Support NeoGAF

[jose4gg]

- Regarding the PC version of FF16, during a broadcast your comments became a topic of discussion, please could you tell us again.


Yoshida: Firstly, for FF16, due to the timed exclusivity contract with SIE, we cannot release other platforms versions for 6 months after the PS5 version is released. I suspect many people probably don't know why we enter such contracts.


- From the players perspective, I think they perceive it as something like "it is for the hardware manufacturer to sell its own hardware during the contract period"


Yoshida: Of course, I think there is also that kind of intention on the hardware manufacturer's part. However, from our point of view the technical support we receive from the hardware manufacturer is a big factor to signing such contracts.

This time, there was a portion where we were developing together with SIE engineers who know the hardware thoroughly down to the core and we received generous support in optimization that we could not manage on our own and so on. Also, by not developing on the premise of multiple platforms, we could invest more man-hours into things such as building the game and optimization. In addition, we can also do promotions together globally that make me wonder, "How much would this be if it was converted to money?" Technological and promotional support are things we would like to receive if we can receive them.

Source: https://www.4gamer.net/games/529/G052958/20230208103/


We all know this can very well be a classic PR response that prevents the spread of some negativity around the deal. However, it is very interesting to see the SIE engineers work so closely with developers, if this is a new type of Sony approach when it comes to other third-party devs, this might well be a GREEEEEAT reason for companies to release first on PS consoles, especially with the times it's taking for all devs to release new AAA games.

 

[Captain Toad]

There are ways to build strong relationships with third-party partners outside of just writing checks.

 

[mrmustard]

So many words for just one: money

 

[MasterCornholio]

It's only for 6 months so it's not like there's a long wait for other versions.

It's interesting how they justify doing this since we don't get a lot of talk about these agreements from the actual ones thst make it.

 

[nowhat]

There are ways to build strong relationships with third-party partners outside of just writing checks.

IKR? Like

developing together with SIE engineers who know the hardware thoroughly down to the core and we received generous support in optimization that we could not manage on our own

 

[Daneel Elijah]

So many words for just one: money

This time, there was a portion where we were developing together with SIE engineers who know the hardware thoroughly down to the core and we received generous support in optimization that we could not manage on our own and so on. Also, by not developing on the premise of multiple platforms, we could invest more man-hours into things such as building the game and optimization. In addition, we can also do promotions together globally that make me wonder, "How much would this be if it was converted to money?" Technological and promotional support are things we would like to receive if we can receive them.

Yeah, money. And help that is worth more than just the cost it would have been if done in-house. It is known that Nvidia patchs really helps games on PC. Why not admit that Sony can do the same on Playstation?

 

[AlexxKidd]

It's only for 6 months so it's not like there's a long wait for other versions.

It's interesting how they justify doing this since we don't get a lot of talk about these agreements from the actual ones thst make it.

https://blog.ja.playstation.com/2023/02/28/20230228-ff16/

First of all, it is true that "FINAL FANTASY XVI" is a six-month timed exclusive on the PS5 platform. However, that and the PC version coming out six months later are two completely different stories. I want to make it clear that the PC version will not be released in six months.

Because we have spent a lot of time and money optimizing the PS5 platform in order to deliver the best gaming experience possible. Of course, we would like to release a PC version at some point so that as many people as possible can play the game. However, if we start optimizing the PC version after the PS5 version is released, we will not be able to optimize it in six months, so it will not be released in a short span of six months. We would like to release it eventually, and I think we will, but right now we are not at the stage where we can say when.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

https://blog.ja.playstation.com/2023/02/28/20230228-ff16/

Yeah that doesn't sound like a PC release is coming any time soon after those 6 months tbh.

 

[MasterCornholio]

https://blog.ja.playstation.com/2023/02/28/20230228-ff16/

Still doesn't sound like a long wait to me. Maybe after a year but that isn't horrible.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

and this is why a lot PC releases are fucked.
How is gonna pay fot the PC optimization, PC promotion/marketing/ads.

 

[touchfuzzy]

That doesn't sound like they have any plans to do a PC version ever

 

[GHG]

and this is why a lot PC releases are fucked.
How is gonna pay fot the PC optimization, PC promotion/marketing/ads.

Nvidia typically do with titles that are sponsored by them.

Don't know about AMD but I'd assume its the same for them.

Money exchanges hands for this sort of thing across the whole industry. Epic even have something similar for titles that use their engine and are willing to be exclusive to the EGS.

https://blog.ja.playstation.com/2023/02/28/20230228-ff16/

Hopefully this means we'll actually end up with a high quality PC port then.

 

[Hugare]

 

[Spitfire098]

There are ways to build strong relationships with third-party partners outside of just writing checks.

Yeah, just buy the entire publisher.

 

[Sethbacca]

Why wouldn't you want to develop for the platform where people are more likely to actually BUY your product rather than wait for gamepass or pirate it?

 

[MOTM]

So in other words: they wrote us a big check

 

[Roxkis_ii]

I wonder how people are so upset over a 6 month exclusivity deal. It's not like there is no chance of it going to other platforms. If Microsoft pony up the bread, I'm sure SE would put it on gamepass for the right price after a PC port.

 

[SlimySnake]

Single SKU development is definitely a positive, but come on, if the PC version and the Xbox versions come out 6 months later then that means they were doing concurrent development on them. no one is porting anything in just 6 months.

It's probably helped them allocate all resources towards the PS5 in the final QA phase but there is doubt that the xbox and/or PC version are already in development especially since the very first trailer was shown running on PC according to SE themselves.

 

[SlimySnake]

Why wouldn't you want to develop for the platform where people are more likely to actually BUY your product rather than wait for gamepass or pirate it?

‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Earns $850 Million, Sells More Than 12 Million Units in First Two Weeks

"Hogwarts Legacy" has wingardium leviosa-ed Warner Bros. Games' sales, earning $850 million in global sales and moving more than 12 million units.

variety.com

Thats why. GOW was the best selling PS launch of ALL time. Only 5 million units of roughly $300-350 million in revenue. Hogwarts almost tripled that.

 

[fermcr]

Bullshit PR talk. I'm sure any console maker (Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo) will provide support to 3rd party games, specially if it's a AAA game.
Just assume it was about the money and be done with it, instead of trying to deceive people.

Happened the same thing with Square's FF7 Remake and Forspoken.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Bullshit PR talk. I'm sure any console maker (Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo) will provide support to 3rd party games, specially if it's a AAA game.
Just assume it was about the money and be done with it, instead of trying to deceive people.

Happened the same thing with Square's FF7 Remake and Forspoken.

what support could Nintendo even offer? lol

 

[fermcr]

what support could Nintendo even offer? lol

If they made a 360p screen resolution Final Fantasy 16 game, I'm sure Nintendo would provide the support.

 

[adamsapple]

The money, Lebowski.

 

[SkylineRKR]

It might be bullshit PR talk but he doesn't say stupid shit like only possible on PS5 SSD, or power of the Cell stuff.

He does mention money, Sony by having this game exclusive will likely do a lot of promotion for it. Factor in most FF fans are on Playstation (if we're judging by the sales of FF games on PS and Xbox), this could be a decent deal for both parties. Square would benefit from Sony promoting it, and Sony benefits from having a big IP exclusive for a time.

As for 6 months exclusivity, if the game comes out on Xbox in December then yeah, they developed both versions at the same time. If its going to take as long as the Xbox version of FFVII R then... idk.

Whats the exclusivity deal with FFVII R anyway?

 

[Sethbacca]

‘Hogwarts Legacy’ Earns $850 Million, Sells More Than 12 Million Units in First Two Weeks

"Hogwarts Legacy" has wingardium leviosa-ed Warner Bros. Games' sales, earning $850 million in global sales and moving more than 12 million units.

variety.com

Thats why. GOW was the best selling PS launch of ALL time. Only 5 million units of roughly $300-350 million in revenue. Hogwarts almost tripled that.

You’re comparing a video game only franchise to something that has arguably become larger than Star Wars as a worldwide IP. God of War, while big amongst the gaming community isn't remotely on the level of Harry Potter as a property, though if the HBO show does well I'm guessing you'll see a lot of retroactive sales of both GoW games (and even the older stuff). People were literally buying systems just to play the Harry Potter game . Bit of an apples and oranges comparison.

 

[Klosshufvud]

Why is he still making it seem like multiplat development isn't the de facto standard for third party developers? He's making it seem like some crazy impossible feat that will drain all their resources when most other games manage just fine. But atleast he's partly alluding to Sony's big pile of cash as enticing. That's a degree of honesty atleast.

 

[Celcius]

It’s a better answer than I was expecting

 

[Flutta]

Bullshit PR talk. I'm sure any console maker (Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo) will provide support to 3rd party games, specially if it's a AAA game.
Just assume it was about the money and be done with it, instead of trying to deceive people.

Happened the same thing with Square's FF7 Remake and Forspoken.

Please do tell us how Nintendos
”support” would magically make FF16 run on that outdated thing called the Switch?

Regarding the subject at hand. I mean ofcourse it’s about the money but Sony tends to have good support teams helping out 3rd party devs all the time. It’s well documented, no surprises there.

Hope the final product is well polished and finished no cut content no serious bugs etc that’s what really matters the end.

 

[akaFullmetal]

People saying it's just the money, then really why aren't other console makers just offering money to get games then? Especially microsoft?
It couldn't be the second part of the article talking about helping with development/ programming /optimisations could it? If so Sony has really bumped up their support for 3rd party and can explain why certain game companies work with Sony.

 

[Klosshufvud]

People saying it's just the money, then really why aren't other console makers just offering money to get games then? Especially microsoft?
It couldn't be the second part of the article talking about helping with development/ programming /optimisations could it? If so Sony has really bumped up their support for 3rd party and can explain why certain game companies work with Sony.

I guess it's a combination of multiple factors . Sony probably has the best support environment out of the Big three. They've honed these skills and functions for near 30 years now. But Sony also has the largest playerbase for a series titled FF so obviously the barrier is less pronounced compared to MS or Nintendo which will be met with lesser sales. Lastly I do believe some Japanese work culture is involved here as these type of deals are almost always exclusive to Japan nowadays. It probably doesn't take much convincing when most of FF revenue is already focused to Playstation.

 

[OuterLimits]

It's only for 6 months so it's not like there's a long wait for other versions.

It's interesting how they justify doing this since we don't get a lot of talk about these agreements from the actual ones thst make it.

6 months isn't insignificant especially for the genre. JRPG sales tend to be especially heavy right at launch and then drop off the cliff not long after. Sony is well aware that merely dropping off cash at Square for a half year window on FF is extremely beneficial.

 

[mckmas8808]

So many words for just one: money

It's sad that young people don't understand how making a game for one device actually does help developers. Nobody seems to mind when Nintendo does deals like this and it helps the game.

 

[mckmas8808]

People saying it's just the money, then really why aren't other console makers just offering money to get games then? Especially microsoft?
It couldn't be the second part of the article talking about helping with development/ programming /optimisations could it? If so Sony has really bumped up their support for 3rd party and can explain why certain game companies work with Sony.

Console warriors bro. They don't have the ability to understand the bolded. Some are mad that their choice of console maker doesn't have the ability to offer this level of support, but can then put it on a platform that's global.

 

[Graciaus]

That doesn't sound like they have any plans to do a PC version ever

Of course they will have a pc version. Almost every developer and publisher (even Sony and Microsoft) do pc ports.

 

[owandeseis]

You’re comparing a video game only franchise to something that has arguably become larger than Star Wars as a worldwide IP. God of War, while big amongst the gaming community isn't remotely on the level of Harry Potter as a property, though if the HBO show does well I'm guessing you'll see a lot of retroactive sales of both GoW games (and even the older stuff). People were literally buying systems just to play the Harry Potter game . Bit of an apples and oranges comparison.

IIRC, both Cyberpunk and Elden Ring outsold Hogwarts worldwide, that should be apples vs apples.

About the comment, yes, it was that and because it was only possible on PS5 due to it's advanced technology and ultra fast SSD.

 

[Caffeine]

it kinda makes sense a lot of japanese teams struggled when hardware made leaps ahead during ps3
they basically been playing catchup
yoship's team has also been basically working on and supporting a ps3 game for the last 10 years lol

 

[Sethbacca]

IIRC, both Cyberpunk and Elden Ring outsold Hogwarts worldwide, that should be apples vs apples.

About the comment, yes, it was that and because it was only possible on PS5 due to it's advanced technology and ultra fast SSD.

Definitely a much better comparison, but once Hogwarts is on Switch/Xbox/PS4 it's going to be probably one of the biggest games of all time. https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulta...2-million-sales-in-two-weeks/?sh=570824283dd4

 

[Ar¢tos]

Since Japan Studio is gone, who is doing 3rd party tech support in Japan?

 

[Rush2112]

Im sure it had nothing to do with money.

 

[bitbydeath]

Since Japan Studio is gone, who is doing 3rd party tech support in Japan?

They merged Japan Studio staff into Asobi and XDEV Japan. Some recent mention of the XDEV team here.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/202...ivision-assisting-with-ps5s-rise-of-the-ronin

 

[Reizo Ryuu]

Actual footage of yoshida during this interview:

 

[nowhat]

It couldn't be the second part of the article talking about helping with development/ programming /optimisations could it? If so Sony has really bumped up their support for 3rd party and can explain why certain game companies work with Sony.

Sony has an entire studio dedicated to third-party support, XDev. Beyond that, there are studios helping with outside projects (like Guerrilla with Death Stranding). And also the ICE team trying to make some gains for first-party studios, even if they are running custom engines. It seems to work well. I'm not saying MS should follow the same pattern, but perhaps instead of just mere studio acquisitions, something like that would be more sustainable in the long run.

(not commenting on the Actibliz deal, I really don't care about COD or whatever the shell of Blizzard has to offer these days)

 

[lestar]

tldr: money

 

[Ozriel]

Console warriors bro. They don't have the ability to understand the bolded. Some are mad that their choice of console maker doesn't have the ability to offer this level of support, but can then put it on a platform that's global.

Really?
None of what he said is unprecedented. Microsoft worked with PUBG folks to bring PUBG to Xbox. They also provided support to Sega for PSO 2. Among others.

Nintendo’s done similar before. And this is certainly not the first time Sony engineers and developers have worked with devs to optimize games for their platform.

Platform holders support is valuable to ease the development process, but the exclusivity decision is mainly about the money + value of marketing.

People saying it's just the money, then really why aren't other console makers just offering money to get games then? Especially microsoft?

Microsoft would have had to pay a crazy amount of money to buy significant timed exclusivity for a major JRPG. Significant opportunity cost for the devs.

It couldn't be the second part of the article talking about helping with development/ programming /optimisations could it? If so Sony has really bumped up their support for 3rd party and can explain why certain game companies work with Sony.

I’d be shocked if this wasn’t a thing even in the PS2 days.

 

[Yoboman]

Bullshit PR talk. I'm sure any console maker (Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo) will provide support to 3rd party games, specially if it's a AAA game.
Just assume it was about the money and be done with it, instead of trying to deceive people.

Happened the same thing with Square's FF7 Remake and Forspoken.

I don't think that's correct, haven't heard of Microsoft or Nintendo having something like XDEV

 

[Eotheod]

Co-development isn't a Sony only thing nor is it new. A lot of developers work closely with console manufacturers even if they are across multiple platforms. So for them to say it's because of that mainly isn't as telling as it being a big bag of money, because most developers will have some communication with the platform. This is especially the case with bigger developers, which of course Final Fantasy would fall under.

Source: me as I literally made a game with my team for consoles and spoke heavily with their Australian offices for support. Funny enough Nintendo was the most supportive.

 

[mckmas8808]

Really?
None of what he said is unprecedented. Microsoft worked with PUBG folks to bring PUBG to Xbox. They also provided support to Sega for PSO 2. Among others.

100% facts! But MS couldn't deliver on the other stuff for Square. Only Nintendo and Playstation can do that. They are a real global gaming brand. Xbox isn't. That's what I was trying to say. Those two companies check off all the boxes.

 

[X-Wing]

So, it’s not just throwing money at devs to keep the game away from Xbox? I am shocked, shocked I say!

 

[Ozriel]

Sony has an entire studio dedicated to third-party support, XDev. Beyond that, there are studios helping with outside projects (like Guerrilla with Death Stranding). And also the ICE team trying to make some gains for first-party studios, even if they are running custom engines. It seems to work well. I'm not saying MS should follow the same pattern, but perhaps instead of just mere studio acquisitions, something like that would be more sustainable in the long run.

MS does have a similar model with Xbox Global Publishing. That’s where stuff like Avalanche’s Contraband and their game with IOI come in, among others. Before that, stuff like Ori and Cuphead

 

[3liteDragon]

I like the sound of this approach much better.