JRPGs have traditionally been a console gamer’s affair, though it is peculiar that it’s taken this long for JRPGs to reach ubiquity on the PC platform. Mainstays in the genre like Pokémon, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Shin Megami Tensei have usually stuck to Nintendo or PlayStation consoles throughout the years. It’s arguable what the reason was for their console exclusivity back then, but nowadays it’s either because of tradition or exclusive contracts. Modern examples would be Final Fantasy 7 Remake or Persona 5, though those may change in the future as both of those franchises have ported previous entries on the PC platform previously.
Ironically enough, PC has ended up becoming one of the best platforms to play JRPGs, especially in the last few years. Games like Dragon Quest 11, Final Fantasy 15, Nier Automata, they all pushed the PS4/Xbox One consoles to their limits in terms of content and graphical fidelity. Playing those games on PC is a vastly different experience, both on a visual level and technical level. Not only do most gaming PCs render games at much higher frame rates and better resolutions, but medium and high-tier gaming PCs typically feature longer draw distances and faster loading speeds. And yet, many still remain console-exclusive despite PC offering a more definitive experience.
Several JRPGs have seen new life and/or surprising success when they’ve been ported or re-released on PC. Final Fantasy 15 gained a slew of new players, alongside mod support and several technical enhancements. Same deal with Dragon Quest 11 S, which just released on PC via Steam and Game Pass for PC after its Nintendo Switch exclusivity. Persona 4 Golden, a JRPG thought to be forever constrained to the now-discontinued PlayStation Vita, was surprisingly ported to PC to great fanfare and sales success. In general, there’s been plenty of inadvertent aversion to the PC platform by the JRPG genre.
More than likely it’s because the consumer base on PC, specifically interested in JRPGs, was largely unproven. Not very many mainstream JRPG franchises ended up on PC prior to 2010, and to be fair, those that did weren’t exactly critical or commercial darlings. However, that perception changed largely because of backward compatibility and older JRPGs being ported to the platform and succeeding quite well. Not to mention PC gaming was becoming less and less of a niche gaming platform as well. Final Fantasy is a solid example of this: In 2013, classic games like Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, and more were eventually ported to Steam and sold quite well. That’s without even counting the Final Fantasy MMOs, which have seen much more success on PC because of the genre difference.
Final Fantasy also resembles two sides of the PC platform coin, made apparent by the recent entries’ PlayStation console exclusivity. Final Fantasy 7 Remake continues to be a PS4/PS5 exclusive game, and it was later clarified that Final Fantasy 16 would also be a timed-exclusive for PS5 when it releases. To be fair, since the original Final Fantasy 7 released, PlayStation has been the default exclusive platform for the franchise. Many assumed that Final Fantasy 15‘s release on PC would emphasize the series’ popularity on PC and ease the use of exclusivity, but that didn’t turn out to be the case.
Perhaps it’s just tradition or the development budget and resources can only provide for one platform release at a time, but it’s still a shame that the PC platform is still considered an afterthought for many mainstream JRPG franchises. Only now is SEGA and Atlus looking into bringing more legacy content on to the PC platform with Persona and Shin Megami Tensei, but that was only after testing the waters with Persona 4 Golden. However, with the Persona 5 Strikers spin-off releasing in the west day-and-date on PC alongside other platforms, there’s at least a sign that future Persona games will no longer be console exclusives.
In general, JRPG adoption of the PC platform has gotten much better, but it shouldn’t be just an afterthought for new games. All of these major JRPG franchises have sold thousands of units on PC, even when they initially released several years earlier on console. It’s clear there’s plenty of consumers on the PC platform at this point, willing to jump into critically acclaimed JRPG franchises. Understandably, if development resources and/or other pragmatic barriers are preventing these games from coming day-and-date to PC, then that makes sense. Most fans will be understanding if that’s the case. If console exclusivity deals are holding PC players back, then that’s a problem.
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