A developing trend for years now is Square Enix’s allegiance to releasing its titles virtually exclusive to PlayStation. We’ve witnessed this with the ongoing Final Fantasy VII remake trilogy still underway. However, the firm has show a new side of itself as it has pledged to ship more of its titles on competing Xbox hardware as of this past year. This commitment has already been illustrated with Visions of Mana, Octopath Traveler II, and even Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster most recently.
Another prime example of this new effort by Square Enix is Final Fantasy XIV Online. The game shipped for Xbox and more is already promised. In a previous statement by producer Naoki Yoshida, the publisher is eager to deepen this reputation with Microsoft. Additionally, Hiroshi Takai, Final Fantasy XVI director, also hinted at more platform which many suspects him alluding to Xbox as well in the future.
According to an interview with 4Gamer in November, Yoshida spoke with the outlet revealing the Square Enix is preparing to do away with its platform exclusive model altogether. “Square Enix titles will be released simultaneously on each platform more and more,” he told as per translation via Eurogamer.
“Of course, we want you to play it a lot on other platforms as well. This time, we will also release the Xbox Series X|S version at the same time,” Yoshida speaking about Fantasian Neo Dimension remarked. “In the future, Square Enix titles will be released simultaneously on each platform more and more, but since this is close to the first release, we would like Xbox users to play it as well.”
The most obvious reason for this new change in direction is the commerce behind the decision. While Square Enix is a major platform, turnout in capital has been missing quarterly margins as of late. In a previous report, Square Enix was understood to have lost ¥22.1 billion. This then segued to new stories suggesting that multiplatform is on the rise for the firm. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you surprised by this new initiative that Square Enix is pursuing?
