Early this year, Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata said that the massively successful RPG will not be coming to the Nintendo Switch, a stance that has not changed after several months.
The Nintendo Switch simply does not have what it takes to properly run Final Fantasy XV. However, this opens the door for the adorable Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition to arrive to the hybrid console instead.
Will 'Final Fantasy XV' Be Ported To The Nintendo Switch?
"It wouldn't run," Tabata said back in February regarding the possibility of a Final Fantasy XV Nintendo Switch version. However, he admitted that the development team have not conducted any tests at the time to back up that claim.
Several months later, in an interview with DualShockers, Tabata revealed that the Final Fantasy XV development team has tried to run the Luminous Engine, the engine powering the RPG on the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One, on the Nintendo Switch.
The team loaded the Luminous Engine into the Nintendo Switch to see how it would perform in the hybrid console, but the device apparently was not able to "bring out the most of the engine." Admittedly, there were no optimizations applied to the Luminous Engine before it was tested on the Nintendo Switch, but it appears that there remain no plans to bring it to the hybrid console. The team, however, found success with other engines, specifically Unity and Unreal Engine 4.
The Nintendo Switch Will Likely Get 'Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition' Instead
With the Nintendo Switch not powerful enough to properly support the Luminous Engine of Final Fantasy XV, this opens the door for the scaled down but more adorable version of the RPG, Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition, to arrive to the hybrid console.
Last week, Tabata told IGN that "there is certainly a chance" for a Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition Nintendo Switch version to happen. Tabata's new statement that the Luminous Engine does not work on the hybrid console reveals that Square Enix is still tinkering with the platform to see how to bring the RPG into it, and Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition is starting to look like the best, and likely only, option.
Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition will feature cute versions of the RPG's characters and tweaked touchscreen controls, to make the game playable on iOS and Android devices. It will also directly follow the Final Fantasy XV story, as seen in the first 20 minutes of the game in a Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition video.
Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition on the Nintendo Switch will certainly work, but whether or not Square Enix moves ahead with the project remains to be seen.
