The soundtrack...

[Shioban]

CD/DVD players and drives are far more common than bluray. Bluray isn't even the common media standard. Sure, there are lots of people who have them. I don't buy blurays, as i can already stream HD movies. Not everyone is going to adopt bluray as there really isn't a reason to do so. Not offering it as a CD/DVD is limiting the customers willing to buy it.

Blu-ray players are very popular in Japan, mostly thanks to the sales of the Playstation 3 bolstering support for it.

A lot of things in the past haven't been the common option.

HD content was the common option, publishers still used it.
DVD's wasn't the common option at time, publishers still used it.
Coffee Shops weren't common 20-30 years ago where I live, now you have a coffee shop for every combination you'd like.


Just because it isn't the common denominator, doesn't mean they can't use it, clearly sales for Before Meteor were acceptable enough to pursue it again.
Considering the fact that a large number of players for FFXIV are actually playing on a PS3 (especially in Japan) it's perfectly acceptable to assume there is a market for Blu-Ray soundtracks, even if it limits your market down if it sells they won't complain.

Even still they could release the music over multiple dvd's which will handle the 96khz 24bit sample rate SE is using on the Bluray discs. DVD will go even higher to 192bit. Plus dvd will also handle the behind video clips of each song. Also they can store mp3 in 320kbps bit rate on the dvd just the same as bluray. The reason they gave for going to bluray wasn't the quality issue it was the space. They didn't want to have the customer swapping discs. One disc is what they wanted and advertised. DVD is more universal but I still prefer bluray myself and when given the option will buy it over the dvd or cd media. Here's the catch. No my car does not have bluray. But my phone does can play back the mp3's so it's all good.

They already said this would be too costly, they'd prefer to produce it on one Blu-Ray disc instead of splitting it across multiple DVD's.
So not just the space issue, but also the production cost would be bigger as well as the production time.

192-bit Audio with a high freuqnce takes up a ton of space, considering there's well over a hundred tracks this would be an issue. (But I just noticed you already noted that)

[Tupsi]

My point is, it isn't hard nor expensive to do so for anyone that would be interested in purchasing a cd (as the OP seemed to be).

They even have bluray disc hifi seperate units for bluray audio discs.

This is a digital age anyway - almost everything is download, so while your point is it's "not hard"...let's be real, downloading has become the staple now lol.

[Quiz]

This is a digital age anyway - almost everything is download, so while your point is it's "not hard"...let's be real, downloading has become the staple now lol.

We live in a "digital age" with a majority of people who aren't ready for it/don't want it, as well as a world that isn't ready for it.

The age is only as digital as it suits people.

[BunnyChain]

OP has a point.
How can you get the game? Download.
How can you get the Collector's Edition of the game? Download.
How can you get the Soundtrack of the Game? Disc.

[C-croft]

im sure it will show up on itunes at some point. you can get most of the ost's for ff franchise on itunes.

[Naberrie]

Anyone who plays on PS3 has a blu ray player and can play the disc. You could export the files off the disc onto a flash drive and load them into your computer, then play them from your device of choice.

That said, it's a bit absurd that they're releasing it on one Blu-ray Disc yet charging the price of five CDs. If you're going to insist on charging that much, at least give the consumer options.

[Anjian]

I thought the OST for the game will be released in iTunes around March 14. I am planning to buy it as soon as it comes out on iTunes. I will check Google Play Music as well.

[C-croft]

I will check Google Play Music as well.

Biggest bummer of it all. No FF OST's in the play store... If they had them, I would be broke. I had my collection stolen while i was in the military. Had everything through FFX at that point.