FFXVI only PS5?

[Y2K21]

You ... kinda argue against yourself here. That's exactly the reason why it's a safe bet to believe this will be only a time exclusive, not a permanent exclusive. They're getting the exclusive money from Sony now, and the PC money later.

Its a question of when - the PC version isnt going to be right away available at the end of the 6 month deal. If we go by more recent examples where FF7R didnt even come to PC (its not even on Xbox yet) until a year + later then that is quite the time.

Heck, FF15 didnt even come to PC until almost 2 years later.

The problem is always going to be - the company is hedging their bets that the game will sell very well on PS5. The console has had supply issues since 2020. On top of that, PS5 doesnt even have a lot of current exclusives that are worth the $500 investment - so realistically you are putting up a $500 barrier for entry for peeople who have been playing FF games on PS4 and PC.

There is just a lot of factors, and with SE's current history - I am very skeptical.

Ok, sure, bring it up, give me some #, I'm waiting. Don't just drop a talking about.

The game literally was stuck in dev hell for 10 years, lost millions of dollars because of it, had its DLC cancelled, and the director literally quit the company.

Do people unironically still think 15 is viewed as a success lol?

[Raven2014]

Its a question of when - the PC version isnt going to be right away available at the end of the 6 month deal. If we go by more recent examples where FF7R didnt even come to PC (its not even on Xbox yet) until a year + later then that is quite the time.

And only thing relevant is to the people who want play the game ASAP. I don't see how this relevant to the commercial aspect at all. 6 Months, 1year, 2year is a moot point if the sale # don't change. Like I said, either you give SE $60-$70 now, or you give it to them 6 months, a year or 2 later.

The problem is always going to be - the company is hedging their bets that the game will sell very well on PS5. The console has had supply issues since 2020.

Not any more. I can order one from Amazon right now and have it at my door by tomorrow. Bringing up 2+ years old point as if it's still currently relevant does not help your argument, it weaken it.

On top of that, PS5 doesnt even have a lot of current exclusives that are worth the $500 investment - so realistically you are putting up a $500 barrier for entry for peeople who have been playing FF games on PS4 and PC.

And it sucks for those players, yes - myself included. But from a commercial standpoint it's completely irrelevant. I can't give SE the money now 'cause I don't have a PS5. But I'll give it to SE in a year or two when it comes on the PC, or I'll give it to them 4 years later when I finally get the PS5.

Like, don't get me wrong, I do want to player early and I do want it on the PC. But I don't conflate or window-dressing my desire with irrelevant point.

The game literally was stuck in dev hell for 10 years ...

How is this at all related to what we're talking about!?!? You keep bring up the long development time as an issue, yet asking for the exact one thing that would make it worse. There is a reason why games tend to come out on console first than PC later, and for really demanding games that come out of the same time the performance on the PC tend to be shit comparing to their console counterpart.

The console at least have a consistent architecture for a long time, and you have the console maker at your single point of contact for support. The PC architect not only varied, but also change at a much faster pace. You also need the support from multiple companies (intel, AMD, NVDIA) if you want the same support from a console makers, assuming they even give it.

So again, if long developing time is a problem to you, why the heck you want SE to do something that will make it significantly more complex and longer!?

[Raven2014]

And this one deserve its own reply

... , lost millions of dollars because of it, had its DLC cancelled, and the director literally quit the company.

Do people unironically still think 15 is viewed as a success lol?

This is why you talk with fact, not feel. I had a feeling you're talking solely on the latter, hence why I asked you to throw number at me which as expected, you side stepped again with whataboutism.

So here, I do the work for you:

FFXV made back all the development cost on day 1

What was "disappointing" about it is it wasn't as big as SE had hoped for given its long development time, but Japanese companies tend to have that issue. Decade ago I remember seeing Bamco's CEO said games has to be sold at least 1mil copies to be considered "success". And most people was like "is this guy on crack? The kind of game he publisher would be lucky to break 500,000 copies".

I have seen "people" talking a lot about how FFXV lose SE's money, but just like you, anytime they are contested and asked for citation they always side step the issue with whataboutism. The only failure of FFXV is the fact it wasn't as big as SE hoped for. But it's one of the best selling main series (10mil+ copies) and also one of the best selling game on the playstation platform.


FFVII-remade had also reached half of that mile stone before it went multi-platform, and THAT one you can blame on the PS5 early shortage. But sure, it's a disappointment. You know why? Because people are like "given how popular the original FF7 is it should have sale 15mil copies"!

[Y2K21]

-cut-

This article you link doesnt really say anything to contradict my point, literally the only plot point of talking about how Square made its money back is only the title, my dude. It gives Q3 slidepoint numbers and doesnt really share much on what profit point was breakeven - I am not arguing that FF15 didnt sell well - I am arguing if it was deemed a failure. Lets look at some facts:

1) Tabata has gone on record stating that for FF15 needing to be a success - it had to sell 10 million copies on breaking even on production. SE had to officially walk this back as Tabata was stating internal goals instead - which is a completely different statement than what was originally said: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/...reak-even.aspx

2) FF15 has been in start-stop production all the way back since 2006 under Nomura as FFVersus13 - and also needed development time for the Luminous Engine (as this would be the only game at the time to use this engine). That is two areas of development that were funded under tthis team that need to be taken into account.

3) Luminous Productions outright caused the company to go in the hole by $33 million in 2018: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/square...o-shifts-focus

4) Because of the massive loss to at the end of 2018 - Square Enix announced the cancellation of FF14's remaining DLC slated to release for April 2019. Please do note that these articles happen in tandem: https://www.gematsu.com/2018/11/fina...ctis-cancelled

5) Not only that, but because Luminous was implicated as the cause of the loss and the cut DLC; the head director of Luminous Studios and the head of FF15 leaves the company - https://www.gosunoob.com/final-fanta...s-square-enix/