Summary
TheFinal Fantasyfranchise hasn’t exactly had a major presence on the Xbox platform lately. Since 2020, Square Enix has only released three games in its flagship JRPG series on Microsoft’s consoles:Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin,Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, and most recently,Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn. Sadly, the majority ofFinal Fantasyinstallments in the last four years have skipped Xbox entirely.FF7 Remake,FF7 Rebirth, andFF16, for instance, were launched as PlayStation exclusives. Meanwhile, smaller titles likeFinal Fantasy Crystal Chronicles RemasteredandTheatrhythm Final Bar Linewere released solely on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch in terms of consoles, omitting Xbox and PC ports entirely.
Despite Square Enix’s historical tendency to skip the platform, the future ofFinal Fantasyon Xbox seems fairly bright. Xbox players may still have to wait a year or two to playFF7 RemakeandRebirthon their preferred platform, but at the very least, the chances ofFinal Fantasy 16coming to Xbox Series X/S are higher than ever before. Numerous credible insiders, such as Shpeshal_Nick and NateTheHate, have alleged thataFF16Xbox port is already in development. These claims were further corroborated byFinal Fantasy 16game director Hiroshi Takai, who said in a recent interview that he’d personally like to see the acclaimed action RPG make its way to Xbox. If these rumors are true and Square Enix does decide to bringFF16to Microsoft’s consoles in the near future, then the company should port some other mainlineFinal Fantasygames to Xbox as well, namely theFF Pixel Remasters.
The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters Should Come to Xbox Consoles
The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters are the ‘Ultimate 2D Remasters’ of Classic FF Games
During its online presentation for E3 2021, Square Enix announced that it was working on a collection ofFFre-releases dubbed theFinal Fantasy Pixel Remasterseries. These “ultimate 2D remasters,” as the publisher called them, were essentially spruced-up ports of the first six mainlineFinal Fantasygames recreated from the ground up for mobile phones and PCs. Although they obviously weren’t full-on remakes,thePixel Remastersstill featured noticeable improvementsover the NES and SNES-era games they were based on. The games not only had improved HD graphics and rearranged soundtracks, but they also included modernized controls, improved UIs, and other quality-of-life features.
TheFinal FantasyPixel Remasterswere released on Android, iOS, Fire OS, and Windows PC throughout 2021 and 2022, but all six oftheseFinal Fantasyre-releases eventually made their way to consoles in 2023. However, there was a catch: the games only landed on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. Unfortunately for Xbox fans, Square Enix did not release an Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S version of thePixel Remasters, and they’re sadly still nowhere in sight.
Final Fantasy 1 Through 6 Are Playable on Nearly Every Modern Platform Except Xbox
Square Enix’s decision to omit Xbox consoles with the release of thePixel Remastersseems really strange, considering most of theseclassicFFtitleshave been ported to virtually everything under the sun.Final Fantasy 1, for example, is playable on Windows Phone, WonderSwan Color, Java ME, MSX2, and even i-Mode, of all things, but not Xbox One or Xbox Series X/S. One would think that Square Enix would’ve released thePixel Remasterson Microsoft’s consoles by now, especially given how they could practically run on a toaster, but that isn’t the case. Instead, they’re playable on nearly all modern platforms, including Kindle tablets, except Xbox.
Square Enix’s New Multiplatform Strategy Could Make Way for FF Pixel Remasters on Xbox
While there haven’t been any recent leaks and rumors from reputable insiders claiming that theFF Pixel Remasterswill come to Xbox, there is still hope. Earlier this year,Square Enix announced its plans to transition into a full multiplatform publisherand ditch its exclusivity strategies in the process. In July 2023, meanwhile, the company also expressed its intent to support the Xbox platform whenever possible going forward. Hopefully, Square’s newfound support for Microsoft’s consoles will apply not only to its upcoming titles, but its back catalog of games as well, including theFinal FantasyPixel Remasters.
Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy is a sci-fi fantasy franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed/owned by Square Enix. The series centers on role playing style games set in a science fiction and fantasy style worlds. The first game originally released in 1987 and since then, the franchise has spun off into other mediums like novels, CG films, and anime. The series has also branched into other video game genres including racing, fighting, rhythm, MMOs, and more.
