Square Enix has been slowly putting an end to its exclusivity deals for a while now, and both Final Fantasy series producer Yoshinori Kitase and Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii are fans of the publisher's multiplatform push.
In a chat between the two genre giants, published on Famitsu and translated by GamesRadar+, both say all they care about as creatives is that more people get the chance to experience their work, and developing for multiple platforms isn't as tricky as it used to be back when there were more dramatic technical differences between consoles.
"For me as a creator, I would like as many people as possible to play, so being able to go multiplatform is greatly appreciated," Horii says. "It was difficult in the era of 'I can't play this game on this console'. Also global release dates have become the norm, although it's difficult to make things this way. There's lots of issues, like doing the English (and other language) translations, and voice acting at the same time."
Kitase goes on to suggest multiplatform development "used to come with high barriers" that aren't so insurmountable anymore. "The feeling was that in order to get the best graphics or polish, you'd have to push the hardware to its limit," he explains. "These days hardware specs are improving, so you can achieve the best quality no matter the platform you choose or design for."
He also calls the rise of handheld gaming "a huge boon" in terms of "reaching a wider audience" who can't always play in their living rooms. Final Fantasy 7 Remake's new Switch 2 port is definitely a good example of a lavish game that can launch on multiple devices without severe compromise, for example.
"Now that we can do anything, it's [a question of] time and money," Horii notes. "If you try to do everything you'll never get it finished. We made Dragon Quest for the Famicom with just 10 people. It took about three months. Now that we have several hundred members of staff, it takes time." Kitase agrees, but ultimately thinks "the motivation to allow as many people as possible to play is higher than the development hurdles."
Dragon Quest 7: Reimagined comes PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch (all consoles, look at that) on February 5.
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii says Final Fantasy protagonists "speak a lot," forming a "key difference" between the two iconic JRPG series: "You're not necessarily becoming the protagonist"
