Microsoft has placed a lot of emphasis on the growth of Xbox Game Pass in the past year, purchasing ZeniMax Media in September 2020 to acquire that company’s massive catalog of popular franchises and even toying with the idea of offering anXbox Game Pass family plansometime in the future. Back in 2019, Microsoft revealed that 10 titles from Square Enix’sFinal Fantasyseries would also be coming to the subscription service.
At X019, during the announcement that the franchise would be added to Xbox Game Pass, it was specified that the games would be released sequentially beginning in 2020. In keeping with that promise, the originalFinal Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 8 Remastered,theupdated version ofFinal Fantasy 9that launched on PS4 and PC in 2016,as well asFinal Fantasy 15have all bolstered the Xbox Game Pass catalog in the past year.
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That leaves a number of games still to be added to the service, and Microsoft recently confirmed to True Achievements that the titles would continue to roll out as previously planned. “As we announced at X019, we are excited to bring theFinal Fantasyfranchise to gamers with Xbox Game Pass,” stated a Microsoft spokesperson in response to True Achievements’ inquiry. “We have done so throughout 2020 and will continue to do so in 2021 and beyond. We look forward to announcing specific launch dates for moreFinal Fantasytitles in the future.”
The games remaining from the X019 announcement includeFinal Fantasy 10andX-2, Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, Final Fantasy 13andXIII-2,andLightning Returns.A few of these titles have been remastered, and it seems safe to assume that those updated versions will be the ones released on Xbox Game Pass. All of the games will be coming to both the PC and console versions of Microsoft’s subscription service.
TheFinal Fantasy 7 Remake, which released in April 2020, is a timed Sony exclusive and will be available only on PlayStation consoles for exactly one year. It’s still unclear if the award-winning game will immediately come to Xbox consoles once that exclusivity ends, or whether it will be a regular game release or come directly to Xbox Game Pass. And althoughdevelopment ofFinal Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2is still in the early stages, that game is expected to be a PlayStation exclusive as well.
There’s also no indication as to how long theFinal Fantasytitles will remain accessible on Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft regularly adds new games and alsoremoves titles from Xbox Game Passon a monthly basis. The amount of time that games have been available on the subscription service does not seem to be a determining factor for when they are removed. Considering that theFinal Fantasygames are RPGs that each require approximately 40 hours to beat, hopefully all of the titles will stay on the service for a long time to come.
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