Square Enix 'very interested' in putting Final Fantasy on PC

Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase says the company is interested in putting its games on PC, but concedes that they don't have much experience in it.

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Though a few have come out later as ports, the single-player games of the Final Fantasy series have usually been notably absent on PC. That may be changing, as series producer Yoshinori Kitase says that Square Enix sees potential in the PC market and is interested in pursuing it.

"Let's not forget, when we developed the Final Fantasy 13 series, all three titles, at the early stages of development we were working on PC," Kitase told Eurogamer. "Then we had to port it to the consoles. As far as the technology is concerned, it would have been possible for us to make a PC version, but we decided against it for two reasons: we looked at the market situation and we didn't think it would be a good idea, and also it would have involved lots of complex issues like security. So we decided not to do it this time around."

"But we see potential in it and there are lots of regions and countries where PC is very strong. So in terms of our hope of being able to deliver our games to every single country in the world and to as many gamers as possible, yes, we would definitely be interested in pursuing that route in the future."

He noted that the ports of Final Fantasy 7 and 8 have done very well, and of course MMOs like Final Fantasy 11 and 14 have been on PC. But Kitase concedes that they "haven't got a lot of experience" in producing PC games. "So when we have more know-how and experience in this market we would be very interested."

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    February 19, 2014 8:45 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Square Enix 'very interested' in putting Final Fantasy on PC.

    Final Fantasy producer Yoshinori Kitase says the company is interested in putting its games on PC, but concedes that they don't have much experience in it.

    • reply
      February 19, 2014 8:58 AM

      If the newer games go up on Steam or even Origin(Gasp) i would buy them all...

      My money...take it...

    • reply
      February 19, 2014 9:00 AM

      This would be cool, as I could stop bothering with consoles entirely.

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        February 19, 2014 9:55 AM

        Exactly the same for me. Give me the games on PC and I don't see a reason to ever buy a console.

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        February 19, 2014 10:27 AM

        Yep, agreed. I'm not anti-console or PC master race or any of that silliness. It's just that PC with digital distribution is so much more appealing and sensible to me.

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        February 19, 2014 2:17 PM

        If it is on Steam it also makes sense to have a low rent PC in the lounge to stream games to. A head unit should be cheaper than the next gen consoles are and could mean a significant cost saving exercise if, like me, you need multiple units around the house. ATM I use 3 Xbox 360s to stream TV around the house, watch online media and play the occasional game on.

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      February 19, 2014 9:48 AM

      At this point, and I'd even say with the 360/PS3 era, there's no point not to do a pc version since the capabilities are so close. I'd think the main issue would be to map the UI to K/M. Producing materials for 1080p rendering on the ps3/4 means they wouldn't have to do anything more for the pc. Maybe just port the game engine, which shouldn't be as large of a task if they're developing for ps4. Or, really if they're starting pre-work on the pc.

      Yeah.. take my money too!

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      February 19, 2014 9:56 AM

      If Final Fantasy & Metal Gear make the move I've only got PC and Nintendo to worry about.

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      February 19, 2014 10:30 AM

      Basically sounds like they discovered Steam gives them access to a large user base and gives them DRM protection.

      I would very much live some good jrpgs on the PC!

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        February 19, 2014 3:58 PM

        Correct me if I'm wrong, but they use their own login servers as DRM and not Steamworks for FF7,8. But yeah, FF15 PC pls.

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      February 19, 2014 10:31 AM

      i will buy any non-mmo final fantasy game released on PC and then never play it. i played through FF7 but that was a special exception. i bought FF8 when they rereleased it on steam and made it five minutes before saying "wait, wtf am i doing" and putting it down

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      February 19, 2014 9:42 PM

      FF 1 - VI on PC would be amazing, even if they just ported the ios games with gamepad support.

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