Project Athia will be a PS5 console exclusive for at least two years

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There's still no release window for PS5

Project Athia
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Square Enix's mysterious Project Athia will remain a console exclusive on PS5 for at least its first two years, Sony has revealed.

We already knew that the open-world action game would only be available on PS5 and PC when it first came out. A new video from Sony that highlights Athia among other upcoming PS5 games includes this in the fine print: "In development for PS5. Also available on PC. Not available on other consoles until at least 24 months after release date."

We don't even know when Project Athia is set to hit PS5 right now, but if you're planning on playing on Xbox Series X, now we know you'll be waiting extra long. One year is closer to the norm for timed-exclusivity game releases, so Sony and Square Enix must really have some special plans for Project Athia.

"PS5 dramatically improves video technology, such as with the implementation of light-reflecting ray tracing technology," Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said after Project Athia was revealed. "Compared to what you see on PC, it is nearly identical. By utilizing these special traits, we're able to create incredibly precise imagery."

As for the game itself, we don't know much more about it now than we did when it was first revealed back in June. Speculation at the time pointed to it being a codename for the next Final Fantasy game, but the official announcement of Final Fantasy 16 in September quashed those rumors. It could still be a Final Fantasy project of course - it's been a while since the long-running series has had a big spinoff that wasn't exclusive to mobile devices.

We're still waiting on the Project Athia release date, but Final Fantasy 16 is reportedly coming sooner than people think. 

Connor Sheridan
Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and was formerly a staff writer at GamesRadar.