'Final Fantasy VII Remake' won't be ported to the PlayStation 5 library and instead will remain a PlayStation 4 exclusive title according to Square Enix. The company revealed the reason behind its decision is because the next-gen console will be backward compatible.

Backward compatibility all the way

Square Enix revealed the decision to its investors during a Q&A session. The decision will also apply to other Video Games from the company moving forward to ensure cross-generation play between the PS4 and PS5. Therefore, the company will be developing cross-generation titles, yet publishing them current-gen hardware for quite some time.

"The next-generation consoles will have backward compatibility, so we plan for the time being to make our new titles available for both current and next-generation consoles. It will, therefore, be somewhat farther down the road that we release titles exclusively for the next-generation consoles."

The PS4 remains relevant

Square Enix's plan is anything but precarious. In fact, it's one that makes a whole lot of sense given the benefits of backward compatibility, a feature that was in high demand since it was dropped from the PlayStation 3. The game maker can conserve its resources when developing their video games to function across hardware generations. Instead, developers can roll out updates to their current PS4 titles so they will function on the PS5 and take advantage of its graphical enhancements.

There's also the 100 million player base that the PS4 has amassed over its life cycle to consider. It would be detrimental to Square Enix to leave that massive market behind to focus on making video games, another that isn't even here yet.

Ultimately, Square Enix's decision in response to next-gen hardware is nothing short of brilliant.

It's a little disappointing that Square Enix won't be developing exclusives for the PS5 hardware anytime soon.

The point is the company doesn't have to forego a great deal of time, and money into porting titles, especially 'Final Fantasy VII Remake' to the PS5 could guarantee better earnings in the long run.

The company can instead ride out the PS4 market--continuously catering to 100 million players and more--while ensnaring even more from the PS5 in the near future. And Square Enix will undoubtedly be joined by other game companies in this decision going forward.

'Final Fantasy VII Remake' will be released for the PlayStation 4 on April 10, 2020. Originally, the title was planned to be released last year but was delayed to March this year only to be delayed again. Hopefully, there will be no more hitches in development.