Today, Square Enix announced that its successful MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, is on its way to Xbox consoles after years of being a PlayStation console exclusive. And to hear the CEO of Square Enix tell it, it sounds like Xbox has successfully ensured that even more Square Enix games will end up on its consoles in the coming years.
During the Final Fantasy Fan Fest 2023, Final Fantasy XIV game director Naoki Yoshida (Yoshi-P) welcomed Xbox head Phil Spencer onto the stage alongside Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu to celebrate the Xbox release announcement. While onstage, Kiryu made the following statement:
"And one more thing: as CEO of Square Enix, we want to continue to deliver fabulous games to fans across the world. And of course, we want to welcome the Xbox community as well. And starting with today's announcement of Final Fantasy XIV coming in spring 2024, and whenever possible, we are planning to bring our games to Xbox for players around the world to enjoy. We're really looking forward to working closely with Phil and the Xbox team to make this possible."
In response, Spencer said the following:
"Thank you Kiryu-san. we deeply respect the rich legacy of Square Enix, and we look forward to building on the relationship that we've established in bringing Final Fantasy XIV to the Xbox, and partnering closely with you and the Square Enix team on future games."
On its face, the idea that Square Enix wants its games on Xbox consoles might not seem that strange, but there's a lot of fascinating context surrounding this statement that makes it a bit extraordinary. Square Enix has long been the subject of exclusivity deals with both Xbox and PlayStation over the years that have pushed its games toward one console or another for the duration of their launch periods, or even permanently. Most recently, Final Fantasy XVI launched exclusive to PlayStation consoles, and there's been no word yet on an Xbox release.
The gravitation of Square Enix toward PlayStation has been a serious concern for Xbox, though, as we saw during the recent FTC v. Microsoft trial. One evidence document revealed that Xbox had seriously considered buying Square Enix in 2019, though we did not learn from that document why the deal never occurred. Square Enix also came up repeatedly during the trial, with Final Fantasy XVI used as an example of the kinds of games PlayStation was buying exclusivity rights to in a frustrating but acknowledged part of games market competition. From the trial, we learned how critical it has become to Xbox to stuff its library full of content, and to ensure it isn't missing out on major games like FFXVI.
In light of that, it's no surprise that Spencer has been courting Square Enix for franchises like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Nier, Just Cause, and many more. While neither Kiryu nor Spencer elaborated on specifics, their willingness to take the stage together today perhaps hints at a future with fewer PlayStation exclusivity deals for Square Enix content, and more Square Enix content on GamePass.
Today's Fan Fest keynote was a busy one. Aside from the Xbox announcement, we got updates on the new Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail expansion, a major graphics update for the game, a mysterious T-shirt tease, and a confirmation that no, Dawntrail does not include Blitzball (sorry).
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Comments
Post a Comment