Final Fantasy 16 is shaping up to be one of the biggest PS5 exclusives, but according to producer Naoki Yoshida, it could be on PS4 too.
Yoshida was recently interviewed about Final Fantasy 16 by the Japanese publication famitsu (opens in new tab), following the release of the latest FF16 trailer during Sony’s State of Play earlier this month. Suggesting that the trailer received a better response than expected, Famitsu asked how Yoshida felt about the response given to the 2020 FF16 reveal trailer. PS4 was being considered.
Translated by Google Translate, he confirmed: “At that time, I was developing with the aim of releasing it on PlayStation 4, so I was worried that I couldn’t improve the quality. I could have pre-rendered there once, but it would be a wasted hours of development, and I didn’t want to do that. That’s because I wanted to make a trailer extracting what I could enjoy as a gameplay experience.”
It’s not particularly surprising to hear that a PS4 version of FF16 has been dropped. Square Enix still has several cross-gen releases planned, including a recently announced Crisis Core remaster, but the Japanese publisher is gradually moving towards the new generation. As it currently stands, there are some big PS5 console exclusives on the way, including Forspoken and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Final Fantasy 16 feels like a true next-gen experience
This isn’t the only interview Yoshida has given about Final Fantasy 16 recently. Talking to PlayStation Blog (opens in new tab), the producer of FF16 highly praised the PS5’s capabilities. “It’s only thanks to the power of the PlayStation 5 system that we can make Final Fantasy 16 the roller coaster it is,” he said. The producer also praised the graphics capabilities and “super-fast load times” of Sony’s latest console.
However, what really interests me is your feedback on the gameplay. “In Final Fantasy 16, you jump straight from story scenes to real-time battles and back without any load times, making the gameplay flow at a breakneck pace.” It feels like a true next-gen experience and I’m worried that if Square Enix had opted for a next-gen release, it would have been severely restricted.
Personally, I’m glad Square Enix didn’t stick with those PS4 plans for Final Fantasy 16. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing the idea of cross-gen releases, but Sony’s oldest console is nine years old. You can only do so much with old hardware before it inevitably constrains developers. The PS5 launched almost two years ago and with the stock shortages starting to ease, it’s finally time to move on.