’s sentiment by saying “Securing the “Final Fantasy VII” trilogy as a console exclusive is a feather in the PlayStation cap. It’s part of recognizing the original game’s importance as a defining game for the PlayStation experience”.
“Back in that same console generation for the original PlayStation, Sony Computer Entertainment had few franchises of its own, and in order to find its place in a very competitive video game industry, we sought to win the hearts and minds of key third-party developers like Square,” Svensson said. That focus on third-party partnerships — releasing games made by outside studios — is “ingrained in our DNA to this day,” he said, “and connects directly to how we’ve worked together on ‘Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.’”
This is a move that many had anticipated was the case after a year went by and there was no announcement or mention of an Xbox port. While Final Fantasy VII is a staple of the PlayStation ecosystem dating back to 1997, many Xbox only players were hoping for at least a port and possibly a Game Pass release since most older Final Fantasy titles were included in the service at one point.
While Game Pass is a great service for consumers and publishers – because they actually make money porting to Xbox. It doesn’t replace the revenue generated by unit sales and that is why Sony and Nintendo are in a position to make exclusivity deals like this.
Square knows where there bread is buttered and unfortunately it’s not on Xbox.
In fact, Xbox only players have notoriously never supported Final Fantasy games on that platform dating back to the Xbox 360 and that includes about a dozen or so Final Fantasy releases. So, it’s safe to assume that the decision to exclude Xbox was not taken lightly, but was made nonetheless.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is out now for the PlayStation 5. Click here to see what critics are saying about it.
