Highlights
- Square Enix confirms plans to bring more games to Xbox, starting with Final Fantasy 14's release in Spring 2024.
- Square Enix's recent releases tend to stick to PlayStation, but the developer looks to reinforce its partnership with Xbox and bring games to the console whenever possible.
Square Enix confirmed its plans to continue to bring more of its new games to Xbox during Final Fantasy 14's Fan Fest celebration. The announcement came during a broadcast that would see several major reveals for the massively popular Final Fantasy MMORPG, including the game's newest expansion in Dawntrail and updates to the free trial. The festivities would also see producer Naoki Yoshida joined by Xbox boss Phil Spencer to announce an Xbox Series X/S console version of Final Fantasy 14. During the festivities, Square Enix would reveal its commitment to the Microsoft console.
While Square Enix has released many of its games on Xbox consoles, the iconic JRPG developer's newest releases tend to stick to PlayStation on launch. The recently released Final Fantasy 16 debuted as a timed PlayStation exclusive with a version on Windows set to launch sometime after the game's six-month exclusivity period. Several other recent games from the developer, including Harvestella and Tactics Ogre Reborn, would also debut on Switch with no Xbox versions planned. Now, Square Enix looks to be reinforcing its partnership with Xbox.
During the presentation at Final Fantasy 14's Fan Fest, Yoshida and Spencer would be joined on stage by Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu. Kiryu would confirm Square Enix's plans to continue to bring more of its games to Xbox consoles in the future, starting with Final Fantasy 14's release on Xbox in Spring 2024. The CEO would reveal that Square Enix intends to bring its games to Xbox whenever possible, suggesting the JRPG developer could potentially see more new games releasing on Microsoft consoles as well. Phil Spencer would later express his own excitement about the newfound partnership with Square Enix on Twitter.
Square Enix's Xbox announcement during the event comes as the developer has started to debut more games to the Microsoft console in recent years. The highly-anticipated launch of Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion late last year would see the game available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on launch. The upcoming Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai will also see a Day 1 release on Xbox Series consoles when the game debuts in September.
Square Enix's newfound collaboration with Xbox will look to further solidify the developer's position as one of the top JRPG developers in gaming. Square Enix would report earlier this week that Final Fantasy 16 has already sold 3 million copies within just over a month following its launch. Final Fantasy 14 also boasts extremely impressive numbers for the studio, reporting a playerbase of more than 24 million players in 2021. Final Fantasy 14's upcoming release on Xbox is sure to increase the game's player count, as well as bolster the newfound partnership between Square Enix and Xbox.