It seems thatSquare Enixis intent on bringing more of its titles to PC, as it recognizes the platform performs well outside of Japan.Square Enixhas long maintained exclusivity deals with PlayStation consoles, but has been increasingly more active in porting games to PC, an initiative also being carried out at scale by Sony.
To say that Square Enix has been struggling recently would be an understatement. The ill-fated live services ofBabylon’s FallandMarvel’s Avengers, and the commercial letdown of triple-A action titleForspokenare far from an ideal start to 2023. These pressures likely contributed to the change in leadership at Square Enix, with CEO Yosuke Matsuda due to be replaced following a shareholder meeting in June.Matsuda’s pursuit of NFTs and blockchain technologyin the industry made it difficult to ingratiate himself with gamers, but it seems that Square Enix may not solely be placing its future in the hands of Web 3.0.
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A page for PC platform technical support has been published by Square Enix on a Japanese recruitment system and seeks a candidate able to support the development and deployment of titlesto places such as Steamand Epic Games Store. The posting seeks experience in PC technical support, knowledge about game engines, and familiarity with modes of distribution. Most notable is that the introduction clearly affirms Square Enix’s intent to expand overseas and that the investment into PC is to better serve that demographic.
A willingness to explore more PC development will be welcome news forFinal Fantasyfans, who have often waited years for PC versions to arrive.Final Fantasy 15andFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeboth arrived on PC approximately a year and a half after first releasing on PlayStation consoles. It seems likely that this trend will continue forFinal Fantasy 16, despite the exclusivity period with Sony lasting for only six months.Naoki Yoshida offered some insightinto the situation recently, stating that he would like to release a version on PC, but any potential port would absolutely not release this year.
Square Enix could be on the precipice of a major gaming revival withFinal Fantasy 16andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthboth due to releasewithin the next 12 months. It would be ideal for gamers if PC ports immediately followed, but this seems unlikely to come to pass. However, Square Enix’s clear intent to diversify the platforms it operates on and seemingly increase availability on PC will hopefully pay off sooner rather than later.
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