It's been a few months now since Square Enix announced plans to "partner closely" with Xbox in the future, but we haven't really heard much about these plans aside from next year's arrivals of Final Fantasy 14 and Octopath Traveler 2.
Speaking on the Xbox Two podcast this week, Windows Central's Jez Corden revealed that he's been hearing some "positive things" about the partnership lately that have left him much more optimistic about what's to come:
"I was [initially] thinking, it's just going to be games like Octopath [Traveler 2], it's going to be Pixel Remaster maybe and Final Fantasy 14 - I don't think it's going to be any of the heavy hitters like Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Rebirth, Final Fantasy 16..."
"But I've heard that it actually could be just full blown everything. So, I'm hearing positive things about that, so stay tuned. It's just going to take time because those games haven't been in development, but now maybe they will be."
In a follow-up on Twitter, Corden explained why he's suddenly become more optimistic about the partnership:
Obviously Xbox fans have been waiting years for the new Final Fantasy games to finally make their way to the platform, and it sounds a real possibility that we could be playing them in the not-too-distant future. We're also hoping there will be far fewer PlayStation timed exclusives to come out of Square Enix in years to come.
For now, it's nice to know we've got Final Fantasy 14 and Octopath Traveler 2 on the way in 2024, and surely Square Enix will have a few more games to bring to Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S at some point next year.
Do you think we'll see the new Final Fantasy games on Xbox? How about Game Pass? Let us know your thoughts below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 28
Instead of acquiring studios I would roll into these companies and cut them a fat check to simply have their catalog on Gamepass
@ZuneTattooGuy But that is extremely pricey to the point it just vastly cheaper to just buy outright buy the company.
Final Fantasy 1-6 Pixel Remasters on Game Pass please.
You are absolutely right, @AverageGamer. The problem Xbox has, @ZuneTattooGuy, is that the current split for Xbox versus PlayStation is roughly 30/70. That means that for Microsoft to put something on the Xbox as an exclusive, or even Game Pass, they have to compensate the Developer for the other 70% that they do not get to sell to due to it not being on the PlayStation. Even for a game that is already on the PlayStation, such as FF7, Square Enix would still expect to lose some sales were it to appear on the Game Pass, and would expect a level of compensation as a consequence. It's far more cost effective to buy the company and then do as you please with the games, including having them as fully exclusive...
I thought Sony was going to buy these guys?
@ZuneTattooGuy If you look at Xbox's leaked internal emails it's clear they don't like that approach.
A studio acquisition is an asset.
It's something that gives back for the long run.
A big game on Gamepass, while great for us and Gamepass in the short term, is money thrown down the drain to sustain something just for a little while longer.
To be honest if you are a hardcore Final Fantasy fan you probably have a PS4/5 or a PC/Steam Deck etc. FF16 is currently the only true PS5 exclusive !! (or will be until 2024, Spiderman 2 will take its place)
I really hope this is true.
As a massive JRPG and Final Fantasy fan, this would be a dream come true.
I also wish they’d release some other PlayStation/Nintendo JRPGs from Square Enix like the Secret of Mana series on Xbox.
I hope so. My wife has a ps5 but I would love these to be on my xbox. And maybe SE will actually release Pixel Remaster on disc at a reasonable price or actually be sold in shops like any other game.
I do hope that this rekindled relationship between Microsoft and Square Enix leads to some release parity - at least for those games that aren't [timed] exclusive to other platforms - kind of a shame to continue to see Xbox getting skipped.
Sonys money not cutting it anymore? SE are not in a great position, they’re struggling. Maybe they’ve realised cutting themselves off from other markets and taking money isn’t the most profitable anymore. I think they’re kind of being forced to open up due to their poor performance.
Nah.... I won't expect anything from Square. As long as Sony is there they will do everything they can to stop japanese developers from coming to Xbox. But they should reconsider this though.
BeerIsAwesome wrote:
I'm not convinced by that. The length of game development is getting longer and longer and Sony's first parties can only make so many games. With Microsoft now owning more studios than PlayStation - and ABK alone has around the same number of devs as all PS Studios - Sony will need to increase their output else they will get left behind in years to come.
This was always one of the concerns with these massive mergers, that it will just lead to more and more tit-for-tat buying until huge swathes of the industry are exclusive.
@Belkan
It’s not that simple anymore. Square is not doing well and when you aren’t doing well in business, you make changes. Square continuing to make games as exclusives for Sony when they wind up underperforming just doesn’t make sense so at least for me, this rumor isn’t shocking at all. It’s just pure common sense in my book and was inevitable at this rate.
Square effectively cut themselves off from a decent sized portion of the market and it’s becoming clear that they need to switch things up if they want to see levels of success that they want to see.
They may have wanted to save FF7R, FF16 and others for a Nintendo Direct event, and then have a simultaneous release on Xbox - rather than announce everything at the Xbox Tokyo Game Show.
@AlwaysPlaying Announcing a major acquisition focused on exclusivity while fighting a major acquisition by a competitor likely wouldn't go down well with regulators and Jim Ryan did say nothing is more important than CoD. So if Sony were to announce a Square Enix acquisition, it would be after the Activision acquisition had either gone through or been blocked to the point that Microsoft walks away.
Hopefully they stay independent, their Switch support has been amazing so far and there's so much potential for Switch 2 to fill in gaps like FFVII Remake trilogy, FFXVI, native versions of KH, etc.
Basically SE is the only thing that made me get a PS5. Take them out the equation and Playstation really doesn’t interest me much unfortunately. Insomniac is the only other reason but not sure they are enough by themselves.
Hopefully Xbox can get all the SE goodies!
@Moonglow I was talking about Square struggling and maybe realising Sonys money isn’t the best option for them anymore financially.
PlayStations business model is a whole different discussion but I think they’re learning the hard way that top end multimillion $ games isn’t sustainable in the long term.
@RIghteousNixon at least square knows, Sony alone isn't enough for them. Sony exclusive looks to be back firing now. This is a massive blow to them. This isn't the PS4 era now, where Sony was too carried away and get cocky over the success of ps4.
@Belkan
Yeah, even for some of Sony’s big 1st party exclusives, you are seeing relatively low sales when compared to their overall installed base. People can run around spouting Sony’s impressive hardware sales figures all day long, but the money is made through selling games and services, not hardware.
Square sees the writing on the wall. They need to sell to the entire market and cease walling themselves off into a corner of the console market by focusing mostly on Sony.
Any rumor about Ms and falcom?
I have really fond memories of square from the ff 7-9 days but the truth is I haven’t really like a final fantasy since 9. Including 16 (and especially, especially 13)
Sony acquiring SE would hurt Nintendo a lot more than it would do Xbox.
I just want to see release date parity going forward, especially with games that are revealed for other than PS
Square Enix announced a new title Little Goody Two Shoes for the end of October yesterday also for Xbox.
BeerIsAwesome wrote:
They may well have made them an offer, or more than one, but the reality is not everyone wants to be bought, many are proudly independent. And as good as a deal may SEEM at the time - far fewer financial worries - we've seen time and time again key studio members leave or studios fail and close after an acquisition. Sometimes the status quo is enough. On the flip side there was a rumour of a souring relationship with Xbox with missed goals and some bad blood. You have to want to work together.
Re: Sony's future buys. I understand your logic, and I agree mobile is likely an area PlayStation might target with acquisitions - I think they have PC covered for now, as it's a secondary, or even tertiary platform for them after mobile. But the reality is their primary platform's dominance, PlayStation, is now under threat. Not immediately but in the next future once Zenimax + ABK start to ramp up and join Game Pass. Xbox has talked about getting a game out every quarter, although initially that was BEFORE the ABK deal, it will in time likely be more. Sony can't even come close to matching that, they need to respond or get left behind in terms of volume. These deals aren't for today, they are covering off the future.
Just tell me where/when/how to preorder 🤙
@BeerIsAwesome yes games ARE too long nowadays. I miss the games I could play for a weekend or two and move on. I imagine something like Portal, which you could play in one sitting, wouldn’t even be greenlit nowadays by major publishers, only indies. (Though that is a unique case perhaps, it’s Valve who operate differently, and it was bundled into The Orange Box not, initially, sold separately).
But somewhere during the last gen of consoles people started valuing length and dismissing shorter games. I remember The Order 1886 getting ridiculed for its short length just before release. When I played it I didn’t actually have a major problem with its length, but I did have a problem with it’s lack of good gameplay. (That said I really liked the story part of it and wanted a sequel)
That’s perhaps an extreme example 7-10 hours is shorter than most for a full priced AAA game, but around 10-20 is likely a better balance. Now it seems 25+ is the norm and often more.
But I understand we are all different. I’m middle aged and, within reason, my time is more important to me than money. For some, and when I was younger, it’s the opposite. The reality is some WANT a longer game.
That is where optional side quests can be useful. Best of both worlds in many ways, a shorter main game for those that want to mainline the story A->B, and optional side stuff for those that want more. In theory anyway…
But the reality is the main games are getting longer regardless and, for anyone like me that likes to feel they’ve seen it all, this strategy doesn't help it only makes a game even longer. I fell off Ghost of Tsushima for exactly this reason, around the tenth copy and paste fox shrine, and haven’t been back since.
@BeerIsAwesome Haha. No worries dude, responses are always optional, no stress.
I never even got round to Odyssey and Valhalla. After playing EVERY SINGLE AC before that and even enjoying Origins I was just burned out and the idea of an even longer game (Origins was good but FAR too long) held no interest for me, maybe one day.
Enjoy Sonic. Great game.
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