Final Fantasy developer Square Enix has revealed a new medium-term business plan that will “aggressively” push more of its games onto multiple platforms. Though the company has been slowly shifting towards this sort of strategy for the past decade or so, this is the first time it has suggested an end to console exclusivity – excellent news for Xbox fans hoping to get their mitts on PS5 exclusives.
Square’s new three-year strategy is being marketed internally as a “rebooting for long-term growth” – no, this doesn’t mean they’re actually going to be making more reboots or remakes, but I wouldn’t complain if they gave Final Fantasy 10 the FF7 Remake treatment. This means that, between this financial year and 2027, the maker of some of the best games out there is going to be getting very busy indeed.
What this also means is that, over the coming years Square will “aggressively pursue a multi-platform strategy that includes Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs.” Back in January, we reported on a rumor surrounding the exquisite Final Fantasy 16 – one of 2023’s best RPG games – coming to Xbox at some point. With June marking the first anniversary of its release, as well as the arrival of Summer Games Fest, I couldn’t think of a bolder way for Square to begin enacting its new strategy by announcing Clive and friends will head to Microsoft’s latest and greatest hardware.
While FF7 Rebirth – one of this year’s best open-world games – is undoubtedly still under some sort of timed exclusivity deal with Sony, I wouldn’t be surprised to see FF7 Remake also join the Xbox catalog at some point over the next year – I can already see the Remake/Rebirth double-pack going up on the Xbox store.
Square looking to shed its PS5 exclusives also plays into the broader industry trends we’ve been seeing as of late, with Xbox this year carting off four of its first-party titles to PlayStation. Though, historically, Square has always sold better on Sony’s console than on Microsoft’s, the market for the latter is nothing to sniff at. Even when FF13 launched in the US back in 2010 – an early example of Xbox dipping its toe in the JRPG market – it managed to sell decently well despite the 360’s lack of Blu-ray limiting its graphical fidelity compared to the PS3.
Square has launched first-party triple-A goliaths on Xbox more recently, too. In 2019, Kingdom Hearts 3 arrived on Xbox One – the first game in the iconic franchise to land on day one for Team Green. As such, though this may come across as a bold new direction for Square, to me it seems more like the next step in its gradual strategic evolution.
Ultimately, this shift in strategy is excellent news for Xbox players, and not worth worrying about for PlayStation enjoyers. Though, yes, this may diminish the PS5’s place as the one-stop shop for JRPG royalty, the litany of excellent first-party exclusives already on the platform, as well as Xbox’s seemingly increasing willingness to let its own Xbox exclusives go multi-platform, means it will still have plenty of leverage over its biggest competitor.
You can check out the full presentation slides here.
For more of the latest news on the best PS5 games and best Xbox games in the land of RPGs, read up on how Sega may full-send annual launches for its biggest hitters, including Like a Dragon and Persona. Before you go don’t forget to drop us a follow on Google News – there’ll be plenty more Square beats from us in the coming weeks as we ramp up to SGF.