Final Fantasy 16 producer ‘wishes there was only one game platform’

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida has said he believes it would be better if there was just a single game platform.

According to an IGN translation of an interview with a Taiwanese YouTube channel, Yoshida said it would be better for developers and players alike if there weren’t competing console platforms.

“Game platforms… I probably shouldn’t say this, but I wish there was only one,” he reportedly said. “It would be better for both the developers and the players.”

Sony and Microsoft have both secured a number of third-party titles as console exclusives over the years. One of the most notable examples of this is the PlayStation maker’s ties with Square Enix, which in recent years have seen Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 16 excluded from Xbox.

Square Enix announced last month that Final Fantasy 14, which Yoshida directed, will finally be released for Xbox consoles next year following a decade of PlayStation console exclusivity.

Final Fantasy 16 was released for PS5 in June, and Square Enix has confirmed that it will remain exclusive to Sony’s console for at least the remainder of this calendar year.

Prior to the game’s release, Yoshida said he’d like to see a PC version of the game released “eventually”.

“First of all, it is true that Final Fantasy 16 is a six-month limited time exclusive on the PS5 platform,” he told the Japanese PlayStation Blog. “However, it is a completely different story that the PC version will be released in half a year. I will make it clear, but the PC version will not come out in half a year.

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“This is because we spent a lot of time and money optimizing the PS5 platform to deliver the best gaming experience. Of course, I would like to release a PC version at some point so that everyone can play as many games as possible.

“However, even if we start optimizing the PC version after the PS5 version comes out, we won’t be able to optimize it in half a year, so it won’t come out in a short span of half a year. I would like to release it eventually, and I think I will, but I am not at the stage where I can say when.”