Square Enix is looking very closely at the Nintendo Switch and how it performs, so when the director of one of its most cherished franchises, Final Fantasy, speaks on the subject, people listen.
Australian news site Finder took at a look at the next expansion in the MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, and sat down with the director about the future of the game. In the interview, Yoshida spoke about the prospects of Final Fantasy XIV coming to other platforms like the Nintendo Switch and Xbox One and here’s what he had to say.
"We want as many players joining Final Fantasy XIV as possible," Yoshida assured. Final Fantasy XIV's head honcho says the team's "base policy" to achieving this is to continuously explore different options for new platforms, and discussions with Nintendo and Microsoft were most definitely ongoing.
However, Yoshida says there are two hurdles to overcome regarding bringing an MMORPG to platforms like the Nintendo Switch. The first is that an MMORPG like Final Fantasy XIV has regular patch updates that can't be delayed depending on the platform.
"We need to make sure Nintendo and Microsoft understand what we do and have them know about our online and QA regulations. We believe these conversations will take a long time."
The second hurdle is expanding to new platforms by growing the community and support for those communities. Yoshida says this responsibility is shared between Square Enix and Nintendo and/or Microsoft. Having those companies understand that is part of the ongoing discussion, a discussion that Yoshida doesn't see ending anytime soon.
Square Enix has gone on record multiple times that they are looking into the Nintendo Switch, saying in April how they would like to have success on the Switch and the plans to bring titles to the platform including Dragon Quest and upcoming new titles like Project Octopath Traveler.
Nintendo and Square Enix have a good relationship and bringing Final Fantasy to the Switch in any form would be a huge boon for the console and for the developer to grow its audience. And if an MMORPG makes its way to the Switch, that opens up new doors for other titles in that genre to make the leap.
Final Fantasy XIV was released back in August 2013 for PlayStation 4 and PC and has since thrived on those networks, releasing expansions regularly.
What do you think of the prospect of a Final Fantasy game on the Switch? What other MMORPGs do you wish to jump to the Nintendo Switch? Let us know in the comments section below.
