The Switch has an extensive library of games covering all manner of franchises and while there are plenty of Final Fantasy titles out there today, one game still missing from the series is Square Enix’s massive (and highly successful) multiplayer role-playing game Final Fantasy XIV Online. So will we ever see it on a Nintendo system?
Game director and producer Naoki Yoshida (also known as Yoshi-P) asked Easy Allies recently about the possibility of a Nintendo release and mentioned that he wants to see the game available on as many devices as possible in the long term. This obviously includes Nintendo’s hardware, and at the rate it’s being developed, the new target could potentially be the “successor” to the Switch.
According to Yoshida, it has been a long-standing “dream or goal” for him to allow players to be able to play this online Final Fantasy game on any device, and a release on a Nintendo platform in the future is something he would absolutely “love” to see happen. Here’s exactly what he had to say (via Nintendo Everything):
“I dream, or goal, for over ten years now is for players to be able to play Final Fantasy XIV regardless of device, and to be able to access the servers to go in and access the same world. … we’ve been talking about putting the game on the Xbox platform for years, and of course we’d love to have our title available on the Nintendo platform, and we want to continue our efforts. But it took a long time – we have literally been talking about Xbox for years, and now it has finally come to light. We will do our best and continue to work hard on it and continue our efforts. In the end, that would be cool – something we’d like to kind of explore and make a reality one day.”
Again it seems that we probably will not see Final Fantasy XIV Online during this current Nintendo generation. Even if it happened, based on certain else editions, it can be locked to selected regions or distribution methods such as cloud streaming. For example Dragon Quest X Online (Japan exclusive) and Phantasy Star Online 2 (cloud edition on Switch).
Nintendo has now also mentioned that its Switch “successor” will be revealed this fiscal year, so this comment is likely already taking into account future hardware releases from Nintendo.
Final Fantasy XIV Online it was recently released on Xbox platforms, with players able to enjoy a free trial that offers quite a large amount of content. You can learn more about this latest version of Final Fantasy Online at our sister website Pure Xbox.
If you’re not familiar with Final Fantasy XIV Online, as the name suggests, it’s an online version of the numbered series that lets you explore role-playing as a unique character, take on different classes and jobs, live your story, and save the day with a player base of over 30 million adventurers.
