Today’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote speech was almost absurdly packed with major announcements, including a release window and a title for its long-awaited sixth expansion, Evercold. At the end of what was already a really long keynote, however, the team behind the game also announced that FFXIV is finally headed to a Nintendo platform for the first time in its 13-year history…with a catch.
During the keynote speech, Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu made a surprise appearance to deliver the very wild announcement that FFXIV is headed to the Nintendo Switch 2. The port is set to launch in August, with a month-long (and free!) early access test occurring right before.
Screams literally erupted the second the Switch 2 logo popped up on screen. The port has been rumored for a while now, and while a lot of people expected it to be announced today, it’s still pretty surprising that it actually happened. However, there’s an unfortunate caveat here.
FFXIV is currently playable on PC, Mac, Xbox, and PlayStation with cross-platform subscriptions, although players still have to play for separate licenses on each platform. Like these other versions, the Switch 2 version will thankfully feature cross-progression. However, it’ll also require a separate subscription and a separate license (although that subscription will be half-price for players who have an active subscription on another platform).
The FFXIV team said the pricing decision was made after “many months of discussion with Nintendo,” which I’m assuming is their way of gently saying “Nintendo was annoying and made us compromise.” On the other hand, though, a Nintendo Switch Online requirement isn’t required to play, which is kind of baffling.
Director Yoshi-P brought out a Switch 2 to show off the game’s performance, and it looked pretty solid, although he basically just ran around the iconic Limsa Lominsa plaza for a quick second rather than showing off any real gameplay. Also, the Switch gameplay didn’t seem to be projected on the massive screen behind Yoshi-P like the rest of the presentation (and he commented that Nintendo “kind of freaked out a little” about having the port shown live on stage for some reason), so I’m a little worried.
I am very intrigued to see how this massive game holds up on this tiny console, though, and I’m holding out hope. If Square Enix manages to pull it off, I could definitely see FFXIV appealing to a huge new audience, especially ahead of its massive Evercold expansion announced today. Unrelated but also important: shortly after announcing the expansion, Yoshi-P casually joked that the game’s newly improved character creator might receive a butt slider in the future. Man, I feel like I need to go on a walk or something after watching this insanely overwhelming presentation.