The recently released PC port of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is “the worst AAA release… on PC in a good long time,” according to video game tech analysis site Digital Foundry.
Journalist Alex Battaglia of Digital Foundry initially tweeted his issues with the port on December 17, one day after the game’s PC release on the Epic Game Store.
He would later tweet that the game featured “incredible stutter” when the game is started in the ‘Default Mode’ and that “Every effect was displayed for the first and was accompanied by a long stutter”.
Another Digital Foundry journalist, John Linneman, corroborated the reports, stating that, “the smooth presentation was central to its storytelling and this version compromises it.”
A full video breaking down the issues is seemingly due from Digital Foundry later this week, but until then, Alex Battaglia, speaking on resertera, concluded his thoughts with: “I humbly submit that no one should buy it.”
The wrote: “This is literally the worst AAA release I have seen on PC in a good long time.”
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Final Fantasy 7’s PC launch has been marred with controversy, the largest of which seems to be Square Enix‘s decision to sell the game for $70/ £69.99, which puts it in line with the next-generation consoles, but is far higher than other PC titles released by the publisher.
Square Enix appears to be the first major publisher to bring $70 pricing to PC platforms.
The issue of next-gen prices is a divisive one, and publishers have yet to find a common ground. Last year, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan defended the company’s decision to price select first-party PS5 games at $70, such as Demon’s Souls and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Ultimate Edition.
And asked by The Telegraph if he considers $70/£70 to be a fair price for a video game, PlayStation boss Ryan said: “Yes, yes, I do. If you measure the hours of entertainment provided by a video game, such as Demon’s Souls compared to any other form of entertainment, I think that’s a very straightforward comparison to draw.”
Speaking to the Washington Post last year, Xbox head Phil Spencer was non-committal on the subject, stating: “As an industry, we can price things whatever we want to price them, and the customer will decide what the right price is for them.”
Other publishers have also decided to increase software prices for some of their next-gen games, including Take-Two with NBA 2K21 and Activision with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War.
