There comes a point in time for every video game console to be put out to pasture in order make way for the virile young bucks of the next generation. We’ve all seen it before; titles for the PlayStation 2 were retired so game designers could focus on the PlayStation 3, and the Xbox bowed out so that the Xbox 360 could step in. Now, with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in play as the current-gen systems, it looks like the cycle is inescapable, and Square Enix isn’t going to be the one attempting to break it.
In fact, Square Enix seems to be slowly inching its way toward phasing out the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 from its development process, as they are starting to concentrate solely on crafting titles for modern consoles in North America and Europe. While the publisher has announced that the highly-coveted Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will be released in the West only for PlayStation 4 this winter, Square Enix is still making the title’s Japanese version available for the PlayStation 3.
Following Square Enix’s E3 2015 event, Shuichi Kobayashi, the producer for the upcoming Star Ocean sequel, shared with Destructoid’s Kyle MacGregor why the publishing company is abstaining from making a PS3 version of the game for Western audiences. Kobayashi says:
While Square Enix is certainly making the move to abandon the last generation of consoles – for the Tokyo-based company is also only making its upcoming Dragon Quest Heroes obtainable exclusively for the latest hardware in the West – the publisher is also hedging its bets. For instance, Rise of the Tomb Raider will still be released for the Xbox 360 this November in the United States. However, gaming fans shouldn’t presume that course of action to be commonplace much longer.
“It’s simple. The PS3 still has a fairly large market in Japan, but in the West, particularly the United States, people have just moved on to PS4. The PS3 market has almost diminished to nothing.”
Do you think game developers should continue to put out games for the previous era of consoles? If so, why? Should they continue creating content for older systems because the most recent machines are still too pricey? Or is it because you think that designers haven’t tapped the full potential of devices like the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3?
Square Enix’s desire to leave the last crop of systems behind and focus on the new wave of hardware should definitely inspire those of us without next-gen consoles to acquire them, for it appears as if the time is nigh for developers to move on to higher grounds.
Source: Destructoid
