Would FFXIII going multiplatform move 360s in Japan?

By Rolando . March 24, 2007 . 3:24am

Ever since Capcom announced Devil May Cry 4 was going multiplatform, various gamers across the Internets have found themselves questioning the exclusivity of other big name PS3 titles; Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4. Of course, with SCE France’s president recently saying FFXIII’s exclusivity is under discussion, though possibly taken out of context at best, even more gamers are starting to believe that Final Fantasy XIII may just go multiplatform. Of course its obvious that Final Fantasy XIII going multiplatform would bolster huge sales in the West since the Xbox 360 has a bigger install base in the West; but for the sake of speculation and even self-interest and hypothetical analysis, would Final Fantasy XIII going multiplatform move 360s in Japan?

It’s an interesting thing to think about even if both Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII are both being developed and released simultaneously since the 360 isn’t doing so hot in Japan. With a FFXIII demo coming later in the year for the PS3, would Square-Enix consider multiplatforming FFXIII in Japan or keeping it as a PS3 exclusive, considering the 360 Japanese install base isn’t so huge? Rather, would Square-Enix keep FFXIII a PS3 exclusive in Japan and only multiplatform the game for the Western audience? Would Square-Enix benefit at all?

You may be asking yourself why Japan is such a big deal; to Microsoft, penetrating the Japanese gaming market is one of their biggest goals with the Xbox 360 by featuring titles that’ll appeal to the East. Blue Dragon managed to create some sort of ripple followed by Lost Planet and Gears of War; but after those titles were released, things returned to the way they were with 360 sales going down. If Microsoft succeeds in taking away Final Fantasy XIII from its PS3 exclusivity, things may turn out for the best; and maybe the 360 install base in Japan will grow and embrace the console. Then again, if the PS3 version of FFXIII is released first, PS3 sales in Japan may go up with 360 sales suffering when the 360 version is released. What do you think?

Remember. This is just mere speculation, not absolute truth.

TAGS: Final Fantasy XIII, Microsoft, Playstation 3, RPG, Sony, Square Enix, Xbox 360

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EvilAkito

I really doubt that it would make a big difference. PS3 just launched a few months ago and has already sold over 800,000 units. 360 launched a year before the PS3 and hasn't even sold half of that yet. Considering that 360 has an exclusive RPG with big names like Hironobu Sakaguchi and Akira Toriyama attached to it, its sales figures send a clear message from Japanese gamers: "we're not interested." That's just the harsh nature of the console industry. Gamers aren't so quick to accept new blood into the race, and Microsoft doesn't have enough influence in Japan to muscle their way into it like they have in America and Europe.

With that said though, sales in western territories would certainly benefit from a 360 release. The trickier question is whether or not the extra sales justify the added cost. And it's not like PS3 is failing so hard that FF has no chance of being a multi-million seller. We can argue that nobody, not even the most hardcore FF fanboy, would buy a $600 console just to play FF13. But that's irrelevant since FF13 is three games now (assuming Haeresis is a PS3 game). Couple that with White Knight Story and you give a Square fan plenty of incentive to drop the money for a PS3. If SE sees high sales on Sony's hardware then they'll continue to support it.

But none of this matters to me since Wii is my one and only next-gen console of choice. All I care about for now is when I'll get to play DQ: Swords and FF: Crystal Chronicles. :)

BurntToast256

Is it just me but I don't know... I used to be a hardcore FF fan but now I'm seriously not even interested. I think Sqee-nix has basically jumped the shark, so to speak, when it comes to Final Fantasy. After X I'm seriously not interested in it anymore. I hated the fact that XI was even called XI and I haven't even bothered to play XII.

DQ on the other hand I'm still excited about... and the fact that IX is on DS is amazing and opens up a lot of potential.

... but yah, I ran out and bought a PS2 just for Final Fantasy VII... I can't see myself doing that now, with the quality of game the Final Fantasys have been lately, with the PS3 $600 or not.

Aoshi00

Feeling the same here, Online beng named XI was a joke, and XII was pseudo-MMO so to speak. In addition, what hinders me from enjoying XII was its weak storyline, I felt almost nothing for the characters even though I'm 1/3 or 1/2 into the import ver, I left off at the ice boss in the King's underground tomb. Last time I found myself engrossed in a FF was X (IX was great too), I couldn't stop playing to find out what's going to happen to Tidus and gang. Vann and Penelo, such weak presence.

As for whether XIII would boost 360's sales in Jpn, I think Lost Odyssey, Cry On, Trusty Bell, Infinite Undiscovery, and all these up and coming RPGs would all do the job. Jpan is not big in shooters (even though there's an audience), Lost Planet and Gears of War might be big hits here, but it only sparked little interest in Jpn. Blue Dragon however has started to change the trend, it was a system seller because Jpn craved for JRPGs on the 360, that's the only thing the system lacks, and Microsoft's Mistwalker is filling that void. God bless Sakaguchi-san.

And now we have XIII's heroine named "Lighting" (after Cloud & Squall), was I the only one who found the name cheesy? That's really discouraging for me...

TheMastahLink

I see MGS4 going multi-platform before FF XIII does. Especially since Xbox 360 has failed in Japan.

Icupnimpn2

I am patently unexcited about the next-gen of Final Fantasy. I think that spreading it out into 3 games actually dulls my interest rather than increasing my appetite. It makes me think that we're going to get 3 mediocre/rushed games instead of one great/epic game. Really, how good could they all be? There's bound to be at least one stinker.

We were open to the idea of Dirge of Cerebus and Advent Children because we came to care about the characters from FF VII after playing the original game. Here, Squeeenix is giving us no time to care about the characters or the storyline. They assume that we're gonna eat it all up based on the brand name. To me, that speak of the kind of arrogance Sony has previously demonstrated by assuming that we were going to starve our families for a few months and rush out in droves to buy a Playstation 3, based on the strength of the Playstation name.

More on topic, I do think that releasing XIII on 360 would drive sales of the system in Japan, if sales for the PS3 and 360 versions went on sale at around the same time. There are doubtless some fence-sitters in every territory waiting for some system-seller to push them in one direction or another.

What XIII on 360 would mean in America, however, would possibly be the death of PS3 in this territory. I think that Microsoft has somehow built up goodwill with gamers over this last year. No PS3 game yet has truly blown the 360 out of the water. There's actually been a lot of disappointment over the differences between the infamous "target renders" as compared to PS3's actual game releases. I believe that gamers would preferentially buy the less-expensive 360 over the PS3 if they could get all the games they want from 3rd parties on the 360.

irfan

yes , man it will obviously boost the sales in japan and other countries of asia bcz FF XIII will be a great game as its predecessors . and if MGS 4 comes to 360 then honestly PS3 will be killed cz its one of the best game PS3 has to offer.

Bill Anderson eva360

I think if FFXIII released Exclusively on the 360 in Japan I'd be laughing my ass off because of the simple irony of the situation. I'd buy it....

Symphony

I doubt that it would sell many 360's in Japan, it would probably tip a few people who were close to buying one. As far as western release goes FFXIII and VS are going to sell the PS3 for me at least; I enjoyed the VS trailer quite a bit.

Kakashi

I'm pretty sure it would help sales of the 360 in Japan. Maybe not so much as if it were a 360 exlusive, but I'm sure it will help.
I've been gaming since the Atari 2600 days, and to me, it sure seems like people follow the system that has a good library of games. NES and SNES were at the top of their game; Nintendo lost the battle with N64 since they went with the cartridge format and ultimately lost many of their powerful 3rd party publishers to Sony. To me, the PSOne felt just like SNES, only more powerful of course.

So I have to disagree with EvilAkito's statement: "Gamers aren’t so quick to accept new blood into the race, ..." because if that was the case, then why did Sony steal the show from Nintendo with the introduction of PSX/PSOne? It shouldn't be that difficult for another company to come in and become the leader, IMHO.

randomshinichi

I used to really like Final Fantasy. Now, playing a lot of I-IX, and being too poor to get even a PS2, I lost interest.
Being too poor to get a PS2, it would also be very obvious to me that buying a X360 (which has Sakaguchi, tri-Ace and other bigwigs on it) and a DS Lite would still cost less than a 60GB PS3. Although FF13 will most likely be only for PS3 (how I hope it comes to the X360, please!) I think it's time to move on. I'm not paying USD600 for a PS3 when I can have two consoles and some spare change for the same amount, just for one game (I refuse to acknowledge the spinoffs as part of the series. Never)

Tis a sad decision for the FF fan within me, but I'm sure that when people have played as much FF as I have, they'll agree that it's time to move on. Besides, almost every good game the PS3 has is out for the 360 as well.

randomshinichi

Back to the topic: Nah. FFXIII would have to switch platforms completely and be a 360 exclusive to get any Japanese interest... otherwise they would naturally buy the PS3 version of the game.

Gearzero

IF SONY IS LESSINING!!! MOST PEOPLE WILL ONLY BUY PS3 IF FINAL FANTASY 7 were to be REMAKED! REMADE! WITH SUPPER SPECIAL fun and crazy things in the game!!!! FINAL FANTASY 7 is the Savior of PLAYSTATION 3 AND THEY SHOULD GO QUICKLY AND MAKE THE GAME!!!!!!! thats a promise!!!!