Quote Originally Posted by Riepah View Post
The other guy here sounded a bit optimistic about the future of PS3. I don't believe you should expect the next expansion after Heavensward to still be released on PS3, because it's very, very possible that it might not be
Well, of course it's possible that the next expansion won't be on PS3, just like it's possible that there wouldn't even be another expansion. Nothing that far ahead is guaranteed, after all. But neither of those possibilities is realistic enough to treat as if it were a real expectation. Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is at its heart a PS3 game. It didn't even come out as a PS4 launch title even though the game and console released the same year.

PS3 is still far from obsolete. Most game stores around here have a bigger PS3 section than they do a PS4 section, because PS3 still has a much bigger installed base than PS4. PS3s are also still selling pretty well (likely because PS4 not being backwards compatible means it's not replacing PS3 the way PS3 could replace PS2). That makes it even more unlikely that the install base of PS4 would overtake that of PS3 any time soon.

Plus, because the game is also on PC, it wouldn't really buy SE anything to just drop PS3 support. The only reason players joke about it being dropped is in context of made-up scenarios having SE make a new XIV for only the most top end systems, deliberately dropping the vast majority of their customer base so the top few elites can have a prettier game. After all, it would be pointless to drop PS3 support unless they were also going to drop most of their PC support as well. A PS3 is essentially just a rather low-end PC, and the things it can't do, low-end PCs can't do either.

SE is running a business. They're not going to artificially limit the number of people who can buy from them just to make the remaining few feel special. In any ongoing MMO type of game they're always going to keep lower-end support, both for consoles and PCs, because that's what allows anyone with a gaming capable machine to remain customers of theirs.

Realistically, SE might drop PS3 support once PS5 comes out, much as they dropped PS2 support once PS4 came out. At that point, PS4s will be the lower tier of machines. So, figure maybe around 2020 or so, give or take a bit, if console life-cycles remain similar.