Square Enix’s MMORPG juggernaut Final Fantasy 14 is conspicuously missing from the Xbox One. Now, the game’s director has stated that the Xbox One version of the game will happen once Microsoft allows the team to implement cross-platform play.
Talking to Wccftech, director Naoki Yoshida stated that the developers are ready to bring Final Fantasy 14 to Xbox One, complete with cross-platform play. The PlayStation 4 and PC versions of the game feature it, after all, allowing players on both platforms to play with each other.
However, Yoshida mentioned that there are two regulations from Microsoft that prevent them from doing so with an MMORPG like Final Fantasy 14:
“One of the regulations is that players with different platforms cannot chat with each other in-game,” stated Yoshida. “Then how do you play an MMO? The other regulation is you cannot make a community with plays on a different platform. You can’t form a guild, you can’t enter into a link shell, [and] no free company.”
Of course, Microsoft has already allowed cross-platform play for a number of other games. Addressing this, Yoshida stated that if they had made Final Fantasy 14 a first-person shooter, they would have likely gotten cross-platform play. “Simply speaking, the matching base FPS style game has no issues with those 2 regulations. If we had made an FPS game, then we would already have crossplay,” he stated.
With this in mind, Yoshida is asking that Microsoft, and other platform holders as well, change their regulations to make them friendlier to MMORPG cross-platform play. “So I would like to have Microsoft change their regulations,” stated Yoshida. “And this is not limited to Microsoft but there are many players who only have crossplay experience with FPS games, especially with the business scene.”
Square Enix is releasing Final Fantasy 14‘s next big expansion, Shadowbringers, on PC and PlayStation 4 next week. GameRevolution recently talked to Yoshida about what this expansion brings, and what Square Enix has in planned for the future. Hopefull, Microsoft’s regulations will change, and Xbox One players can get in on those plans.
