Phil Spencer confirms Microsoft “hasn’t given up” on FFXIV coming to Xbox

Following Microsoft’s Tokyo Game Show conference, Phil Spencer confirmed the company is still trying to get FFXIV on Xbox.

After more than a decade, Final Fantasy XIV Online has continued on and become one of the most popular MMOs available today.

However, despite availability and crossplay on platforms like PlayStation and PC, there is still one big hole in FFXIV’s coverage: Xbox consoles.

Now, CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer has confirmed the company still plans on bringing the MMO to Xbox consoles in the future.

Phil Spencer speaks about FFXIV coming to Xbox

Following Xbox’s Tokyo Game Show 2022, Spencer spoke to the Japanese gaming publication Game Watch about the company’s relationship with Japan.

During the interview, Game Watch’s Seiji Nakamura asked Spencer about the last time they spoke during Xbox’s ‘X019’ event in 2019, in which Spencer discussed bringing FFXIV to Xbox.

Back in 2019, Spencer visited Japan and confirmed that he’d spoken with Naoki Yoshida, FFXIV’s director, saying the company was “looking for a way to develop it on Xbox with Mr. Yoshida.”

Spencer acknowledged those comments and confirmed “Of course, we haven’t given up yet. This is Microsoft and Square Enix’s commitment to the game fans of both companies, and we will continue to coordinate in the future.”

Unfortunately, Spencer didn’t give any updated progress reports on when Xbox fans could expect the MMO to make its way to the Xbox Series X and S.

Naoki Yoshida / Square Enix

Apparently, FFXIV director Naoki Yoshida has spoken to Spencer about resolving the hangups preventing the game to come to Xbox.

However, Yoshida himself did shed a bit of light on what exactly was holding up progress on FFXIV coming to Xbox consoles.

In a 2019 interview with the publication Wccftech, Yoshida said, “To play an MMORPG, there are 2 regulations for Microsoft which stand in the way of making crossplay feasible.”

Yoshida goes on to explain that one of those regulations was that players with different platforms “cannot chat with each other in-game,” while the other was “you cannot make a community with [players] on a different platform.”

Obviously, this created a big hurdle for the development team when trying to bring the game to Xbox platforms.

While there’s no official word just yet on when FFXIV will come to Xbox, it’s clear that Phil Spencer still has his eye on the gigantic MMO.