Square Enix confirms FFXIII for 360

$50 mil for a couple of episodic content packages for GTA IV… Has to be a three digit number of millions for FFXIII.

It’s not confirmed that it’s not coming out in Japan. That’s just what we’ve assumed from the info they released. They didn’t mention a Japanese release, but they never explicitly said that it wasn’t being released in Japan.

If that is indeed the case, I’m sure that Sony must have had something to do with it. Maybe Sony have cut some deal here, too.

Wada specifically said something about it being to reach North American gamers. I was a bit mental at the time so I can’t recall what he said exactly.

True. Nobody has made a definitive statement about Japan. But if it’s not been announced alongside all the other announcements of the game (and let’s remember it’s a rather Japan-friendly franchise) it seems very odd to forget to mention it.

I tend to assume that if something hasn’t (yet) been announced then it doesn’t exist rather than it does.

So, can Sony just not afford to buy exclusives anymore?

Well, if you’re Square, you probably don’t want to miss out on many, many millions of 360 owners in NA, I guess. Look at GTA: Rockstar sold untold million of IV as it was multiformat. This really was the great third-party exclusive: no longer. This really does signal a change in the entire business, in my view.

Sony made a comment the other day about focusing on internal development. Maybe they’re opting out of buying exclusives in favour of developing them.

Pat: If it was just a case of money I’d have thought it would have happened before now. But you could be right. Occam’s Razor and all that.

Yeah, you’re right Spiral. Square wouldn’t have done it unless the installed base was there, definitely not.

Shatner: I’m going to be *very* interested to see what Sony has to say tomorrow. Unless they come out with something completely epic, internal or otherwise, it’s going to be a disaster show for them.

Why are we talking like we ‘know’ it isn’t going to be out in Japan?

We’re still not sure, right?

morriss: It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened, I’m pretty sure.

“Why are we talking like we ‘know’ it isn’t going to be out in Japan?”

Um, no we’re not. We’re all saying “if”.

Oh. Shatner seemed to be pretty sure, that’s all.

Not that it matters anyway, since the PS3 version would dominate Japan, regardless.

http://kotaku.com/5025033/liveblogging-square-enix-press-conference

Its a shame that one port has ruined Sony’s E3. The rest of that conference was approaching Sony 2006 levels of fail.

Its also a shame that everyone is falling over themselves to call out “doom” and “disaster” and “its all over” and picking at the carcass.

Basically, good old Shane Bettenhausen asked what we wanted to know. Japan 360 isn’t getting it. Some interesting questions here, let me know what you guys think.

Turn based combat sucks.

Kotaku are liveblogging the Square Enix conference right now.

Confirmed -

-360 version was announced because PS3 is selling badly.
- “first they will finish ffxiii in japan. and then they will start localization for english. at that point, they will start the xbox 360 development.”
- Europe version to be late, due to translations. (this may effect PS3 buyers, since that version is more likely to be region free than the 360 version).
- when asked about the possibility of FFXIII 360 in Japan – “I think you are right [in assuming that it's not coming out in Japan]”
- No plans to make the versions different
- FF Versus XIII is still PS3 exclusive

- FF Versus XIII is still PS3 exclusive

I fucking told you.

I’m back! I did leave, but I couldn’t stay away.

I know people are saying that Microsoft must’ve put up big bags of money for this, but I’m not so sure. The 360 is a popular machine outside of Japan, why would SquareEnix ever want to turn that cash down? From where I’m sitting it would appear that it’s a lack of big bags of money from Sony that caused this, not the promise of the same from Microsoft.

Sony have fucked up bad. This is going to be the only thing that ANYONE is talking about once E3 is over unless Sony really do have some huge megaton up their sleeves. I’m surprised Microsoft didn’t mention it at their conference, actually.

MEGATON BOMB!!! Never saw this coming. Sony better have a hell of a conference up their sleeve.

My heart has just broken. x a million.

I’m done with Sony.. anyone want to buy a used 60 GB ?

DOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMED

I never claimed to “know” morriss – don’t try to put words into my mouth.

I’m merely paying attention to the facts delivered by the source rather than favouring speculation and guesswork. It may be less fun, but it saves me the misplaced sense of disappointment and the even greater misplaced reaction of calling a company a liar because I forgot what was said and what wasn’t.

If my profession was dealing with industry news and I wished to remain credible, I’d make a point of knowing the difference between fact and fiction.

Still, that’s just me.

What do Sony have left now? LittleBigPlanet, Killzone 2..hrm.. anything else?

The Team Ico game.

Need anything else?

Oh and God of War. Fuck those though. sonylol

Gran Turismo

Not much else

I really am quite astonished by this. Sony really, really dropped the ball here.

Then again, FFXIII may be like FFXII in which case I really don’t give a shiny shite either way because it was rubbish, but really, the only thing Sony has left is Metal Gear Solid and it wouldn’t surprise me much if MGS4 Sub-whatever ends up on the 360 as well.

So then it really does just come down to first party titles…

Little bit of over reaction here? It’s one game. Aside from that announcement MS’sE3 conference was looking fairly poor to be honest. Sony still have plenty of stuff and a conference themselves. Lets wait and see.

It’s one game, yes. But it’s a stupendously HUGE one game, and the PS3′s biggest remaining third party exclusive. It’s not like they just nicked Barbie Horse Adventures or something.

Yeah, it was a rubbish conference. This announcement saved their asses really, and even now it’s a bit of smoke and mirrors. It’s not even a new game, it’s fanboy fodder more than anything. This has really diverted attention away from everything else.

The fact that the biggest things people are getting excited/talking about are a) installing games, but still needing a disc, b) it supporting a couple of extra screen resolutions, and c) a PS3 game going multiplatform, it really highlights how bad it was.

Its not that huge. Its still coming out for PS3. The numbers are’nt the problem, the fact that its coming out at all is.

DrDamn: Other than Gran Turismo (which is first party and untouchable) this is the jewel in the Sony crown. No-one was expecting this. As for the content in the rest of the conference… would you want to put anything else major in there to be overshadowed? Bungie have an announcement to make the day after tomorrow so it’s not finished yet.

I’m struggling to think of a bigger game related announcement I’ve seen in 20+ years of gaming.

DrDamn, you’ve got it all wrong:

When Sony do something, it’s curtains for Sony.
When Microsoft do something, it’s curtains for Sony.
When Nintendo do something, it’s TEH INNOVATIVE OMGWTFBBQ!!!!1 (and curtains for Sony)

According to the internets, Sony has been doomed every day for the last two and a half years and when a butterfly flutters its wings in a field in New Jersey this also spells doom and gloom for Sony.

Sony are doomed. The internet said so. The internet is never wrong.

Sony doomed themselves. Microsoft and Nintendo didn’t really have anything to do with it.

It is a very big deal. Final Fantasy is the world’s biggest third-party exclusive, and now it isn’t. This announcement really does signal a sea-change, for the west at least. If XIII had remained a PS3 exclusive globally, it could have seriously altered the state of play between the two consoles completely, in my opinion.

“I’m struggling to think of a bigger game related announcement I’ve seen in 20+ years of gaming.”

It’s not that big. Square falling out with Nintendo was MUCH bigger than this. Sony haven’t lost FFXIII, it’s just the shape of a changing market, and Square have been backing other platforms for a while now. However, with FFVII, Square said goodbye to Nintendo and took their next Final Fantasy exclusive to Sony, which was much more of a shock. FFXIII will still sell more on the PS3.

It’s evident now though, that the industry can’t support third party exclusives on these consoles. The time is coming where they’ll have to merge, like DVD players, and be able to play each others games.

“If my profession was dealing with industry news and I wished to remain credible, I’d make a point of knowing the difference between fact and fiction.

Still, that’s just me.”

Yeah, you soldier on.

/lights a candle for credibility

DQ9 on the DS was a bigger shock.

“It is a very big deal. Final Fantasy is the world’s biggest third-party exclusive, and now it isn’t. This announcement really does signal a sea-change, for the west at least. If XIII had remained a PS3 exclusive globally, it could have seriously altered the state of play between the two consoles completely, in my opinion.”

Hehe, romantic, but.. no. People wouldn’t have rushed out to buy a PS3 and the wondrous FFXIII because it’s that big and that huge. Some people would. Most people just wouldn’t have bothered. It takes more than one good game to make people part with their money. Final Fantasy is not a bigger franchise than GTA and Halo (in the West) either. This is pretty big news, but it’s let’s not over exaggerate it.

The thing about Final Fantasy is that it’s only really MASSIVE in Japan. It sells reasonably well in Europe and the US, but it’s not going to make the difference this generation. I’d be surprised if this one decision will suddenly sway everything Microsoft’s way, particularly as we’ve not even seen Sony’s conference yet.

So many people in Denmark I know are/were holding out for FFXIII it’s untrue.

It’s huge here. I think “maybe” it’s bigger in Europe than the UK, tbh. I’d be interested to hear what they have to say after this.

FFXII was the tenth biggest-selling game for the PS2. Yes, it’s not as big as GTA or Halo, but you can’t seriously deny that it’s big business. One of the biggest.

@Psychotext
“I’m struggling to think of a bigger game related announcement I’ve seen in 20+ years of gaming.”

Really? You are shitting me. Square defecting from Nintendo to Sony in the first place was much, much bigger. Rare being sold by Nintendo to MS bigger. This is a 3rd party title going multiplatform. If you look at these things logically then its the way this gen has been going. Unless you pay for exclusivity then you don’t get it and Sony haven’t done that this generation.

I’m on a couple of other sensible gaming forums/mailing lists. None of them have gone all ape shit and teh DOOMED! It’s big news, but it’s not massive. Sony need to stand up by their exclusives. We’ve seen the last of the big third party exclusives.

I think if it wasn’t big news there wouldn’t be nearly 100 comments here.

DrDamn: I’m talking about a single game rather than whole companies moving. Of course there are bigger bits of company related news!

ecu – I have to be honest, I completely disagree with you. I think there are a huge amount of people that would have bought a PS3 if FFXIII was an exclusive. Just look at the kick MGS4 gave it. With the best will in the world, Metal Gear is simply not as big a deal as FF. It’s a major, major game.