Ever since World of Warcraft, MMO's have become a big deal. A massive number of players, all gathering to experience a living world, competing, cooperating together. But too often, companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo unfortunately stand in the way of letting those worlds grow even larger. To those who remember, Square's last online game, Final Fantasy XI, was the first cross-platform game of the genre, meaning that folks who played the game on their PlayStation 2 could interact with people who played the game on their Xbox 360. It was unprecedented, but unfortunately, an exception to the rule, and one that Microsoft doesn't look like it'll be continuing for Square's Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. And they're being punished for it.
Microsoft's lack of cooperation will be the reason the game won't be released for any of their consoles, not the Xbox 360, and not the Xbox One, according to the game's director, Naoki Yoshida. Despite allowing cross-play before with FFXI, the company isn't going the same way with FFXIV, for whatever reason. Speaking with RPGSite, Yoshida explained that as the logic behind his decision not to have the game release to any Microsoft console:
"The main reason from our side is that I don't want the community to be divided; to be split into two or more. For example, one player might be on the PC version, another might be on the PS4 version, and I'm playing the Xbox version - but we're not able to join the same game servers. That is just... I just don't like the idea. I disagree with it.
"To be frankly honest with you, there are now so many mobile devices, smart phones, everything - why would you ever just stick to one platform from the hardware aspect? Just - make it open to everyone? That's my opinion."
It's certainly a great, novel idea, one that's been presented many times over before, but corporate policy seems to stand between gamers "all just getting along." Hell, even Nintendo isn't allowing cross-play for the new Smash Bros. game, and that's a completely exclusive property.
Unless Microsoft changes its policy, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn will launch for PlayStation 3, 4, and PC only on August 27th.