“We do want to release it on Xbox,” Square Enix confirms goal to bring ‘Final Fantasy 16’ to Xbox
Final Fantasy 16 could be heading across to team green.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
What you need to know
A short while ago, I shared on myXB2 Podcastthat I’d heard Square Enix was looking to bring its entire slate of Final Fantasy games to Xbox, including Final Fantasy 16. Now, we have some confirmation that that is indeed the plan.
Speaking in a newinterview(viaHazzadorGamin), Square Enix legend Naoki Yoshida (often known affectionately by fans as Yoshi-P), confirmed that Final Fantasy 16 is slated for Xbox, although stopped short of offering a timeframe.
Final Fantasy 16took the franchise into more of an action hack n' slash direction, riffing on games like Devil May Cry. While some fans lamented the lack of tactical combat prevalent in previous games, the game’s spectacular combat visuals won over many new and returning fans regardless. However, the game was up until recently, fully exclusive to PlayStation 5. Final Fantasy 16 has since launched on Steam for PC, however, and managed to hit 27,000~ concurrent players at peak. Although you’d have to wonder how much more it might’ve done if it had launched simultaneously with its PlayStation version, taking advantage of the marketing cycle from its initial launch.
RELATED:Will Final Fantasy 16 come to Xbox?
Indeed, Square Enix has commented repeatedly about its recent Final Fantasy games, saying that they’ve “missed targets” (viaIGN). To that end, Square Enix has begun adopting more of a multi-platform approach, with games likeFinal Fantasy Pixel Remaster launching on Xbox, as well as theWorld of WarcraftMMORPG competitorFinal Fantasy 14.“Now we are moving towards the policy of releasing our games on a multiplatform basis, and we really want as many players as possible to play our titles,“Naoki Yoshida previously said.
In the new interview, Naoki Yoshida emphasized that Square Enix is planning to bring flagship titles like Final Fantasy 16 to Xbox as well, although it seems more like an aspirational plan right now, given the firm’s growing pains as it moves towards multi-platform game development.
“Of course we did announce the PC version of the game, so looking towards the Xbox version, we do want to release it on Xbox,“Yoshida said.“But when it comes to the specifics such as when the game would be available and such, we are not in a position to be able to share anything. But of course, I want to say that it’s not as if there’s zero hope, and we very much do want to achieve that. So players should not give up in terms of their hopes.”
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
I’ve heard via trusted sources that Microsoft is working heavily with Square Enix to make games like Final Fantasy 16 and evenFinal Fantasy 7 Remakeon Xbox a reality. Microsoft has made a prolific effort to repair its relationships with Japanese and Asia-region developers in recent years, with alarge Xbox outreach presence at the Tokyo Game Showto meet publishers and teams of all shapes and sizes.
Microsoft worked hard to bring games likeGenshin Impact, Yakuza, andPersonato Xbox, finally, and developers like Koei Tecmo and Square Enix have also begun to support the platform a little more in recent months too.
🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃
Square Enix’s support of Xbox is very welcome
-Best Xbox headsets to get in 2024-Best upcoming Xbox games-Best gaming laptops in 2024-Best Xbox controller deals-Best Xbox hard drives-Best Xbox SSDs
Elsewhere in the interview, Yoshida mentions fan’s requests to remake Final Fantasy 9, heralded by many as one of the franchise’s brightest spots. He laments that the size of the game would mean the remake would have to make up several parts, and thus be incredibly costly and risky. Final Fantasy 7, for example, has been an incredibly huge and unwieldy project for Square Enix, with the firm claiming both FF7 Remake and Rebirth missed their sales projections.
I wrote on Twitterearlier todaythat I’d love to see Square Enix revive classics like Parasite Eve with a Capcom-like flair, but not every game needs to have a massive AAA budget remake in order to be good. Would the PlayStation 1 version of Final Fantasy 9 benefit from a multi-part Unreal Engine 5 AAA extravaganza? Or could it still thrill new audiences in similar fashion to the modern Persona games, with text-based dialogue and more simplistic, albeit stylish visuals?
It has been interesting watching Final Fantasy evolve as a long time fan. I wasn’t initially enamoured with the switch to hack n' slash gameplay, but I felt it worked quite well inFinal Fantasy 7 Remake when I did my review, striking a good balance between the old and the new. Wider audiences didn’t seem too interested, though, judging by Square’s comments on sales. Younger cohorts seem more interested in the heavily anime-styled JRPGs in recent years, such as Genshin Impact. Persona 5 Royal almostdoubledFinal Fantasy 16’s maximum player count on Steam, althoughFinal Fantasy 16’s lofty PC requirementsdon’t exactly open it up to a broad audience.
Hopefully, bringing Final Fantasy to Xbox helps Square Enix recoup some of its costs there, while it searches for what the future of Final Fantasy looks like. I suspect Final Fantasy’s future success may hinge on making its visual requirements less intensive to target a broader subset of PC users, while also simultaneously launching across all platforms.
Final Fantasy XVI |was $49.99now $38.99 at CDKeys (PC, Steam)
Final Fantasy XVI was one of the best games release in 2023, and its PC launch has seen it enjoy similar accolades. Play as Clive, in this epic saga to save the land of Valisthea.
Jez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow onTwitter (X)andThreads, and listen to hisXB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!
