What you need to know
- Square Enix's Naoki Yoshida has confirmed reports that more Square Enix games will release day and date on Xbox and PC.
- The publisher has previously had exclusivity agreements with PlayStation for some franchises, including Final Fantasy, that have not been as profitable due to sales numbers not compensating for the game's growing operating costs.
- Earlier this year, Square Enix announced plans to shift its marketing strategy to eschew exclusivity agreements and instead embrace a more widespread release schedule across multiple platforms, including Xbox and PC.
More Square Enix titles are making their way to Xbox and PC with day-and-date releases to their PlayStation counterparts, according to comments made by Square Enix director and executive officer Naoki Yoshida (a.k.a. Yoshi-P) in an interview with 4gamer.net.
Square Enix announced its plans to bring more of its games to Xbox and PC earlier this year after financial reports revealed that the Japanese publisher's games were failing to recoup operating and development costs, even with increasing sales numbers. The plan revolved around major franchises and AAA titles, as well as older IPs tucked away in the publisher's catalog, and would see an end to timed exclusivity agreements for games in the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises.
FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is among the first Square Enix titles to launch simultaneously on all platforms following the announcement of the strategy change. Slated to release on December 5 on Xbox, PC via Steam, PlayStation, and Nintendo, FANTASIAN Neo Dimension is a definitive edition of a classic JRPG adventure that precedes the Final Fantasy series. In the interview above with 4gamer.net, Yoshida explains that he expects the Nintendo Switch to be the most popular platform for FANTASIAN because of its portability. When asked about PC and other console ports, Yoshi-P says, "This time, the Xbox Series X|S version will be released at the same time. In the future, Square Enix will release more and more titles simultaneously on each platform... so I hope Xbox users will play it, as well."
We have to think about how to get as many people as possible to play it, and how to make it viable from a business perspective.
Naoki Yoshida
Yoshi-P followed up the statement with an apology to Mistwalkers, the developers of FANTASIAN, for the extra work required to ship the game on all platforms. "The fact that it is released simultaneously on such a platform has led to excitement. . .so we are grateful that they did a good job," Yoshida said. Yoshida was at the forefront of pushing FANTASIAN to a multiplatform release, telling 4gamer.net, "We have to think about how to get as many people as possible to play it and how to make it viable from a business perspective."
According to Yoshida, the team looked at FANTASIAN's metascore and the awareness the game raised when it was released in 2021 on Apple Arcade. The team also considered the regions where FANTASIAN's original release was played to determine which platforms would be best for the release of the definitive edition. Yoshi-P has also hinted that other Final Fantasy titles could see multiplatform releases in the future, leading to hope that Final Fantasy XVI could see an Xbox once the PC port is finished. Square Enix is known for being behind some of the best JRPGs on Xbox, and the publisher has been heavily courted by Xbox executives Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond.
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Their efforts have seen some success, as Square Enix has recently brought several JRPGs, including the definitive versions of Final Fantasy I-VI, to Xbox consoles and Windows PC in recent months. The popular Mana series, consisting of Trials of Mana and Legends of Mana, was also recently added to the Xbox Game Pass library. Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake is also scheduled for a November 14 launch on Xbox.
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