Final Fantasy XIV is Coming to Xbox Soon

While Final Fantasy XVI might be the popular entry on everyone’s mind right now, there’s still plenty of reason to be excited about the franchise’s ongoing MMORPG. A lot of big announcements were made last week during Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest 2023. There is a new expansion called Dawntrail that will be coming out next year and a bunch of visual improvements, both graphically and with more options to dye gear. It’ll also be opening up to a brand new player base when it jumps to the Xbox Series X|S consoles.

This has been a long time coming and is one of the most requested additions. After a failed version in 2010, the second version of Final Fantasy XIV Online launched nearly a decade ago on PlayStation 3 and PC. It has been updated with multiple expansions since then and has also been ported to the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. The chances of it coming to a Microsoft console have always seemed a little slim. With the most recent entry in the franchise along with the two games in the Final Fantasy VII Remake series being overtly attached to PlayStation consoles, the chances were practically non-existent.

Needless to say, this is huge news for the community. Many Xbox players will be able to join the community of 27 million players while enjoying fast load times and 4K support on the Xbox Series X console. Of course, players can also enjoy the experience solo with NPC allies thanks to the Duty Support system. They’ll be able to enjoy the meme-worthy free trial as well, which is also set to be expanded to include the base game and the first two expansions.

An open beta will be held starting from Patch 6.5 in October while the proper release will be in Spring 2024. All main story elements from A Realm Reborn to the current Endwalker expansion will be available in the open beta. That means players will have plenty of time to catch up for the 7.0 Dawntrail update that’s coming out just a little bit later in the Summer of 2024.

Additionally, it’s worth pointing out how big this could be when it comes to seeing Final Fantasy content on Xbox consoles. We did see Phil Spencer up there shaking hands with the director of XIV and the CEO of Square Enix after all. The next numbered entry in the franchise coming to Xbox would be great, but I certainly would love to see Final Fantasy XVI or the Final Fantasy VII Remake series available there too.