Final Fantasy XIII Exclusively in Question with Sony..

[Fuzz]

Article From: IT PORTAL

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“In an interview with French news site DNA, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe vice president says that Final Fantasy XIII's exclusivity to PlayStation 3 is under discussion:

"Enfin, pour Final Fantasy XIII, je peux vous dire que l'exclusivité est en discussion. (Finally, for Final Fantasy XIII, I can tell you that exclusivity is being discussed.)”

In case you have forgotten, this statement comes from the same Sony VIP who caused his company a lot of PR trouble last year. Back in April, George Fornay told French radio station Europe 1 that PlayStation 3 will be available for "around "500 ($613), in the range of "499 to 599 ($612 to 734)". While Sony quickly tried to dismiss such a statement, later events proved Fornay was right.

Back to Fornay's latest statement, Sony losing the exclusivity deal on Final Fantasy XIII is still a long shot. However, let's look at this from another point of view: would Sony even talk about such a subject if the deal was a sure one?


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(side note: I'm attempting to get some fresh news going, get the updates rolling again.)

[Kaiser Dragoon]

Oh wow... the only things making this hard for me to swallow is that:

1.) the gap between machines is huge. If they (Squenix) were to try to develop for all three machines, there would be major problems, between graphics and gameplay.

2.) Squenix has sold on Sony for the past 2 console cycles, why would they change now? Though, it might be more effective Cost-wise... and hell, I wouldn't hate it, I don't plan on getting a PS3 anyways.

~TheDarkDragoon

[LocoColt04]

Square-Enix sold on Nintendo for the two consoles before that -- why wouldn't they change now?

I don't think there will be any issues with FFXIII being PS3-only. I have no doubt that it will be an exclusive title. The question is whether Square-Enix chooses to keep the series on Sony consoles after that.

The Nintendo DS is already getting a full title in Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales, as well as the FFXII spinoff, Revenant Wings.

The PSP is getting a new Tactics game, so there's still some love there -- not to mention the revamped ports of the original Tactics and FFI as well as FFII.

But here's the kicker: Square-Enix dropped a bomb on Sony a few months ago when they announced Dragon Quest IX for the Nintendo DS. DQIX. A FULL title. Not a spinoff. Not some little crappy game. A FULL RPG with 40+ hours of gameplay.

Sony won't get a copy of DQIX unless it gets moved over in a crappy port at a later time.



...of course, this leads to another question: Will the Dragon Quest series move back to Nintendo while the Final Fantasy series remains with Sony?

That's quite possible.

[KingDevilCloud09]

I think that FF will stay exclusive for the ps3. Exclusive games is what makes people buy the system and many people dont have a ps3. so if the become an exclusive title than people will want to buy the ps3.

[LocoColt04]

Square-Enix doesn't serve Sony, though. Rather than stick to a specific console, they have every right as a third-party company to spread their games around to all of the systems. Square-Enix would suffer losses if they went Sony-exclusive, and that's something I doubt we'll ever see so long as there remain three powerhouses in the world of videogaming consoles.

The "major" FF titles might stay on the PS3, but don't be surprised when more full, complete, non-spinoff titles continue to show up on Nintendo and possibly Microsoft consoles.

[Andromeda]

Sony has been lifting some of their exclusive titles lately. But they said that it would be stupid of them right now to be trying to force exclusive titles since they do not have install base to make it worth while. But they will be planning to grab up exclusive titles in the future, since they will need to keep Microsoft from being the greedy evil corp that they are and buying everything in arms reach. *cough*

Anyway, I believe that 2008 is going to be a big year for the PS3. Which will be a point that they have a larger install base. Due to games like FFXIII, Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Tursmo 5 or whatever it is, God of War III. It will be games like that that will get people saying that it is time to buy a PS3 since they are more worthwhile games to be playing. Because once you get a handful of games that people must have, all of those other games that people like I can live without will start getting bought up.

At that point, Sony will have the power to say that they want an exclusive title and keep them. If Sony fails in 2008, there is not going to be much left to bank on. So I think 2007 will be a building year getting consoles out there and pushing it to get ready for the big titles coming out next year. And with a price drop and a package, next year I think people will be buying them up.

I'm already making out a list of games that I want for the PS3. But whats selling me the console is FFXIII, all of the rest of the games will be the icing on the cake.

It was the same for me with the Gamecube. I was interested, but I really did not mind not having it. There were a few games I wanted, but nothing that big. However, Twilight Princess comes out and now I want one to play Zelda. It suddenly became worth my money to get on. And then on top of that, I'll get like ten more games that I want to play, but could have lived without.

[Malahk Musashi]

You know, I honestly think that rumors of lost exclusivity wouldn't even exist had Sony waited to launch the PS3. Sure, there's tons of great looking games waiting for us down the line, but on top of the fact that the PS3 isn't selling well now, it's costing Sony far more to make the PS3 than they sell it for, and the launch titles were far less superior than Sony claimed them to be, boasting spectacular titles for the future is the same thing that made the original Xbox fall behind. When the Xbox first came out, it was the biggest piece of crap on the planet. It looked great, but had a giant wrecking ball for a controller, and had very few powerhouse titles (DOA, Oddworld, etc.), and cost Microsoft far more to make than it was being sold for, but in the end, it ended up being a powerhouse player... still lacking behind, but in the end it was at least worth owning. The PS3 is shaping up to be the same way. The 360 is the current market leader, with the Wii trailing behind (you know Nintendo is loving that), and the PS3 last, especially considering the lack of gusto in their EU launch. If they had waited, or toned it down to compete with the 360 and Wii instead of trying to surpass it, FFXIII and all their other exclusive titles wouldn't even be in question. The PS3 would easily lock in the leading position that the PS2 held (and still holds in last-gen systems).

[Casanova[OCAU]]

Well.. the Final Fantasy series, as far as I'm concerned, is the clincher for me, as far as the PS3 goes. I also like the Gran Turismo and Metal Gear Solid series muchly along with a few jap games, but Final Fantasy is goin to be the clincher.

Whislt the userbase is not huge now, companies don't look at the now. They look at the future cash flows. And the future looks fairly promising for sony right now. so we'll see how it goes.