Thanks to the radio silence that Luminous Productions has adopted over recent months, the news the studio broke a couple of weeks ago won’t have come as much of a surprise to its followers. Having consulted with its owner Square Enix, the studio has taken the tough decision to push back the release of Forspoken. While the promising fantasy-themed IP was once aiming for an October release, PC and PS5 owners will now have to be patient a little longer until early January 2023.

Even though the delay of a big budget game like Forspoken in a Covid-impacted world won’t have shocked many onlookers, Luminous Productions’ project is surprising in a number of other ways. Aside from its ambitious features and status as a brand-new IP, how the game has come together behind the scenes is just as intriguing. The deal that’s been struck between Square Enix and Sony is of particular note, as it’s unique from most of the platform holder’s timed-exclusive deals.

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Sony’s Forspoken Deal

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Considering how Forspoken was unveiled alongside the PS5 back in June 2020, it’s been clear for some time just how much Sony values the brand-new IP. Even before Square Enix and Luminous Productions were ready to unveil the game’s final name, Project Athia was a key part of Sony's attempts to get its latest console off and running from a publicity perspective. While it’s easy to hope that Forspoken’s potential and quality have influenced this process, the terms of the deal that it’s struck behind the scenes are likely a big driving factor as well.

After Luminous Productions had finished showing off Forspoken at last year’s Game Awards, one of the key aspects of Square Enix and Sony’s deal that reinforces this assertion was made public knowledge. One piece of marketing material for the game has seemingly revealed in its small print that it's set to be a PS5 console exclusive, for at least two years. Even though Sony has developed a slight reputation for messing up its adverts of late, as demonstrated recently by God of War: Ragnarok, evidence suggests that the fine print is accurate on this occasion.

That means Nintendo and Xbox only players will likely have a long wait on their hands before they can even think about playing Forspoken. As it stands right now, the fantasy-themed adventure will be locked to the PS5 until at least 2025 at the very earliest. Even though the game was set to release initially in May 2022, the timed console exclusivity period that Sony has paid for won’t start counting down until Forspoken hits store shelves across the globe.

Sony’s Typical Deals

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Even though Sony has been known to purchase marketing rights and windows of exclusivity, ever since the early PS1-era, Forspoken is something of a unique case study. In recent years and console generations especially, one year deals have become the platform holder's preferred purchase when it comes to third-party content. Players only have to look at the deals it agreed with Bethesda before its acquisition by Microsoft, for examples of this in action. For example, both Deathloop and Ghostwire: Tokyo won’t release on Xbox until 12 months after their PS5 debuts because Bethesda’s new owner has decided to honor Sony’s contract.

It should be noted that Sony has historically made exceptions to its one-year deal preference, though. When the publisher has bought into the marketing rights or exclusivity of a franchise, a much longer-term focus has been applied instead. Perhaps the biggest example of this is Sony’s deal with Activision for exclusive Call of Duty content. The partnership which was announced all the way back in 2015, is allegedly set to continue until 2026. The agreement that Sony has struck with Square Enix for the timed-console exclusive rights for the Final Fantasy 7 remakes also appears to extend beyond the typical one-year plan.

Forspoken’s Uniqueness

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What’s striking about these deals, and what sets Forspoken apart from them, is the fact that Sony has bought into a larger franchise in both examples. Luminous Productions' IP, while ambitious and full of promise, is still just one game at this point. Forspoken even stands apart from the platform holder’s other single-game deals with Square Enix, though, as titles like Final Fantasy 16 are reportedly free to release on Xbox just one year after their PS5 debut.

Forspoken sits completely alone on Sony’s timed-exclusivity scale. Unlike the other one-game third-party contracts that have come to light publicly, the platform holder has placed a greater emphasis on locking it down for longer. This could suggest that Sony has paid a higher amount of money to help Square Enix market and fund the game’s development behind the scenes. This would place it in parallel with some of its indie game initiatives that have helped to foster the creation of recent hits like Kena: Bridge of Spirits and Stray, both of which were announced in close proximity to Forspoken.

Forspoken is scheduled to release on January 24, 2023 fpr PC and PS5.

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