Final Fantasy XIV running on XBOX One via the PS4...

[DoubleT]

The issue was not that MS wants MS-only servers, it was that MS wants to require MMO players to still pay for Xbox Live Gold, an SE has always been against making their customers paying 2 monthly fees for the same game. MS allowed XI to be played with no monthly fee, an then afterwards said that they would never allow another company to do the same thing, an SE did not agree. Hence the reason we are allowed the work around on ps3/4 an not required to have psn+. And for those who didnt know, this game was originally being developed for the xbox 360, until the conflict that I just talked about came up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4Kceq4AbGk

[Kisshu]

MS allowed XI to be played with no monthly fee, an then afterwards said that they would never allow another company to do the same thing, an SE did not agree. Hence the reason we are allowed the work around on ps3/4 an not required to have psn+.

First, if I recall correctly, FFXI on XBOX 260 doesn't even use the XBOX servers and such for playing and updates, but is handle outside/around the system. This means MS have no control over updates on FFXI.
Secondly, all free-to-play games like DC online or warframe and FFXIV doesn't require it either on PS4(Think this counts for all MMOs on PS4)
One of the reasons for this is that updates would normally have to be checked by Sony's own team before they are uploaded to the system, for a MMO like FFXIV this would delay the update for some time and also quick fixes would take longer and each update would cost money. By doing this outside the system they can avoid these problems.

[Delmontyb]

First, if I recall correctly, FFXI on XBOX 260 doesn't even use the XBOX servers and such for playing and updates, but is handle outside/around the system. This means MS have no control over updates on FFXI.
Secondly, all free-to-play games like DC online or warframe and FFXIV doesn't require it either on PS4(Think this counts for all MMOs on PS4)
One of the reasons for this is that updates would normally have to be checked by Sony's own team before they are uploaded to the system, for a MMO like FFXIV this would delay the update for some time and also quick fixes would take longer and each update would cost money. By doing this outside the system they can avoid these problems.

The current gold pay wall for MMO's on Microsoft's platform doesn't make the most sense to me, namely because Playstation doesn't require it.With MS moving Netflix, Hulu, and other apps to not require Live Gold was a good move and I had hoped this would apply to MMOs, but sadly it doesn't appear that it will. While most people (I'd assume) who have an XBOX has live, just knowing that you don't have to pay for both services is comforting. I still plan to keep Live, I enjoy it, but not having to have PSN is a solid argument when looking for an MMO to play on a console. So when it comes to friends who ask, should I play ESO on X1 or PS4, I'd say PS4 since PSN isn't required. That's just my opinion, and I Hope to see Microsoft continue to make changes to their policies.

There is something to be said about getting outsold, and with that we've seen a lot of changes at Microsoft, hopefully we'll see them continue.