Is Final Fantasy 16 Coming To Xbox?
"Final Fantasy 16" finally makes its way to the PlayStation 5 on June 22, 2023, and early reactions to the latest installment have been largely positive. One of the most common responses to the demo provided to journalists is that it feels truly next-gen. But that begs the question of just how many other platforms will be receiving the game.
While Square Enix provided IGN with a hands-on preview of the new game, combat designer Ryoto Suzuki (of "Devil May Cry" fame) explained the ways in which "Final Fantasy 16" is 100% a game of its generation: "While you're battling Ifrit and Garuda and having that big battle [in the hands-on demo], in the background, the PS5 is loading the next scene." Suzuki later added, "If we didn't have the memory that the PlayStation 5 has, and also the transfer speed of the SSD that the PlayStation 5 has, we would still be in development right now."
Considering how important the PS5 has been to the game's overall development cycle, it makes sense that a PC port is still a ways off. But what about the PlayStation 5's direct competitor, the Xbox Series X|S line?
Final Fantasy 16 is apparently 'excluded' from Xbox consoles
Microsoft and Sony have continually sniped at each other since Microsoft announced its plans to merge with Activision Blizzard. In response to Sony's worries that this merger would give Microsoft an unfair monopoly on exclusives, Microsoft filed a statement in which the company argued that Sony essentially does the same thing with its own exclusives.
That's not all, though. Microsoft alleged: "In addition to having outright exclusive content, Sony has also entered into arrangements with third-party publishers which require the "exclusion" of Xbox from the set of platforms these publishers can distribute their games on." And yes, "Final Fantasy 16" was among the games Microsoft claimed were under such an agreement, as was the critically acclaimed "Final Fantasy 7 Remake."
Sony and Microsoft have continued to argue back and forth over these points, but the fact remains that fans probably won't be seeing "Final Fantasy 16" on an Xbox console anytime soon.