Availability on PS5

[Voltaire Adams]

How is this trilogy not on PS5 or PS4? It's not even available through PS Now to be streamed?

I'm hoping they become available when the new PS Plus Premium comes out next month but seriously...does SE hate money?

 

[Verena]

its absolute rip of money. now sony wondering, why people change to xbox360 and pc, while doing such things as, not to offer the full bandwidth of classic games for ps4 and 5. not supporting people who have a ps3 at home

 

[Linnaete]

The only reason is likely down to the fact that due to the PS3's esoteric architecture, it is considerably difficult for any emulation software-based backwards compatibility to be able to run those games natively on modern PlayStation consoles. It can be done, as there are PS3 exclusives that later found remasters on PS4 and PS5, but for some reason neither Sony nor Square Enix seem keen to throw any time, money and resources into making the trilogy playable on modern PlayStation platforms.

Perhaps they simply feel the returns for it are not worth the effort and expenses? Maybe the very mixed and declining critical and commercial success of the trilogy with each subsequent game has left Square with the impression that there might not be sufficient demand for it right now? Who knows.

They really should though. I don't like FFXIII one bit, but I do like its sequel considerably, and I never got the chance to try out Lightning Returns yet. It's weird for the trilogy to be available on PC and via backwards compatibility on Xbox consoles, but totally absent on PlayStation.

The best bet might be as a stream-only PS3 classics offering as part of the new PS+ highest sub tier.

 

[Vivi-Gamer]

The Xbox Backwards Compat' version are wonderful! Not only did they up the resolution in-game but they also enhanced all the CGI cutscenes too! It's probably the best example of Xbox's dedication to BC. I'd be happy if they took them versions and just swapped all the button icons and text.

One of the reasons I bought an Xbox One X last year even after owning a PS5 is due to XB's BC, sadly they did announce at the 20th anniversary that the bundle they updated would be the last... which is a joke as to me and many others it is their biggest selling point! Th efgact that you can also use the original discs (Even if all they are is a key to download versions of the game from the store) is excellent! I own 350+ PS1/PS2 games and while it is great to see Sony make the games more accessible, I still have to keep them in storage with a lack of HD output to enjoy them!

If they released a PlayStation Remaster would I buy it? YES, despite it seeming cheeky when Xboxers can pick up a cheap copy of each game for under £5... Problem is if the PS3 version is released on their PS Now/Premium etc. it won't be enhanced, non of the PS3 games currently on PS now are enhanced meaning they're still mostly 720p... Which would make it considerably weak to the Xboxers 4K counterpart!

 

[Raspberry]

I'm honestly hoping they remake the series with better forms of accessing lore and make the dialogue more straight forward and less redundant.

 

[Amadeus]

One day. I'm holding onto hope.

 

[Puteng]

I hope so

 

[Dionysos]

I’d probably give it a go if they ever did do this. I've played FFXIII and FFXIII-2 and enjoyed them in their own way (although I do not rate them highly on my list of FF games). I have yet to play Lightning Returns with my own hands though, so I'd welcome a remaster or even a rerelease for PS5 for this reason if no other. So far I've only researched the game or watched aspects of playthroughs for my research/mythology manuals here and other projects.

Some of the lore of the FFXIII universe is very interesting. Not so much the execution of it at all times (clunky gameplay, restrictive gameplay, pacing, and other issues can get in the way), but the core concepts themselves are solid and perhaps even underrated.

 

[AuronX]

I'd guess it's probably down to the engine more than the PS3's architecture. An x86 port already exists on PC, and they'd probably use that as a base for PS4/5 instead of PS3.

Having modded the game on both systems, I can tell you there's some unique stuff in the PS3 version. Like, the cutscenes everyone frets about because of the awful ultra-compressed Xbox 360 versions. The PS3 cutscenes are not 1080p like people often say; they're 720p using a Sony proprietary format made JUST for the PS3 (based on MPEG). One way or another, they'd have to replace that library with something else, since Sony doesn't use it anymore. The Xbox version went with BINK instead, which was upgraded to BINKv2 on PC. Yes, contrary to what you might hear about the PC version, it does not use the Xbox 360 cutscenes and is in fact quite close in quality to the PS3 (and the back-compat version for Xbox One/Series). So, that decade-old debate can be finally settled.

But even with PS3-specific stuff replaced, the engine itself has numerous flaws. That's not such a problem if you're just shoving in a new PlayStation SDK to deliver a minimum viable port, but it seems likely SE would go for a remaster instead--across three games, each with their own technical and artistic quirks. (Oddly enough, Lightning Returns probably needs the largest remastering effort.) Add to that, they'd probably want to publish across PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and maybe Switch (or Switch 2).

In a way, this is all par for the course. It just wouldn't be a small undertaking to update such an old and strange engine for a basic level of upgrades (HD textures, models, etc--the engine is all 32-bit, so that'd have to change to use more RAM). The combined effort for the trilogy would be similar to producing a single new game. That's probably a tough sell internally, given we're not quite a decade out from Lightning Returns yet. I'd be surprised if it didn't happen within this console generation, though.