E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), much maligned in the past few years, has been home to many of the major bombshell announcements to rock the videogame industry in the last several years, and you can add another one to the list.
At the end of an admittedly otherwise timid press conference, Microsoft brought out a fellow named Yoichi Wada, the current president of Japanese developer Square Enix to deliver a big ‘Fuck You’ to Sony. The announcement?
Final Fantasy XIII, one of Sony’s biggest weapons in the console war, is going multi-platform.
Via 1UP:
“We’re ready to start developing FFXIII for 360,” said Square Enix’s Shinji Hashimoto. “First, we will complete the game for PS3 in Japan, then begin localization for America and Europe while developing the 360 version simultaneously. The PS3 and 360 versions will be released at the same time outside of Japan — although, due to language and other conditions, the game may not be released simultaneously across territories.”
James Mielke, of 1UP, has a great interview with Yoshinori Kitase, the producer of Final Fantasy XIII, HERE.
As an Xbox360 owner still struggling to find reasons to buy a Playstation 3, I have one less reason to buy Sony’s console. This marks the first time since Final Fantasy VI that a mainline Final Fantasy game will release somewhere other than a Sony console (besides the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI), and is the first time that one will appear on multiple platforms at launch.
This is a smart move on SE’s part considering their company is floundering again. I see they’re pulling all their last resort cards now: Chrono Trigger DS, Mario RPG on Virtual Console, multi-platform Final Fantasy. I hope they make it, if only because I want them to be able to make more games that aren’t Final Fantasy.
It kind of sucks for Sony, yeah, but they already have it made for themselves with the Blu-Ray player and a Metal Gear Solid 4 exclusive — among other upcoming games. When Blu-Ray starts to catch on with the market more, I have no doubt that Sony’s rut will be over considering the PS3 is the cheapest player out there.
Luckily for Sony, FFXII Versus remains a PS3 exclusive… and just so happened to be the only one of the set I was looking forward to.
Rather than floundering, I think SE just realizes how much money they’re sitting on. Final Fantasy on multiple platforms makes a whole lot of sense, they’ll sell 3 times as many units by putting the games on both platforms.
Sony’s in a bit of trouble, methinks. Especially if the rumours of MGS4 coming to the 360 come true.
I never did think about FFXIII still being an exclusive, but knowing the way FFXIII is being expanded, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see the Xbox360 get its own exclusive!