How the hell am I meant to know your level of knowledge of the game or how upto date with news you are...
Let's just start out with a general statement here. MOST people who are on a forum dedicated to FFVII, and talking about SE's history of game development know a good bit on what they're talking about when it comes to them making games. Don't make assumptions that everyone else
doesn't have at least the same level of knowledge when it comes to gaming news that you do.
Secondly, this all mostly seemed to spawn from you misunderstanding the key issues and motivators when it comes to software development and marketing of a multi-part series across a console generation, so let me line that out, because it's a BIG reason for the reason I made the thread in the first place.
EDIT: Since you posted a reply like 30 seconds before mine submitted. Please take a moment to read what Tres said, and cool off a bit yourself.
Early Next-Gen Development
Devs get a look at new console specs early on with dev kits, so that they can start designing games that'll take advantage of the updates that they'll have on that new generation. If there's nothing more that the console makes possible, there's very little reason to release a new console altogether (PS4 to PS4 Pro being one example of that). That means that they'll find ways to take advantage of that technology in order to achieve things in a game that they'd've had to cut back on before.
When it comes to a title that's currently IN development, that can significantly change what you do with it.
Shadow of Mordor on the PS3 vs the PS4 is a fine example of that. That game started development in 2011 and was released in September 2014 – almost a full
YEAR after the PS4 was officially released. The PS4 released in Nov 2013 (when Shadow of War was announced), while the PS4 was officially announced in Feb 2013. It's also worth noting that that game's PS3/Xbox versions were outsourced, so that the main company could focus on the Next Gen development.
So, when it comes to FFVII:R and the PS5, you're looking at all of those things, even if the PS4-PS5 development architecture is easier to build simultaneously. They'll have PLENTY of time looking at both consoles.
Roadmapping & Software meeting PR & Marketing
FFVII:R is planned as a multi-part series. Whether that involves save data sharing or not is a very minor consideration in the grand scheme of things. What that DOES mean is that you're looking to get software developers and programmers who can remain consistent through the entirety of the project. While each game is its own piece, they're also more closely interconnected than just regular sequels. That means that you have to look at a plan that goes from your release of FFVII:R Part 1, all the way through the release of the very last piece of DLC for the last FFVII:R Part. You need engineers that can develop for those specs start to finish, and also you'll need to maintain any active environment that require patches or updates. If you're going to commit to doing that on two console generations, you'll need to outsource or significantly expand your resources to achieve that.
Now, looking at FFXV and Luminous we know that SE's cutting back on FFXV's DLC and expansions that require extra work and a longer lifecycle for what is a MASSIVELY successful PS4 title. They're instead focusing in on a new AAA title for the PS5, which lead to Tabata resigning. Those decisions came from higher up in SE, which means that they're directives that they're making as a company at large, and not just ways they're specifically bullying Luminous into ditching content fans with money were interested in. PS4 fans with money invested in a development cycle for PS4-era title got pulled back, which means that they're looking at risk-to-cost ratios beyond just immediate payoff, and looking into long-term investments of what those commitments meant.
Speaking of fans with money, let's look at the other issue that leaves. If you start a multi-part series on one console, and a new console is announced (which you'd know of a few years in advance), you're left with a few options:
1) Stick to the old console.
– For a company known for long development cycles, that's JUST going to be digging your own grave.
– Easy development initially, but you install base is going to shrink with every year.
2) Release on both.
– You risk ending up with the final parts of that series either significantly degraded from their counterparts or impossible to make. Look at the differences that
Shadow of Mordor encountered, and make them exponentially bigger every year that passes.
– Wider install base, but you're likely to lose any money you gain from that with the split of doubled development costs.
3) Release on the new console.
– You learn more about the new console early, and get experienced devs that always release games that can be cutting edge for that generation
– If you're big enough draw to be a launch title, there's basically no monetary downside of committing to a new console... except
... what if you already announced the game for the previous generation?
At that point,
the contrast between The Last Guardian and Final Fantasy XV will clarify things. Building a game that feels like it was made for a generation might be successful in-spite of its gameplay issues, whereas building a game committed to the generation it was designed for will shine in-spite of its long development hell and periods of silence. SE knows how to deal with PR & Marketing when it comes to development hell. They might as well have written the book on it. At this point, the correct direction to take has been spelled out by FFXV in both how they need to commit EARLY to the Next Gen console. It's also why, despite its success, why they're pulling resources off of FFXV now because they're pulling dev efforts off of the PS4.
If the Roadmap for FFVII:R being
completely finished is more than 1-2 years
AFTER when the PS5 releases – they're better off just fully committing to the PS5. Additionally, if the PS5 is set to release within a year of the very first part of FFVII:R – there's basically no question that they should stop PS4 development and shift gears as quickly as possible. If you're doing that as a company, you're going to see a big effort to stop development on any PS4 projects that don't offer a
massive return on investment. So, we're seeing that KH III is still releasing, but FFXV's additional content is being cut back. It's because the more time you have all your devs focusing on building PS5 games, the more experience they'll have and the better off you are for that investment from an internal-talent pool perspective alone.
New Console & Game Releases In General
So, yes. TECHNICALLY Sony releasing the PS5 wouldn't impact SE or any other company's ability to show off gameplay or updates – if they were still making a PS4 game. However, Sony's schedule for releasing the PS5 will absolutely shift how
ANY company will shift their project priorities based on where their projected game release window intersects with Sony's PS5 release window.
• Releases close to PS5:
If a game has a single release window is
CLOSE to the PS5 release date, releasing something that will be available on PS4 and PS5 is advantageous by being potentially the best of the last generation and the first of the next generation, and you can show off all your development for the PS4 version up until the PS5 release and then show off both versions. This is a delicate balance, because if the versions are too different, you're likely not going to make up the development costs of the old gen with divided sales.
• Releases up to a year or more after PS5:
If you've got a release window (on in SE's case, multiple release windows) that're any significant length of time after the PS5 release date, you're ALWAYS going to be better off scrapping PS4 development outright – meaning that you can't show off PS5-only development work. Your reveals and announcements are locked behind the barrier of when Sony announces the new console.
Circumstantially, everything that SE's doing as a company, and everything that we've been able to tell about Sony's plans for a PS5 matches what SE have and haven't been doing when it comes to FFVII:R and its updates – hence the thread.
tl;dr
The issues aren't that there's a technological difficulty of a game spanning two console generations. While there are difficulties they'd face with marketing, audience, and the unit install base, those things are nothing compared to looking at the cost of software development cycles, and what you'd lose by keeping a bunch of engineers developing on a last gen console, rather than moving everyone on to a current-gen console, especially when it comes to maintaining and building larger teams for other projects, not to mention at an individual level, ensuring that your employees are getting skills that make them more marketable and valuable, which will keep them working for you, rather than going elsewhere. On almost all fronts, this is more of a business conversation than a technical one.
X