What you need to know
- Final Fantasy XVI's developers, Naoki Yoshida and Takeo Kujiraoka, were recently interviewed by Noisy Pixel at this year's Pax East gaming convention.
- During the interview, Naoki Yoshida mentioned the possibility of bringing Final Fantasy XVI to other gaming platforms once the PC version has been completed and released.
- Final Fantasy XVI is the latest, action-oriented mainline entry in Square Enix's world-renowned Final Fantasy series, released in 2023 for the PlayStation 5 with an upcoming PC port in development.
At PAX East 2024, game site Noisy Pixel interviewed two key developers of the latest entry in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XVI (via @HazzadorGamin). Those developers are Final Fantasy XVI's producer Naoki Yoshida (a.k.a. Yoshi-P), and its DLC director, Takeo Kujiraoka.
Whilst the developers were reflecting on the development of Final Fantasy XVI during the interview, Yoshi-P mentioned that his team was thinking about "porting the game to other platforms" once Final Fantasy XVI's PC port was completed.
Yoshi-P teases putting Final Fantasy XVI on other platforms #SquareEnix “It’s not over in the sense that we have the PC version. Once the PC version is released, we’re thinking about hopefully moving to other platforms as well.”https://t.co/M6EN6fKVpT pic.twitter.com/NHtiFZx3WEMarch 25, 2024
It’s not over in the sense that we have the PC version. Once the PC version is released, we’re thinking about hopefully moving to other platforms as well. However, that’s not really talking about the story; it’s more about moving it onto different platforms. So, there is a sense that while the project is still going, there is not that sense of being sad and having to leave them yet. But I’m pretty sure that once everything is released and we’ve moved on to the next project, that would be the time where it kind of hits us that, “Oh, it’s really it’s over?"
Yoshi-P, PAX East 2024
Judging from the wording of this quote, it is very easy to assume that Yoshi-P could be discussing the possibility of bringing Final Fantasy XVI to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. It's unlikely he'd be talking about the Nintendo Switch given the power delta, but the Nintendo Switch 2 is likely just around the corner, and could bring the kind of power needed to run a photorealistic game like FFXVI. Either way, in Noisy Pixel's interview, Yoshi-P didn't expand on this idea further and, likely, this plan hasn't been finalized so Xbox fans should take this quote with a grain of salt.
Is there still hope for Final Fantasy XVI on Xbox?
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Even since it first came out on June 22, 2023, for the PlayStation 5, Xbox fans have been dying for the chance to get their hands on Final Fantasy XVI to experience its over-the-top action gameplay, dramatic and dark story, and rich fantasy world.
Their hopes were ignited when last year, Square Enix announced that they would be bringing more of their games to Xbox systems but nothing concrete of a Final Fantasy XVI Xbox port has been announced since. It would certainly be possible at this point as Square Enix's popular MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV eventually came to Xbox after many years of requests.
However, whether or not Yoshi-P and his team will follow up on this rumination to make an Xbox port of Final Fantasy XVI a reality and stand alongside the Best Xbox JRPGs is a question that only time will answer.
