Microsoft Windows Central: Something “Functionally Wrong” in MS’s relationship with SquareEnix

[crispy4000]

Square Enix once again snubs Xbox for a major upcoming game launch | Windows Central

WWW.WINDOWSCENTRAL.COM

---

Final Fantasy I through IV are available almost literally everywhere but Xbox.

 

Quote

Increasingly, I've been hearing rumors that there is something functionally wrong with the relationship between Microsoft and Square Enix. Square Enix has only been offering Xbox a very limited selection of titles from its catalog, including games like Stranger's Paradise and DioField Chronicle, neither of which reviewed particularly spectacularly. Despite Octopath Traveller launching on Xbox and even into Xbox Game Pass, the sequel is nowhere to be found, and likely isn't coming. 
 

Despite being announced as a timed exclusive for PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII Remake also shows no sign of appearing on Xbox. It's quite clear that something has gone terribly wrong between Microsoft and Square Enix, to the detriment of Xbox fans who enjoy Square Enix's titles. There's no sign of the relationship improving any time soon either, which paints a bleak picture for hotly anticipated games like Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 14 Realm Reborn, and Dragon Quest XII, all of which are unlikely to join the list of upcoming Xbox games, given the soured relationship between the companies. 

We know Sony money is involved on some level for FFXVI and 7R, Jez is now suggesting it runs deeper.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

If I had to guess, I would say that there was some type of business arrangement that went incredibly sour and has subsequently poisoned the well for any further engagement.

[ort]

Hasn't Square Enix always had a very very close ties to Sony? And are both very Japanese? This might not really be that complicated.

[Dodger]

Maybe Sony has been paying them to keep those games off Xbox. Something is weird because the XIII trilogy is on Xbox, and i believe all of them are 4k boosted on supported Xboxes, which I believe Square has to at least give permission for them to do. Then FFVII-XII excluding XI came to xbox and games pass. Octopath Traveler was recent. So if something happened it was recent. 

[crispy4000]

2 hours ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

If I had to guess, I would say that there was some type of business arrangement that went incredibly sour and has subsequently poisoned the well for any further engagement.

It’d have to be very sour to leave so much money on the table.  In theory, at least.  Square’s not even giving PC as much love as they could.

 

When are we getting KH games on Steam?

[Dodger]

There really is nothing to suggest that Square is a well run company these days so could just be bad management. 

[Keyser_Soze]

Microsoft should throw them some NFTs to sweeten the pot.

[ThreePi]

1 hour ago, crispy4000 said:

It’e have to be very sour to leave so much money on the table.  In theory, at least.  Square’s not even giving PC as much love as they could.

 

When are we getting KH games on Steam?

 

Not that I give two shots about KH, it is weird they haven't made the move after Epic's deal ended. I don't think any Epic exclusive has moved the needle all that much.

[Zaku3]

4 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

It’d have to be very sour to leave so much money on the table.  In theory, at least.  Square’s not even giving PC as much love as they could.

 

When are we getting KH games on Steam?

 

It could be the opposite. Square is used to exclusivity deals they love it. I don't think Square games really move the needle anymore. It won't atleast on the Xbox. The people that want Square games have other options. They'd have to beat Sony via bidding wars and why spend the money for a niche genre. 

 

Lol MS is working with partners (Relic and AOE4) for games but in general they kinda just buy dev studios now. 

 

MS fears another tech giant getting into gaming not Sony.

[crispy4000]

26 minutes ago, Zaku3 said:

 

It could be the opposite. Square is used to exclusivity deals they love it. I don't think Square games really move the needle anymore. It won't atleast on the Xbox. The people that want Square games have other options. They'd have to beat Sony via bidding wars and why spend the money for a niche genre. 

 

They do.  The last two big single player FF entries (FFXV and FF7R) sold between 10 and 15 million units.  Perhaps they’ve lost some relevance compared to say, Sony 1st party, whose biggest releases cross the 20 million mark.  But I still wouldn’t call it niche.  Not unless you’d say franchises like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider are niche as well.

 

FFXIV is the real juggernaut for them right now, at 27 million.

[Zaku3]

1 minute ago, crispy4000 said:

 

They do.  The last two big single player FF entries (FFXV and FF7R) sold between 10 and 15 million units apiece.  The franchise has lost some relevance in comparison to say, Sony 1st party, whose biggest releases cross the 20 million mark.  But I wouldn’t call it a niche.  Not unless you’re willing to claim franchises like Resident Evil and Tomb Raider are niche as well.

 

FFXIV is the real juggernaut for them now, at 27 million.

 

MS is thinking of COD numbers when buying Activision-Blizzard. Square is much smaller then they are.

 

Like they could just buy Square but why don't they? They need the money generated by like EA or Activision Blizzard to move their needle. 

 

 

[crispy4000]

4 hours ago, Zaku3 said:

 

MS is thinking of COD numbers when buying Activision-Blizzard. Square is much smaller then they are.

 

Like they could just buy Square but why don't they? They need the money generated by like EA or Activision Blizzard to move their needle. 

 

Why are you bringing up Square being bought by MS?  Whatever happened here probably means they’re not getting scooped up under Sony’s nose like Bethesda was.

 

EA is probably too big to buy for now with MS’s cash reserves.  Unlikely we see something like Activision again for a good while.  Smaller(-ish) is the way for them to go for the time being.

[Remarkableriots]

9 hours ago, Dodger said:

Maybe Sony has been paying them to keep those games off Xbox. Something is weird because the XIII trilogy is on Xbox, and i believe all of them are 4k boosted on supported Xboxes, which I believe Square has to at least give permission for them to do. Then FFVII-XII excluding XI came to xbox and games pass. Octopath Traveler was recent. So if something happened it was recent. 

FF XI was on xbox because I played it for years on xbox 360.

[XxEvil AshxX]

I would bet 1000% it had to do with Final Fantasy VII Remake disappearing from the Xbox. That game was announced as coming to the system at first, and no that's Mandela effect because I distinctly remember looking it up shortly after the original announcement to see if it was coming to Xbox and the guy confirmed it. They must have signed the Sony agreement shortly after because then they failed to mention the Xbox ever again after that.

 

On top of that, I'm almost positive that Squeenix's excuse of "MS policies" being why FFXIV never came to the system was a load of bullshit. I'm pretty sure MS would've bent over backwards to get a piece of that pie.

 

If I were MS i'd be pretty sour too that a publisher reneged on one of the most anticipated games of the generation. That probably didn't help relations much, especially since MS looked kinda dumb after saying "every Final Fantasy coming to Xbox" then had a handful of lazy ports and no MMO.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

I would bet 1000% it had to do with Final Fantasy VII Remake disappearing from the Xbox. That game was announced as coming to the system at first, and no that's Mandela effect because I distinctly remember looking it up shortly after the original announcement to see if it was coming to Xbox and the guy confirmed it. They must have signed the Sony agreement shortly after because then they failed to mention the Xbox ever again after that.

 

Technically, it wasn't ever announced for Xbox.  It was announced as a timed exclusive:  "Play it first on PS4" then later with Intergrade as a "Console Exclusive:  Available 6 months earlier than any other format."

 

It wouldn't have been crazy to assume it'd come to Xbox at some point, as I'm sure some news outlets did.  Timed exclusive announcements at E3 typically don't refer to PC ports because of console war shenanigans.  But Square threaded the needle to leave the Xbox option closed and technically not lie about it.

 

  

1 hour ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

On top of that, I'm almost positive that Squeenix's excuse of "MS policies" being why FFXIV never came to the system was a load of bullshit. I'm pretty sure MS would've bent over backwards to get a piece of that pie.

 

If I were MS i'd be pretty sour too that a publisher reneged on one of the most anticipated games of the generation. That probably didn't help relations much, especially since MS looked kinda dumb after saying "every Final Fantasy coming to Xbox" then had a handful of lazy ports and no MMO.

 

If I could venture a guess, it could be because SquareEnix wants Games Pass money for ports.  That's likely how Octopath Traveller 1 made it to Xbox and not Sony platforms.  If Microsoft isn't paying up, I don't think SquareEnix is porting.  If there's no Sony deal for FFXIV, Square could have been waiting on a large chunk of change.

 

This isn't the same game other Japanese publishers play generally, but they may feel like they're in a privileged position to ask if their games sell so much worse on Microsoft consoles.

 

FFXIV is no big loss for Microsoft in the long run.  They're on the cusp of owning WoW now, and surely won't be bringing that MMO (franchise) to Sony platforms.

[BloodyHell]

On 4/6/2023 at 12:51 PM, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

If I had to guess, I would say that there was some type of business arrangement that went incredibly sour and has subsequently poisoned the well for any further engagement.

But they just released Crisis Core Reunion on Xbox, and there were some other smaller games, none of it makes sense.

[BloodyHell]

5 hours ago, crispy4000 said:

 

Technically, it wasn't ever announced for Xbox.  It was announced as a timed exclusive:  "Play it first on PS4" then later with Intergrade as a "Console Exclusive:  Available 6 months earlier than any other format."

 

It wouldn't have been crazy to assume it'd come to Xbox at some point, as I'm sure some news outlets did.  Timed exclusive announcements at E3 typically don't refer to PC ports because of console war shenanigans.  But Square threaded the needle to leave the Xbox option closed and technically not lie about it.

 

  

 

If I could venture a guess, it could be because SquareEnix wants Games Pass money for ports.  That's likely how Octopath Traveller 1 made it to Xbox and not Sony platforms.  If Microsoft isn't paying up, I don't think SquareEnix is porting.  If there's no Sony deal for FFXIV, Square could have been waiting on a large chunk of change.

 

This isn't the same game other Japanese publishers play generally, but they may feel like they're in a privileged position to ask if their games sell so much worse on Microsoft consoles.

 

FFXIV is no big loss for Microsoft in the long run.  They're on the cusp of owning WoW now, and surely won't be bringing that MMO (franchise) to Sony platforms.

WoW isn’t currently that healthy. Expect to see them focused more on D4 content, and new projects. WoW isn’t going anywhere just yet,but it’s moment is a decade in the past. 

[crispy4000]

2 hours ago, BloodyHell said:

WoW isn’t currently that healthy. Expect to see them focused more on D4 content, and new projects. WoW isn’t going anywhere just yet,but it’s moment is a decade in the past. 

 

In the short term.

 

Long term, I think we’ll see a full scale WoW reboot eventually that feels more modern.  

 

Or even a StarCraft MMO instead so they can keep two revenue streams open.  And port WoW to Xbox while they’re at it.  Microsoft has huge potential to grow this.

[BloodyHell]

On 4/7/2023 at 3:25 PM, crispy4000 said:

 

In the short term.

 

Long term, I think we’ll see a full scale WoW reboot eventually that feels more modern.  

 

Or even a StarCraft MMO instead so they can keep two revenue streams open.  And port WoW to Xbox while they’re at it.  Microsoft has huge potential to grow this.

They just wouldn’t be successful today. MMO’s aren’t the thing they were before, imo. I think you’re vastly overestimating their allure. All the people who still want to play an MMO already are.

[crispy4000]

1 hour ago, BloodyHell said:

They just wouldn’t be successful today. MMO’s aren’t the thing they were before, imo. I think you’re vastly overestimating their allure. All the people who still want to play an MMO already are.

 

I agree that MMOs have limited appeal.  But Blizzard is one of the two major players in the space.  I have to believe that if they did a new MMO, people would flock to it.