Xbox gamers received some exciting news this week along with signs of more to come. At Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest 2023 in Las Vegas, it was announced that Final Fantasy XIV is officially coming to Xbox Series X|S in 2024! The announcement was made on stage by the trio of Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu, FFXIV Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida, and CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer. Kiryu also stated that “starting with today’s announcement and whenever possible, we are planning to bring our games to Xbox for players to enjoy.”
Final Fantasy XIV is an immensely popular and beloved MMORPG that’s been available on the PlayStation platform since the PS3 and on PC. Gamers have been asking for it to come to Xbox for a long time as it does serve as one of the mainline Final Fantasy games with a world and a story all its own. Part of what makes it brilliant is the ability for players to play through the entire storyline with NPC party members, using the game’s Duty Support system. The game will also feature 4K graphics and faster loading times on the Xbox Series X when it launches in Spring 2024 prior to the next expansion, “Dawntrail.” An open beta will release with patch 6.5x and progress will carry over to the full release so there’s no reason to wait on trying it out when it becomes available.
Just as exciting for Xbox gamers though was the comments from Kiryu that they want to bring more games to the Xbox. Final Fantasy XVI is a timed PS5 exclusive with no confirmation on an Xbox version coming out. Octopath Traveler 2 skipped the Xbox platform as well. With many of the classic Final Fantasy games now being available on the Xbox as well as games like the Kingdom Hearts series, the change in course to exclude the platform was surprising. Perhaps this is the first step in bringing those titles to Xbox and more future releases coming as well. Check out Final Fantasy XIV on Xbox Series X|S in Spring 2024 or even sooner in its open beta!
Image from: Square Enix
