Star Ocean 5 Producer Says Western Buyers Have Ditched PS3 Console Already

The producer for Star Ocean 5 said buyers in Western countries no longer play games on the PS3 anymore.

Destructoid recently interviewed Shuichi Kobayashi who is the producer for Star Ocean 5. In Japan, the game will be available for PS3 and PS4. For Western countries, it’s a PS4 exclusive.

Kobayashi gave a valid reason why Square Enix is choosing not to release Star Ocean 5 on the PS3 outside of Japan. He said the PS3 market has “diminished to nothing” in Western countries.

He said most Western countries (especially the USA), gamers have flocked from the PS3 to PS4 at a much faster rate. The PS3 still has a “large market” in Japan. This is why Star Ocean 5 will still be available on both consoles in Japan.

Square Enix is not wrong about the PS3’s declining popularity in Western countries. People started to flock to the PS4 back in 2014. Games like Watch Dogs and Destiny sold more copies on PS4 than the PS3.

Not to mention lots of new games are no longer available on PS3. Batman: Arkham Knight is not on PS3 while Warner Bros. even delayed Mortal Kombat X on PS3 too.

If you want to buy Star Ocean 5, you may have to get a PS4 to play it. Unless you understand Japanese so you can import the PS3 copy.