Earlier this year, Square Enix held its Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival. During the event, Microsoft"s Xbox head Phil Spencer came up on stage to announce that the fantasy MMO game was finally going to be released for Xbox consoles. This weekend, we got a timeline for when the beta test for the Xbox versions would be released.
Mark your calendars #Xbox fans! 📅
— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) October 21, 2023
The #FFXIV Xbox Series X|S open beta test is scheduled to begin mid-January to February! pic.twitter.com/aGozAaPt25
According to a post on the game"s X (formerly Twitter) account, the open beta test for the Xbox Series X and S consoles will start in the time period of mid-January to February 2024. The full game will launch sometime in the spring of 2024 for those consoles.
Square Enix has already confirmed that the Xbox versions will include cross-play support with its other platforms: The PC, the PS3, the PS4, and the PS5 consoles. The Xbox Series X version will include support for playing the game at up to 4K resolution. The SSDs on both consoles will support faster loading times compared to last-generation consoles.
Once the full Final Fantasy XIV game is launched, it will also support its Expanded Free Trial for Xbox console owners. That means Xbox Series X and S players will be able to check out the game"s main campaign A Realm Reborn, along with its Heavensward and Stormblood expansions for free, up to level 70.
Spencer hinted strongly at the time that Microsoft and Square Enix will be working together to bring more Final Fantasy console to Xbox games. Hopefully, that means those players will get a chance to play the Final Fantasy VIII remake games, along with the latest title Final Fantasy XVI in the very near future.