Final Fantasy 14 director hints at Xbox reveal ‘very soon’

Never say never (Pic: Square Enix)

While he can’t announce it yet, Naoki Yoshida seems confident that Final Fantasy 14 will release on Xbox at some point.

Considering how huge Final Fantasy 14 is, easily becoming one of Square Enix’s most popular and lucrative games, it’s kind of shocking that it has yet to release for the Xbox platforms.

Director Naoki Yoshida (also known as Yoshi-P) has been frequently asked about a potential Xbox release, and while he can’t outright confirm it, he doesn’t want to rule it out either.

During an interview with Easy Allies, when the topic was brought up, he assures fans that discussions with Microsoft are still ongoing and that he hopes to give a more concrete update soon.

‘I feel bad for saying the same thing every time, but we are still in discussions with Microsoft, and I feel like our conversations are going in a positive-like tone. I don’t want to say that we do not have an Xbox version, but I’m hoping that the timing will be very soon that I’ll have some kind of update to the players.

‘I’m sure there’s a lot of things that people want to ask about on this subject, and there’s a lot of things that I would love to share, but I’m afraid I’m unable to divulge on those details. So, when the time comes, I’m sure the time will come, so if you could kindly stand by, that’d be great.’

From the sound of it, Yoshida is doing what we can to get an Xbox version off the ground. While Final Fantasy has always been more associated with PlayStation and Nintendo over the years, it’s not like the series has no place on Xbox.

In an interview with VG247 earlier this year, Yoshida even make it clear that there were no obstacles preventing Final Fantasy 14 from releasing on Xbox. If anything, what appears to be stopping it is simply a lack of time.

‘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.

‘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!’

After releasing for PC and PlayStation 3 in 2013, the game made the jump to PlayStation 4 in April 2014 (only five months after the console launched) and then the PlayStation 5 this past May.

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The upcoming Endwalker expansion releases on November 23 and it will conclude the ongoing story arc that began back when Final Fantasy 14 was re-released as A Realm Reborn in 2013.

This obviously doesn’t mean the game will cease receiving support. But perhaps, if there’s a significant break between Endwalker and the beginning of the next story arc, the development team can find the time to port the game to Xbox.

It would make a lot of sense since having a fresh storyline will help make the game more accessible to all the newbie Xbox players, rather than having them jump in during the final chapter of a story that’s been running for eight years.

Final Fantasy 14 is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.

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