It appears that Square Enix and Xbox are no longer just business partners – they are very close friends now. The official account for Final Fantasy VII Remake shared a picture that attracted everyone’s interest. It shows the director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Naoki Hamaguchi, the Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, and the President of Xbox Sarah Bond smiling at the Microsoft HQ. They are lauding a ‘close partnership’ which proclaims the ‘handing over of iconic games to even more players worldwide.’ The tweet even indicates that players should get to the Xbox right now and try out the demo of Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. It does sound like a typical corporate affair, right? But the replies tell a completely different story. An absolute warzone!
What comes to my mind first is the news itself marking a milestone. For a long time, the major titles of the Final Fantasy series were either PS exclusives or at least the ones that arrived later on other consoles. The presence of the top executives from Square Enix and Xbox in the same picture signifies the end of that era. Their collaboration is part of the broader trend of the dissolution of exclusivity and this was echoed in one of the replies by user Colteastwood. This scenario is good because it allows gamers from all platforms to experience the big games. That’s the straightforward version: Square Enix and Microsoft are strengthening their partnership, expanding the reach of the game like with Final Fantasy VII Remake, and moving away from platform exclusivity.
During the first half of the week there were similar things happening all over the place but emotions gave way to human, emotional, and, for sure, uneven response. Because that is where the actual story is.
The tweet’s comments immediately divided the people into groups. One group was the “happy” one. And among them was Jamie Moran who simply said, “Love to see Final Fantasy on Xbox” and added a heart emoji. Absolutely, uncomplicated joy. Another user, red_exx, just said, “Xbox play anywhere!” which is the dream many can relate to. Stephen McKee even said, “Thank you 😊.” Isn’t that nice? Isn’t it wholesome?
Conversely, on the other side, we have the… opposite side. A side composed either of the very doubtful or just plain furious. A user by the name of GatoNocturno69 speculated that “Microsoft probably paid millions to have SQ games on Game Pass… Good for Square… That’s some extra money for them…. Bad for the reputation….” This kind of thinking that Square Enix selling out of desperation to Microsoft has come up a few times. The user AMasduu commented, “Ok, now we KNOW they’re desperate…” and user OPGODA_ was even suggesting that the company needs to find cash wherever it can as Square Enix shareholders complain.
And then there are issues stemming from the console war. Oh my, the console war stuff! Things got very heated. User Pamonhas De Piracicaba came out vociferously and said that Square-Enix blaming exclusivity for poor sales is ‘scapegoating.’ The user argued, ‘Final Fantasy isn’t struggling because of exclusivity. It’s struggling because of its poor quality. FF7’s story was ruined with unnecessary story changes that nobody asked for.’ Ouch! That’s a direct hit at the game’s creative direction and not at the business deal.
The conflicts become personal very quickly. One comment in response to the tweet apparently accused Phil Spencer and Sarah Bond of being responsible for the decline of Xbox, saying, “These 2 ruined xbox.” Another one called Sarah Bond ‘vagabunda inútil,’ which means ‘useless tramp.’ That is not cool, dude. The back-and-forth between the users is the moment when things really get chaotic, like through text messages. There’s a person by the name of TH3MAF1A who is shouting at the ‘console Warriors’ and accusing them of ‘being so sad,’ and at the same time, others are disputing whether Xbox players actually buy games or just use Game Pass. User RedxGate went, ‘If it’s not on gamepass, no one on xbox is going to be playing it,’ which is a whole new discussion about the value of Game Pass compared to traditional sales.
Who could have guessed that the argument would become so technical? A user by the name of HarryT44979617 (whose original comment is not in the data but is being replied to) seems to be scared of Xbox getting ‘watered down’ games. This led to others debating over the specs and one saying if it runs on an AMD Ryzen 5 1400 and RX 6600 ‘we got nothing to worry about,’ while another dramatically mourning ‘FFXVI and FF VII Rebirth looks like shit even on PS5 Pro?!’ What the heck? Come on, guys, chill out!
