Final Fantasy 16 runs at 720p on Xbox Series X in performance mode

Final Fantasy 16’s long-awaited Xbox release has several performance issues, according to game tech experts Digital Foundry.

Final Fantasy XVI [168 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/final-fantasy-games/final-fantasy-xvi/”>Final Fantasy 16, which was released as a PlayStation 5 [7,861 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/playstation/ps5/”>PlayStation 5 exclusive in 2023, is out now on Xbox Series X | S [6,371 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/seriesxs/”>Xbox Series X/S. However, according to Digital Foundry, the port is far from perfect.

A brief analysis of the game, based on early cutscenes from Final Fantasy 16, suggests that the Xbox [9,946 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/xbox/”>Xbox Series X version is experiencing performance issues.

“The graphics mode has some weird problems relative to PS5. Firstly, the Series X is softer and lower resolution,” the publication said.

In the video below, Digital Foundry demonstrates that one shot from the early game is rendered at 1440p on the PlayStation 5 version of the game and at 1224p on the Xbox Series X version. “The Xbox version is consistently lower resolution,” Digital Foundry continues.

“There is a dramatic divergence in foliage rendering, where the Xbox just kind of looks broken in some trees and some bushes, so that’s very odd.”

Next, Digital Foundry highlighted that in performance mode, which boosts the game’s frame rate, Final Fantasy 16 runs at 1080p on PS5, whereas on Xbox Series X, it runs at 720p. The Xbox version also has a lower level of detail when compared to the PS5 version.

However, the performance mode on PS5 is still inconsistent, as it was at launch, going between 45 and 60 FPS, whereas the Xbox version, at its lower resolution, is locked at 60 FPS during gameplay. Cutscenes on all versions of the game run at 30 FPS.

VGC’s Final Fantasy 16 review called it “an incredible action game that doesn’t quite deliver the RPG heritage”.

During Summer Game Fest [251 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/events/summer-game-fest/”>Summer Game Fest, Square Enix [947 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/companies/square-enix/”>Square Enix announced that five years after it was initially released on PlayStation 5, Final Fantasy Remake Intergrade is coming to Xbox platforms. This follows the news from April that the game will be coming to Nintendo Switch 2 [374 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/nintendo/nintendo-switch-2/”>Nintendo Switch 2.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake [225 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/final-fantasy-games/final-fantasy-vii-remake/”>Final Fantasy 7 Remake coming to both Xbox and Nintendo [5,371 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/platforms/nintendo/”>Nintendo platforms points to Square Enix’s transition away from exclusives, something that it has previously suggested had impacted sales.

After revealing in September that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth [105 articles]” href=”https://www.videogameschronicle.com/games/final-fantasy-games/final-fantasy-7-rebirth/”>Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Final Fantasy 16 sales “did not meet expectations”, Square Enix announced plans to “shift to a multiplatform strategy”.