There was a time a few years ago when it seemed like Square Enix had totally fallen out with Xbox, choosing to skip the platform with a whole bunch of new releases including the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer and his team put in the work to repair that relationship in 2023, and Square Enix has since insisted that Xbox is part of its multiplatform plans, now launching most of its titles on Xbox as well as other platforms.
And, with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade demo going live on Xbox this week, director Naoki Hamaguchi recently visited Microsoft HQ to celebrate what Square Enix is calling a "close partnership" between the two companies.
Better yet, Hamaguchi also made an appearance on the latest episode of the Official Xbox Podcast (which you can watch at the top of this article), discussing his enthusiasm for bringing FF7 Remake to Xbox.
He then went on social media and promised (once again) that the entire FF7 Remake series is on the way:
"To all Xbox players!! I promise to bring the entire FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE series to Xbox. Start your journey now with REMAKE and experience Cloud’s story. An epic adventure begins here."
This is all obviously great news from an Xbox perspective, and it sounds like this partnership will ensure Square Enix doesn't pen many (if any) console exclusive deals in the future. The company has already discussed how it's embarking on an "aggressive" multiplatform push, so exclusivity doesn't appear to be in the plans for any one system.
In terms of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade, that game will be available on Xbox for the first time as of January 22nd, and as mentioned there's a free demo that you can try right now on Series X, Series S, PC and ROG Xbox Ally.