The industry is gearing up for the arrival of the next-generation with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but publisher Square Enix doesn't plan on releasing its games exclusively for those platforms any time soon. In a new Q&A as part of a financial briefing, the Japanese behemoth stated that it will take advantage of backwards compatibility to ensure its games reach the most amount of consumers possible.
The firm said: "The next-generation consoles will have backward compatibility, so we plan for the time being to make our new titles available for both current and next-generation consoles. It will therefore be somewhat farther down the road that we release titles exclusively for the next-generation consoles." The quote does suggest that future Square Enix titles will receive a native PS5 version when their release dates roll around, but you won't see the company dropping the PlayStation 4 version any time soon.
As such, it's likely that the publisher's games will be somewhat held back by old technology for the first year or so. What those titles actually turn out to be, however, remains to be seen. We know that the upcoming Outriders is a cross-gen game while Final Fantasy VII Remake is just releasing on PS4 for now, but apart from that, the publisher doesn't have another title officially revealed. We'll most likely have to wait until E3 2020 to learn more of what it has in store for PS5.
Do you hope that other publishers quickly ditch the PS4 in favour of supporting the PS5? Let us know in the comments below.
[source hd.square-enix.com]
Comments 20
makes sense i suppose especially for FFVII Remake as it's a multi part release, best to keep all the parts on the same system
Yep, sounds like a commitment to keeping FF7 remake part 2 on PS4, which is no bad thing. Itt does mean FF16 is likely a long way out yet.
I think we'll see more of this. The cost of development is rising so dramatically that companies need to reach as many customers as possible
This is why first party is important. Can not rely on third party to sell your new hardware. I don't look forward to new generations for multiplats anyway and will not be buying anything from Square again after the disappointing DQ11.
I'm okay with it as long as SE give us native 4k & 60 fps patch on ps5
Going to be a lot of games with just a patch for ps5. Sony is going to have to push that envelope first, because Microsoft already said they aren't making exclusives for a while. For next gen.
It is possible more third-parties will do this... If so, Sony need to ensure they have 1st party games exclusive to PS5 (no PC)... bring on Knack 3.
@wiiware That or an option to enable a ray-traced effects - even if that means 30fps cap.
@LiamCroft also you missed out on a great pun in that article title
you should have put NieR future
As games take a good couple of years and more to develop and the next gen systems will take a few years to build up a decent user base, it makes sense that the majority of games released will be on both old and new systems.
There is a reason to upgrade even without exclusive releases and that is better performance and visuals. Of course if just having the same 'access' to a game is good enough for you, then maybe you won't upgrade until there are enough next gen exclusives available to warrant upgrading. But gamers who want the best experience will upgrade.
All the complaints I hear seem to be about consoles only capable of 30fps and not running at locked frame rates. Next gen could certainly resolve those. Visuals isn't just resolution but even that hasn't been stable this gen with Dynamic Resolution Scaling to try and maintain a more consistent frame rate.
Whilst they may not be making games 'exclusively' for next gen, that doesn't mean that the next gen isn't the 'lead' console and then scale that down to current gen by capping frame rates to 30fps, dropping the resolution and quality of the visuals down etc to run on much weaker systems. Its worth doing because there are a LOT of console owners to sell to. Its no different from Devs making games with the GTX2080ti in mind, with Raytracing and all the high quality visual settings but that still run on a RX480 and most 3rd Party games will also be released on PC too so need to be scalable...
@FullbringIchigo haha wierdly i did read the headline as saying Nier π
@Rob_230 @FullbringIchigo I read the article as part 1 and part 2 of FF7R will be on PS4 but we'll need to buy a PS5 to play what is hopefully the final part 3. Though PS6 will be out by then so at least the PS5 will be cheap. π
Agree w/ the comemnts above, it's not SE job to sell hardware, it's their job to make money, you do that by selling as many copies of your game as possible. Makes perfect sense.
Also, Just Dance came out on the Wii last year, Wii came out in 2006, so it's not like supporting old gen hardware is new to any company. New games are nice of course, but the current gen hardware works pretty well, no reason to abandon it.
Plus, if companies want any of their games to work on Switch they'll need a low current gen base to start with. Not Wii low, Doom, Witcher 3, Switch can run some games, but probably not native 4k games. I'm not expecting Cyberpunk to make it.
I expect a next gen Deus Ex game. Don't disappoint me, SE.
@GamingFan4Lyf Isn't RT just better lightning? I prefer 60 fps compared to RT, unless the games is made with RT in mind (next-gen games).
@wiiware Yes, RT is better lighting - in some ways almost transformative (see Quake 2 RTX and Minecraft RTX). I would like it as an option as well as a 60fps option (if possible to achieve). Win-win
@Rob_230
Esspecially the way Square Enix develops them starting over with years of work put in the game. Looking at you Final Fantasy 15 incomplete. π
@FullbringIchigo There's no way they're all out in time to be on the PS4. They'll have dropped it by the time that series is finished. In fact, at least one will probably end up on the PS6.
@Jaz007 No because the groundwork and engine are already developed so the next parts will come much faster. I'm guessing we'll get an episode each year after part 1.
Almost all games will see nothing that will push people to buy the new system the new systems load speeds are the only real reason to buy one but at $500 a pop most likely it makes it hard to even dish out that kind of money.
@TowaHerschel7 I donβt believe SE can do it, not yearly for sure. Look at what happened to the FFXV DLC. They had the groundwork there. They will always find a way to delay it. Always.
IIRC, wasn't it the same this gen? I don't remember too many third party games that came out only on the next gen initially, only first party ones?
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