It’s just lip service, if the ports are cheap they will port to Xbox but it’s not like this is a major driver for their plan going forward. Xbox may even have to pay to get their games on the platform, this is coming off the heels of FF Online coming to xbox
I think it is that simple.
Sony wanted to lock down big exclusives early on to counter what Xbox was doing buying up Bethesda.
That’s no longer a risk since Xbox is third party and X/S sales are in the tank.
Sony had to pay significantly for those exclusives and having a backstop of that magnitude while you can still monetize to other platforms in the future is free money to Square. No reason they wouldn’t take it again
Personally I think it's short-sighted if Sony was only leveraging those Square-Enix FF exclusives just to leverage them against Xbox. And I'm not necessarily sure those deals were done to counter MS buying Zenimax, because IIRC VII Remake was announced as a console exclusive for PS4 back at E3 2016. Microsoft weren't even near thinking of acquiring Zenimax at that time, in fact the window for it only presented itself within like 9 months of the deal happening. That's when they and Zenimax started talks IIRC.
Anyway, I feel if Square-Enix want to pursue this multiplatform strategy, that is fine. But SIE would be idiotic to pay for timed exclusivity going forward if so. What's the ultimate benefit to your console for a potential three-month exclusivity deal? Not much I feel, especially if would-be buyers know other versions are coming shortly thereafter. You'd be paying a premium for a depleting benefit.
Sony could definitely go for marketing deals with those FF games, certainly, but just like with SEGA/Atlus if multiplat is the direction Square-Enix want to go in, they should rely on their own funds to develop and optimize development of those games. Sony shouldn't foot the bill (IMO) without some sizable equivalent benefit and a short 3-month exclusivity window just doesn't cut it. Nor should they then expect PlayStation customers to be pressured to make up for a lopsided exclusivity deal and act as paypigs for the early timed exclusive launch, just so other platforms can get the game with better Day 1 optimization and (potentially) cheaper prices shortly thereafter.
Like, Sony/SIE already kind of do a form of this 'taking-for-granted' with console owners paying to access online for games like Helldivers 2, while PC/Steam users both get online for free and can get Helldivers 2 often a bit cheaper than PS5 owners can. I think that type of stuff erodes at long-term trust between SIE and their core console userbase but, hey, that's a conversation for another day.
It's time to march. Muh rightz!
I've seen that meme posted before but it was about something else. Anyway, Twitter's ridiculous but funny as hell for extreme takes.
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