"No obstacles" preventing Final Fantasy 14 from coming to Xbox - except development resources
Every few months, it looks like we're closer than ever to seeing Final Fantasy 14 on Xbox, but it never happens.
Final Fantasy 14 coming to Xbox platforms has been rumoured, hinted at and seemingly confirmed by Phil Spencer at one point. But fans keep waiting, and every major update, including the recently announced Endwalker expansion, comes and goes without any Xbox news.
This has been particularly bizarre to watch, because Square Enix has been making more and more of its Final Fantasy games available on Xbox and other platforms it traditionally skipped.
We recently had the opportunity to chat with director and longtime producer Naoki Yoshida about a wide range of topics, so we had to get an answer as to why Final Fantasy 14 just keeps skirting Xbox.
"There are no obstacles for developing the Xbox version," Yoshida confirmed, before delivering a bit of bad news.
"The sole factors are the workload and the order of steps. Now when it comes to the Xbox version, there’s unfortunately not much I can say presently but just that we cannot work on all the steps simultaneously and need to follow the order for proceeding with these things."
Yoshida also touched on the studio's relationship with Xbox boss Phil Spencer, and how the exec helped relax certain policies to allow the game to arrive on Xbox, something Yoshida is grateful for, even if these efforts have yet to lead to the game's release.
"We were able to undertake development and provide our service thanks to the immense efforts that Phil [Spencer] has invested. For that we are truly grateful," he added.
But there's hope yet that Square Enix may revisit the long requested Xbox release soon.
"Since we’re currently involved in the development of Endwalker and preparing the PS5 version to follow on from the title’s service on PS4, it’d be appreciated if we can return to touch upon the Xbox version once things have settled!"
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker comes to PC, PS4 and PS5 this fall.