Square Enix comes up swinging with Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts releases for both next-gen consoles. The beleaguered developer pushing for two Final Fantasy this fiscal year, XboxOne ports of FFXV and KH3.
Square Enix debuted trailers for Final Fantasy XIV, Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 at last night’s Sony E3. Today, the developer announced that two of those titles – FFXV and KH3 – will also be available on Xbox One.
Details on FFXV and KH3 are scarce. The former, previously known as Final Fantasy XIII Versus, features an active battle system with free-running in certain areas, a weapon selection menu and unique dodge-and-parry moves distinct from Final Fantasy XIII. A second gameplay-oriented trailer also revealed a type of combat not too different from Kingdom Hearts‘ mid-air lock-on slide attacks. It’s also confirmed that the game was developed with DirectX 11, which is how Square Enix plans to handle porting the title to Xbox One.
Kingdom Hearts 3, meanwhile, got the benefit of a presentation from Disney Interactive co-president John Pleasants alongside Final Fantasy brand manager Shinji Hashimoto. Between the two execs, it’s confirmed that a “more mature Sora” will go on new adventures with Mickey, Donald and Goofy in Disney worlds never before seen in the Kingdom Hearts series. Globally, sales of all the games total over 19 million. The game is currently being developed by the Square Enix team in Osaka that developed Birth By Sleep Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, and does not have a release date.
Final Fantasy XIV, the MMO, will be available first this summer on PlayStation 3. It will also arrive on PlayStation 4 in 2014. Producer Naoki Yoshida confirms that player characters from PS3 can be carried over to PS4, “So there is no reason not” to get started, he says.
Lastly, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster are due out on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation VIta. The former, an open world game with action combat, is targeting a February 11, 2014 North America release. The latter is slated for an ambiguous “2013” release.
Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda stated at the beginning of the event that Final Fantasy was a very important part of the company’s future. Following a rough earnings period and the change in CEOs, Matsuda acknowledges the anxiety fans and consumers feel and states that this year, Square Enix will push forward in “a stronger, bigger way.”
