Final Fantasy 16 Producer Wants Some Fans To Pay 470 Dollars For The Game
Fans are eagerly looking forward to the release of "Final Fantasy 16," which is set to launch on June 22, 2023, exclusively on the PS5. This isn't the first time that a "Final Fantasy" game has started out as a PlayStation exclusive, but it appears that there has been an outcry from fans who want to be able to play the game on PC right away. Others are seemingly looking to wait out Sony's timed exclusivity, hoping that the game will come to PC eventually. This isn't just wishful thinking either. It does seem probable that "Final Fantasy 16" will come to PC in due course. Every other mainline game in the series has, and a recent trailer for the game stated that it would be "not available on other platforms until 12.31.2023." This doesn't explicitly state that the game will be coming to PC six months after its initial launch, but many fans who've been reading between the lines appear to believe it to be the natural conclusion.
Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida recently gave an interview discussing the game where he stated (translation via @Genki-JPN), "Nobody said a word about a PC version releasing. Why is it like a PC version is releasing 6 months later? Don't worry about that, buy a PS5!" He then went on to immediately apologize for the comment and asked fans to look forward to the game. Still, many fans were upset by his statement.
PC gamers weren't pleased
The PS5 is more readily available now than it has been in the two years since its launch, but it is still $400 even for the cheaper digital version, not to mention the whopping $70 fans would have to cough up for the game itself. Yoshida's comment was clearly intended as a joke, but it still struck many gamers as being fairly tone-deaf. It was also troubling that Yoshida seemed to be implying that the game would not, in fact, be coming to PC when PlayStation's six-month exclusivity period ends.
A subreddit post about Yoshida's interview has cropped up with many people arguing that his comment seemed disingenuous. Reddit user strider-hearyou wrote, "Yeah they're full of it. They've got every single FF game from 1 to 15 on Steam, no way they decide to leave money on the table with this one specifically. Feels like they're trying to be clever by saying 'there's no PC version in existence' and under their breath muttering, '...yet.'"
Several others in the thread seemed to agree, even going so far as to suggest that Square Enix and Sony are trying to drive PlayStation sales by implying that the highly anticipated title won't be coming to PC.
Of course, AAA games like "Final Fantasy 16" cost a lot of money to produce. Studios like Square Enix are motivated to recoup as much of that cost as quickly as possible, so it follows that its sales during its exclusivity period are very important to the company.