Final Fantasy XIV possible for the Switch and Xbox One. Sony possibly holding it back

From Gamespot

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-14-director-wants-switch-and-xbox-on/1100-6451129/

Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida has said he's still interested in bringing the MMORPG to Nintendo's Switch and Microsoft's Xbox One, and has had meetings with executives from the respective platform holders to make it happen.

Speaking to Kotaku, Yoshida said he "would love for as many players to be on FFXIV as possible" and "conversations have been had with Phil Spencer of Microsoft, and the upper management teams of Nintendo."

However, Yoshida has said he wants both companies to meet one major condition: "the game has to have the capability of cross-platform play." One of the issues Yoshida noted, however, was that many companies don't consider how updates to the way online services are operated and regulated can impact an MMORPG.

"Those can become a hurdle when we consider operating FFXIV for an extended period of time," he said. "So when I talk to those first-party companies, I ask them, 'Do you have the capability to prepare for that, do you have the resolve that you're going to make sure to take responsibility and take care of those, do you have that willingness?'

"If we are able to come to some sort of agreement, a handshake so to speak, or if it does end up being that unfortunately we can't do a handshake with Final Fantasy XIV, either way we'll make sure to communicate with our players. But we have been tenacious--we've been trying to keep at it and be persistent about our conversations."

Getting Sony to open up its online services to Xbox and Nintendo customers may be an insurmountable obstacle for Yoshida and Square Enix, however. Sony has previously opted not to support cross-platform online player for Rocket League and, more recently, Minecraft.

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So Yoshida wants cross-play on ALL platforms, what's holding them back from porting FFXIV to the Switch and Xbox One, is SONY due to their online policies.

That seriously sucks.

I hope they can get it on the Switch and Xbone. Its one of the better mmorpgs out there too.

We may not like it but when you are the market leader, you can get away with doing stuff like this.

Where in this is a finger pointed at sony?

I would think FFXIV running on the Nintendo Switch would be a pretty big challenge.

Squeenix stopped PS3 support with the launch of the first expansion due to hardware limitations, and this is the second major expansion.

I'm not super well versed on console speeds and feeds, but the switch isn't really any MORE powerful than the PS3 was no?

Well, you can basically forget about waiting for Sony to allow that with Xbox & Switch owners.

Its not Sony's job to support the other 2 consoles. Its only optional for them and they said, no they don't want to.

You might want look at MS' E3 this year for how they treated their gamers.

You're right, it's not Sony's job, but it's more Anti-Consumer!

So...again?

Nintendo has been anti-consumer with the Switch.

Prove it!

Tons of alternatives on XboxOne so no big deal for me....hopefully works out for those who really want the game though .

1. No region locking, which is the first for Nintendo consoles
2. The only console with free online (right now)

On a side note, why would this be Sony supporting the other consoles? FF14 is a Square Enix game and came on PC quite some time before it reached hte other playstation consoles.

Bullshit! Nintendo was the market leader in gen seven and they could not get away with something like that.

I would love to get Final Fantasy XIV on the Xbox One. It sucks that Sony's online policy is holding this back. Hopefully they'll wise up and change their online policy. Bring on crossplay I say.

I would love that to happen. Fingers crossed that Square Enix figure out a way to make this work.

Maybe you will answer. Where in all of that does it even hint that it's Sony?

@Chutebox:

I wondered the same when this article was written.

This game has been trying to get Xbox to do crossplay not Sony for some time now. It's been reported numerous times. I think even Phil commented on it.

Yup. Why the hell would Sony care if this was Cross play with Xbox? It's already cross play with PC and it's not like they'll have to sign in using xbox live.

@Chutebox: didn't Phil blame it on something exclusive or something?

I remember reading his reason for not doing crossplay on this game and being very confused as to what he tried to say.

Considering that this game is available on the most open platform possible (PC), I fail to see how Sony's online service is even applicable to SE making thr game available on other consoles. Hell, the article itself mentions SE asking for some commitment from Nintendo and MS were they to port the game.

Thread creator was doing okay til that last sentence. What a bunch of derp.

Well he told them they have to meet this major condition. They then asked what about sony. Did they meet this major condition? to which he replied "Uh huh" and then left...

@Chutebox: Square-Enix said that they want it to be crossplay across all platforms and in the part near the end it says that getting Sony to open up its online to the other two, Nintendo and Microsoft, may be insurmountable.

I don't trust the Switch. The system is overpriced and the accessories are overpriced especially in Canada. Their voice chat is quite weird.

Nintendo needs to be more friendly to the 3rd party companies. Even though the system can use UE4, is easy to develop for, it uses ARM and whatever else I might have missed about developing games for the system but the main reasons why the system isn't getting most of the 3rd party games is because the system is underpowered and the limit for the game cards are still 32GB.

Even this video game composer isn't a fan of the Switch.

https://mynintendonews.com/2017/06/19/video-game-music-producer-yuzo-koshiro-isnt-a-big-fan-of-the-nintendo-switch/

http://wccftech.com/nintendo-switch-cheaper-models-nothing-novel/

So your only proof on why it's anti-consumer is your own opinion without facts? Also, 1 developer not being a fan doesn't mean jack shit.

That wasn't part of the actual quote. that was the writer guessing.

@Chutebox: Oh, ok. Well anyway until proven otherwise I'm more inclined to believe that it is currently Sony's online policy that is holding these versions back.

Sony is being anticonsumer to Microsoft and Nintendo fan base. Why should Sony care?

Actually this had been known to be Microsoft's own fault for quite a while but leave it to lems to ignore reality and blame Sony. The problem with Microsoft's way of doing crossplay is that it's their way or the highway. They have never supported doing crossplay without their infrastructure as the middle man. Sony, in the other hand has. This is old news. Hell, before 2016 Microsoft was refusing even to consider it.

https://www.polygon.com/e3/2016/6/17/11960518/final-fantasy-14-xbox-one-talks-mmo-square-enix-microsoft-e3-2016

"When our team reviewed the regulations that are associated with that, we realized that Microsoft may not have the experience or understanding of running an MMORPG as an online game genre just yet. The Final Fantasy 14 team has fed back to Microsoft that there are certain elements of its regulations that we would have to consider waived. We're waiting on Microsoft's response for that, but we are having discussions."

@pinkanimal: Your facts have no power here, this is SW.

@tigerbalm: I know, here is all about the FauxNews. :P

Your June, 17 2016 news report is old.

Star Trek Online (MMORPG) is available for both Xbox One and PS4.

PlayStation 4, Xbox One

• NA: September 6, 2016
• EU: September 7, 2016

There are several MMOs on XBO.

Pinkanimal's facts are old.

@ronvalencia: well where are the facts about Sony being the culprit here? I don't see them anywhere. This has been an issue with Microsoft not Sony, so if things changed now and it's Sony somehow preventing Microsoft even of doing crossplay with PC where is the proof or are you fanboys talking out of your assess as usual?

Its anti gamer.

My post only addressed your https://www.polygon.com/e3/2016/6/17/11960518/final-fantasy-14-xbox-one-talks-mmo-square-enix-microsoft-e3-2016 link.

Outside this issue, I don't care i.e. other posters can address other issues.

MS's Minecraft has crossplay.

http://www.pcgamer.com/gears-of-war-4-gets-permanent-cross-platform-play/

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-06-13-forza-horizon-3-confirmed-in-impressive-cross-platform-demo

@ronvalencia: no your post didn't addressed the issue with FFIV specifically, it is talking about another game. We simply don't know if the problem with Microsoft is reasons for FFIV. Apparently not since there wouldn't be any impediment for them to do crossplay with PC. Sony certainly has no saying there.

@drrollinstein: if that's anti-gamer by Sony then Microsoft not releasing their first party games on PlayStation is also anti-gamer

Your argument is based on old information.

New MMOs has been released on XBO after your June 2016 article.

From Gamespot (dated: June 23, 2017)

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-14-director-wants-switch-and-xbox-on/1100-6451129/

Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida has said he's still interested in bringing the MMORPG to Nintendo's Switch and Microsoft's Xbox One, and has had meetings with executives from the respective platform holders to make it happen.

Speaking to Kotaku, Yoshida said he "would love for as many players to be on FFXIV as possible" and "conversations have been had with Phil Spencer of Microsoft, and the upper management teams of Nintendo."

However, Yoshida has said he wants both companies to meet one major condition: "the game has to have the capability of cross-platform play." One of the issues Yoshida noted, however, was that many companies don't consider how updates to the way online services are operated and regulated can impact an MMORPG.

"Those can become a hurdle when we consider operating FFXIV for an extended period of time," he said. "So when I talk to those first-party companies, I ask them, 'Do you have the capability to prepare for that, do you have the resolve that you're going to make sure to take responsibility and take care of those, do you have that willingness?'

"If we are able to come to some sort of agreement, a handshake so to speak, or if it does end up being that unfortunately we can't do a handshake with Final Fantasy XIV, either way we'll make sure to communicate with our players. But we have been tenacious--we've been trying to keep at it and be persistent about our conversations."

Getting Sony to open up its online services to Xbox and Nintendo customers may be an insurmountable obstacle for Yoshida and Square Enix, however. Sony has previously opted not to support cross-platform online player for Rocket League and, more recently, Minecraft.

...

During E3 2017, Nintendo and Microsoft announced that Rocket League and Minecraft would be cross-play compatible between Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and PC players. This has meant that, currently, Sony's PlayStation is the only platform not supporting cross-play for those games. You can read more about why Sony isn't supporting cross-play here.

It's downright laughable people are trying to pin this on sony

Wanting that to happen is kind of like wanting Burger King to let Wendy's sell the Whopper with the Wendy's logo on the wrapping. Burger King doesn't want to do it.

Minecraft is a major Microsoft first party game and it's already running on PlayStation without crossplay. https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/minecraft-ps4/

Microsoft owns Mojang studio.

@ronvalencia: there's nothing on what Yoshida said that suggests Sony is responsible here. Why don't they put FFXIV on crossplay between Microsoft, Nintendo and PC then if Sony is the one holding it back? Sony actually is the only one supporting crossplay for the title right now.

Crossplay is not a problem from MSFT's side and Minecraft already has crossplay with PC, Switch and XBO.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2017-06-11-minecraft-is-getting-cross-platform-play

UPDATE: Minecraft's "Better Together" update will launch for Windows 10, iOS, Android, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and VR devices - but not PlayStation.

Microsoft previously talked about the possibility of cross-network play, and said the ball was in Sony's court to allow it. And, certainly, going by this tweet from Minecraft spokesperson Aubrey Norris, the desire is there to get PlayStation on board:

@ronvalencia: well they have evidently a problem for crossplay with this title considering Sony had crossplay but Microsoft doesn't.

@pinkanimal: Im not sure what exclusives have to do with crossplay.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-14-director-wants-switch-and-xbox-on/1100-6451129/

Getting Sony to open up its online services to Xbox and Nintendo customers may be an insurmountable obstacle for Yoshida and Square Enix, however. Sony has previously opted not to support cross-platform online player for Rocket League and, more recently, Minecraft.

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/e3-2017-ps4-boss-explains-why-sony-wont-do-cross-p/1100-6450938/

So why is there no cross-play between PS4 and Xbox One yet? Ryan said, "Unfortunately, it's a commercial discussion between ourselves and other stakeholders, and I'm not going to get into the detail of that on this particular instance."

Ryan went on to suggest that Sony is concerned about what could go wrong when allowing its own players, some of which could be children, to connect to a network outside of its own.

"We've got to be mindful of our responsibility to our install base. Minecraft--the demographic playing that, you know as well as I do, it's all ages but it's also very young," he said. "We have a contract with the people who go online with us, that we look after them and they are within the PlayStation curated universe. Exposing what in many cases are children to external influences we have no ability to manage or look after, it's something we have to think about very carefully."

PC and PS4 is OK for Sony, but not OK with Switch and XBO.

Case in point: Rocket League allows PS4 to PC cross-play (launched with it) and XB1 to PC cross-play (since March). But you can't play PS4 to XB1. "While Microsoft seems open to the idea, Sony appears to be noncommittal on the topic" from here: http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/24/11762204/rocket-league-xbox-one-pc-cross-play

@ronvalencia: So Sony is preventing Yoshida from doing crossplay between Microsoft, Nintendo and PC. I don't believe you're so stupid as to think that do you ronbot?

Also, there's nothing on what Yoshida said that suggests Sony is responsible here. Why don't they put FFXIV on crossplay between Microsoft, Nintendo and PC then if Sony is the one holding it back? Sony actually is the only one supporting crossplay for the title right now.

It's just an example of how ridiculous is for lemmings to claim Sony is anti-gamer because they don't want to help the competition. With that logic, any company that refuses to release their games on the competition to benefit gamers is anti-gamer.

I'm not a lemming, and i say its anti gamer because it is. Sure it might be pro business, but its still anti gamer by definition. They're denying a service to gamers that they have the authority to authorize.

By the same logic a company keeping their first party exclusives on their own system are denying those games to gamers on other consoles. They also have the authority to authorize to games to release on other platforms.