Welp, the Xbox version is dead in the water. What were they thinking?

[Sqwall]

If the PS version of FFXIV doesn't require PS+ then it probably doesn't need anything from Sony's backend to function.

Microsoft has had a history of wanting to stick their fingers into every pie they can find which likely includes requirements for SE to utilize part of the XBL net structure setup for their consoles just to have them connect to the game server. That was the biggest hurdle in getting FFXI on the 360 and I also believe part of the reason why they dropped that version later. I also recall Microsoft in the past refusing to allow titles on xbox consoles if the developers didn't put a minimum amount of achievements in the game which resulted in a fair amount of titles that could be used for gamer score fluffing because players could get all the achievements in them in a matter of an hour or 2.

The reason it took so long to get FFXI on 360 was because Microsoft didn't agree to the patching policy the POL was using. Sony had complete control over POL as a service and it's patching QA policies. Believe it or not, but every patch must be inspected for viruses and code that can potentially brick a console. It would be very bad business decision to allow a bad patch file to be downloaded on 20+ Million machines...and then Sony or Microsoft is left fixing the issue.

So Microsoft had I believe at the time a MORE stringent QA policy then Sony did during the PS2 days which led to the game never coming to OG XBOX until around 2006 after the 360 launched. By then POL was a dead program as Sony phased it out as PS3 was pretty much out by then. It was just a sign of the times and the biter rivalry between to large companies.

FFXIV was also not immune to this issue as it has also been stated that Microsoft wanted more control over patch QA process, and I believe it was SE this time that didn't agree for a long time about how they should implement there patches and updates. Not to mention cross platform play being another contributor. Honestly, I couldn't care at all if I played with a PC, XBOX or PS5 player on the other end. I wish these companies would just combine there networks so we can all just play together no matter what machine we play on.

I don't think anyone thought it could never work on XBOX because it wasn't powerful enough...but it was just bureaucracy behind the scenes that really was the main issue and microsoft being microsoft.