Since Final Fantasy XIV came out in 2010, and including the later re-launch as A Realm Reborn in 2013, the latest Final Fantasy MMO has been exclusive to two platforms: PC and PlayStation. The most recent version of the game first released on Windows PCs and PS3, and was later ported to PS4 in 2014. The MMO has been thriving on both PC and PS4 ever since, which has lead many Final Fantasy fans on other platforms to wonder why the game hasn’t released on their favorite systems. In particular, why hasn’t there been a Final Fantasy XIV Xbox One release up until this point?
It’s certainly not as if Final Fantasy is a brand that is exclusive to PlayStation systems, especially in recent years, and the previous series MMO Final Fantasy 11 actually released on Xbox 360, despite the technical limitations of consoles at the time. So will there be a release of Final Fantasy XIV on Xbox One? Is there any new information about a port of FFXIV to Microsoft’s system? Why hasn’t it happened yet? We’ll try to answer.
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Will there be a Final Fantasy XIV Xbox One release?
It’s been five years since the release of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn on PS4 (and several years longer since the game’s botched original release), and in all that time there’s seemingly been barely any movement towards putting the game on Xbox One. With the likes of DC Universe Online, which originally released at a similar time, launching on the less powerful Nintendo Switch, surely the choice to keep FFXIV off Xbox One is a deliberate business decision? Perhaps there is a console exclusivity deal between Square Enix and Sony with the MMO?
Apparently this is not the case, instead it’s just taking Square Enix and Microsoft a long time to sort out the details. At Gamescom this month, German website Spieletipps (via ResetEra) spoke with Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida and main story writer Banri Oda. While the website doesn’t give any direct quotes (which is probably for the best as it would’ve been translated twice), Yoshida apparently told them that Square Enix has been talking with other console manufacturers for a while now.
Specifically regarding an Xbox One version of the MMO, the website says that Square Enix had direct discussions about it at E3 earlier this year with Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s Xbox division. Spieletipps says that some details still have to be negotiated (see below for more details on that), but Yoshida is hopeful that he’ll be able to give good news to Xbox Final Fantasy fans soon.
When will Final Fantasy XIV Xbox One come out?
This is the biggest question, but as of yet there is no way to tell what the Final Fantasy XIV Xbox One release date will be. While it’s entirely possible that Square Enix has the MMO already up and running on Xbox One hardware and simply need the go-ahead from Microsoft, it’s just as likely that it’ll need to be built from scratch. If the publisher is only still talking with Microsoft about an Xbox One release, then Final Fantasy XIV Xbox One is surely at least a year away, minimum.
Why hasn’t Final Fantasy XIV released on Xbox One up until now?
Yoshida has spoken about an Xbox One before, at the E3 2019 where he spoke with Phil Spencer about the port. According to Yoshida, the main point of negotiation is that, currently, MMOs on Xbox One cannot be crossplay. “One of the regulations is that players with different platforms cannot chat with each other in-game,” said the director. “The other regulation is you cannot make a community with plays on a different platform.” Square Enix is hoping to change Microsoft’s rules about this issue to make things more like their shooter rules, as Fortnite is crossplay-compatible for example, which is probably what the aforementioned negotiations are about.
