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In 2024, as a result of not reaching their sales goals, Square Enix announced that they could no longer afford to have games exclusive. Of course, this would mean the Final Fantasy mainline games would return to the Xbox ecosystem. At face value, it makes sense. More potential customers means more potential sales. But context is everything. So for perspective, we need to look at why the franchise originally left the Xbox ecosystem in the first place.
Back at E3 2006, a new Final Fantasy project was announced. Tentatively known as the Fabula Nova Crystallis project. This was a series of Final Fantasy games meant to be tied to a single expansive universe. The games that would make up this world were Final Fantasy 13, Final Fantasy 13 Versus, and Final Fantasy Agito 13. At the time, this new Final Fantasy universe was announced to be exclusive to the PlayStation 3. And for a long time, that was the belief. But development was becoming too much to handle. Final Fantasy 13 Versus was initially put on hold, and Agito 13 was in limbo. This left the original Final Fantasy 13 as the sole survivor of the Fabula Nova Crystallis project. After the release of Final Fantasy 13 on the PlayStation 3, then Square Enix president Yoichi Wada said that Square Enix would develop for Xbox if it had merit. And at the end of Microsoft’s E3 2008 presentation, Final Fantasy 13 was shown.
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