We’ve learned that Square Enix is actively trying to port Final Fantasy XV to the Nintendo Switch.
The news comes via an interview with game director Hajime Tabata (via Eurogamer), who confirmed they’re legitimately investigating how to cram the massive Japanese RPG into the hybrid console.
“We’re actually doing very specific technical investigations into what’s possible at the moment,” Tabata said. “Where we are at the moment – we’ve completed those tests and have worked out where the ground lies. We’re currently in the middle of the discussion and debate about what we should be doing, and how to realise that on the Switch.
“The other thing – you see the mobile version, the PC version, one thing we value is to optimise the way the game plays and the experience for the individual hardware it’s on rather than a one-size fits all approach. We can’t currently announce anything – we haven’t come to a full decision on the best way to do it yet. We’re having very open, frank discussions with Nintendo at the moment about what they think is the best thing to do. It’s all under investigation.”
Bethesda made headlines last week when they confirmed Nintendo Switch ports for both their Doom reboot and the upcoming Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus. Those two announcements single-handedly convinced many fans that ports of AAA third-party games are feasible, or actually happening.
“Honestly, when we did the technical test to see if we could use the same native engine we used on other console versions on the Switch, we tried to run it there, the results weren’t satisfactory,” Tabata noted.
“It wasn’t what you’d want from a final game. It doesn’t mean that’s the end of that – we’re looking at the options, like the customisation of the engine. To give you an example how open those discussions are – we’re talking to Epic at the moment, about maybe what we could possibly do there, and if we did a Switch version maybe we’d be able to partner and do something there. Their Unreal environment is just amazing, and will be very useful. You have to have all those options on the table – without that it’d be impossible to make a decision about what we can do on that platform.”
Finally, Tabata has noted that he’s yet to get his own Nintendo Switch in Japan, due to the scarcity of the console and Nintendo’s ongoing struggle to meet production demands.
In related news, Final Fantasy XV was recently confirmed to be heading to PC. Final Fantasy XV is currently available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. In case you missed it, you should check out our written and video review for the game here.
