Square Enix + Xbox physicals

2 images

I’m grateful that Square Enix is giving us xbros physical versions of Octopath Traveler Ø and The Adventures of Elliot.

However, I wonder what the deal is with their refusal to give modern Final Fantasy games Xbox physical versions. FF16, FF7-1 and now FF7-2 are digital-only on Xbox, despite being the bigger hitters. There are only two common factors I can think of that might be causing this:

1) The two pictured games are releasing Day One on Xbox alongside the other platforms, while the Final Fantasy games have been later ports to Xbox. If this was the only factor, then FF7-3 releasing Day One on Xbox would mean it gets a physical version alongside PS5.

2) Xbox discs are only 50GB compared to PS5 disc’s 100GB. Maybe Square Enix does not want to spend the extra cents on 2-3 discs for the Xbox physical to be complete on disc, so they omit it altogether (despite a Game Key Card probably being more expensive than pressing 7 Xbox discs combined).

Whatever it is, the decision is peculiar. As a fan of physical media on Xbox, it’s discouraging to see the bigger titles skip Xbox physical.