Sony Coy On Final Fantasy VII Remake Exclusivity Deal For PS4

The gaming community, still coming to terms with the shock announcement that RPG classic Final Fantasy VII is being remade, is now scrambling for more information on the game’s exclusivity deal with Sony. After the teaser trailer, a banner reads, “Play it first on PlayStation 4”. Though the message suggests that the game will make it to other platforms at a later date, it seems that PS4 users will play the game first.

Timed exclusives are becoming more common – as with Rise of the Tomb Raider, coming to Xbox One before any other platform – but the duration of these exclusives can be a little muddy. It makes sense, though: give customers a timeframe for when a game could be released for the console they own, and they’ll be less likely to invest in a rival console to play the game.

Rob Crossley of Gamespot had the opportunity to get to the bottom of the matter, asking the Chief Executive of PlayStation Europe, Jim Ryan, how long the Final Fantasy VII remake exclusivity deal for PS4 would last.

Crossley asked Ryan, “How long does the [Final Fantasy VII] timed exclusivity deal last?” Ryan’s response was suitably vague. He replied, “We don’t have anything to say about that at this point in time.”

A determined Crossley pushed Ryan for a more concrete answer, saying, “I understand. I remember when Microsoft announced the Rise of the Tomb Raider exclusivity deal, and Phil Spencer was engulfed by the press who were asking him how long the exclusivity lasted. I feel this issue deserves the same scrutiny.” No joy, though, with Ryan retorting, “Yes, but that whole thing was very ambiguous.”

Crossley keeps up his offensive, acknowledging, “Yes, but this is ambiguous as well. No one knows how long Final Fantasy VII is a timed exclusive for,” at which point a PlayStation public relations person interjects to say, “At this stage, we are announcing that it’s coming to our platform. There’s nothing else we can say, in terms of exclusivity.”

In one last, desperate attempt to get a straight answer to his question, Crossley says,” But that is ambiguous. People who want to buy this game don’t know how long it will remain as a PlayStation 4 exclusive,” which elicits a double response from both the PR spokesperson and Ryan. The spokesperson says, “At this stage, we are just saying announcing the title, so it’s very common, especially at this stage, to say it’s coming and that it’s coming to our platform,” while Ryan adds, “What we’re not doing is saying it’s an outright exclusive, which I think is a subtle difference [compared] to what happened last year.”

So, there we have it: Sony doesn’t want to tell us how long the Final Fantasy VII remake will be exclusive to PS4 for. Does that mean it’s a lame deal that only lasts a week, or are they just making it as hard as they can for competitors to sell consoles off the back of the game?

Thank you Gamespot for providing us with this information.