The Last Remnant will be distributed via Steam shortly after the Windows version arrives in stores on March 24. A Japanese press release clued us into the news last night.
A US press release confirming the Steam distribution adds another note, “Square Enix will continue to add to its roster of games on Steam, providing users with instant access – after purchase, they can download the game immediately and start playing.”
Jason Holtman, director of business development at Valve, also suggests Square Enix has plans for Steam beyond the Last Remnant when he says, “We are thrilled that Square Enix chose to bring its diverse portfolio of titles to Steam and know that our customers will be ecstatic to hear this news.”
However, Square Enix isn’t exactly a prolific PC developer. With help from Eidos they ported Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII to PCs in the ’90s. They made Final Fantasy XI on their own and that’s about it for Square Enix PC games in North America. Perhaps, with the acquisition of Eidos moving forward, Square Enix will redistribute Final Fantasy VII and VIII over Steam. But, that seems unlikely since Square Enix could remake both games for consoles and make even more money.
Hmm… What could this “roster of games” Square Enix plans to add to Steam be then? Ports of their Xbox Live Arcade games like Space Invaders Extreme and Crystal Defenders? The new MMORPG in development? Final Fantasy XIII?
