PS3 -> PS4 conversion of Heavensward only

[Niwashi]

Yes it would be nice to have an option to switch from PS3 to Windows or Mac, but why would they offer it to console players who never wanted to play on a PC in the first place.

Because they're taking away the platform those players chose to play on. The alternative is just take away their platform and kick them out of the game entirely unless they pay for it a second time, after they've already bought it. If I bought a game and was told, "well that's no longer valid, you'll have to buy it again before you can actually play it", I wouldn't trust that company enough to buy it a second time (or likely buy anything else from them either).

If they're going to drop support for a platform, they should offer the players who bought it the option to play on a different platform. You seem to think they'll do so selectively only for players who can and want to switch to PS4, but the dropped support has nothing to do with PS4. They should give players whose support they're dropping the option of whichever platform they want to switch to.

[Zari]

If they're going to drop support for a platform, they should offer the players who bought it the option to play on a different platform. You seem to think they'll do so selectively only for players who can and want to switch to PS4, but the dropped support has nothing to do with PS4. They should give players whose support they're dropping the option of whichever platform they want to switch to.

It wont happen because Sony has to accept the option to transfer for free between PS3 and PS4, why in the world would Sony approve of LOSING customers to PC by accepting a ps3 to pc transfer?

I am sure Square would be fine with doing that but it isn't completely just Square's decision

[Niwashi]

They ARE offering you a different platform, from PS3 to PS4.

They're offering at least some players a move to another platform, those who have a PS4. My question was about whether they'd offer the chance to move to another platform for players who don't have a PS4.

It wont happen because Sony has to accept the option to transfer for free between PS3 and PS4, why in the world would Sony approve of LOSING customers to PC by accepting a ps3 to pc transfer?

I am sure Square would be fine with doing that but it isn't completely just Square's decision

It is completely SE's decision. Sony gets a cut of the console purchases, but they have no say at all in what PC licences SE gives out. And SE should prefer to keep people playing over dropping their access altogether.

The PS3 licences are going away regardless. That removes any involvement Sony had in the account. Their PS3-FFXIV customers are either going to go away to play on a different platform, or go away to play a different game. (Besides, I'm pretty sure Sony got their cut out of the purchase price, the same as with other games. That's already been paid, so I doubt they'd care what happens with the account after that, even if they did have any say in it.)

[Zari]

It is completely SE's decision. Sony gets a cut of the console purchases, but they have no say at all in what PC licences SE gives out. And SE should prefer to keep people playing over dropping their access altogether.
)

Sony IS definitely a part of this decision. They have to approve of the free transfers. It is one of the reasons why the ps3 to ps4 transfer was temporary.
And of course Sony would care, as I said, why would they want people moving from their platform to an outside one? They wouldn't just allow that for free. They would rather people move from their console to their next console.
Sony is definitely the limiting factor here. If it wasn't, then I'm sure that ps3->pc transfer would be there.

[Niwashi]

Sony IS definitely a part of this decision. They have to approve of the free transfers. It is one of the reasons why the ps3 to ps4 transfer was temporary.

Where do you get the idea that Sony controls PC licences? To play on PC (or Mac), you get a licence from SE. Sony has no control or involvement in that. And no, they don't have to somehow "approve" of it.

And the PS3 to PS4 transfer was temporary because SE didn't want to give up on purchases of the PS4 licence indefinitely. It was a marketing deal to leverage the release of the new platform. Once it had been around a while and was no longer a new platform, the marketing value of that leverage dropped to less than what they were losing in not charging for the licence.

This time, it's not about the PS4 being released. It's about the PS3 being dropped. There's no tie-in to the PS4 version in particular, so there's no logical reason for the transfers to be limited to there.

[Alberel]

Where do you get the idea that Sony controls PC licences? To play on PC (or Mac), you get a licence from SE. Sony has no control or involvement in that. And no, they don't have to somehow "approve" of it.

You're aware that SE has certain contractual obligations to Sony right? Sony might not control PC licenses for the game but I'm fairly sure the contract they have with SE would prohibit them doing anything that would harm Sony's sales in some way. It's really not as simple as you're trying to make it out to be.