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FFXIII Exclusivity Under Discussion
In an interview between a French-language newspaper and Sony Computer Entertainment France president Georges Fornay, he revealed that FFXIII's exclusivity is still under discussion. Gamespot reports, and attempted to check with Square-Enix about the reality of this situation. If the high-profile RPG's exclusivity is not a lock for the PS3, it could be a crushing blow for Sony's future plans. "The development costs of games have exploded, and it has become more difficult to have exclusives, outside of our own games. But we have for launch day [in France] 30 games, including MotorStorm, Resistance: Fall of Man, and Virtua Fighter 5. Moreover, we are expecting 200 games [for the PS3] by the end of 2007...As far as Final Fantasy XIII goes, I can tell you that the exclusivity is in discussion."
I guess X was a big hit, but I don't think "final fantasy" resonates the way it did. I don't know if the franchise still guarantees a hit.
I haven't played the latest (XII), but there's been a lot of crap games (X-2), media/merch crap (advent children, spirits within).
I'd think another player would have toppled FF off the tip of the RPG mountain by now.
I just don't see how a exclusive lock on final fantasy is as lucrative as it once was (like it was with VII).
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
...that the end of Final Fantasy console exclusivity (FF titles are on Nintendo's handhelds, and there's been PC versions of some games, but in general it's all Sony) would pretty much be the end of the Playstation 3. It's already suffering in the corner. People follow both companies and games, but the latter is more important at the end of the day. If you can play the same game for $100 less and have the same experience, which console are you going to buy?
It seems to me that the two franchises that have been keeping Sony going are Gran Turismo and Final Fantasy. Turismo is their property, so they'll be able to hold that one. But if that's their only selling point, it's over. And since Sony is bringing out a $600 Blu-Ray standalone player, which is pretty much guaranteed to be a better player than than the PS3 no matter how good the PS3 is, that final non-game reason to buy a PS3 is going down the toilet if you don't also desire the gaming functionality.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This could mean several things.
1) FFXIII isn't exclusive, and Sony is now in talks to lock it in.
2) FFXIII was exclusive, but they're considering taking it cross-platform, and Sony is trying to get them to stay the course.
3) FFXIII is exclusive, but Microsoft/Nintendo are trying to convince them to port it.
4) Insert more here.
That being said, if they do defect, it would be a serious blow to Sony. Ace Combat has already switched over entirely (now 360 exclusive), and Devil May Cry is cross platform. The list of AAA exclusives is dwindling. I think they're sitting at, first party titles (God of War), Ratchet and Clank, MGS4, and FFXIII.
If FFXIII defects, then that combined with Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon might be enough to start swaying the Japanese market. It would be a very strategic title for Microsoft to acquire. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that Microsoft has been leaving suitcases full of cash at Square's doorstep if this turns out to be accurate.
They may not have much say in the decision, but being in such a high level executive position probably puts him in the communication chain to hear about such a decision. I'm sure that if there were problems with FFXIII exclusivity, that the issue would make the email rounds among high level executives. Its naive at best to suggest that because he's in charge of the French division that he would have no way of knowing.
I remember the Sony fanboys saying the exact same thing about a Devil May Cry 4 port, despite your insistence that it was obvious. XBox and PS3 are, currently, neck to neck graphically.
That's strange, can you point me to a post anywhere claiming that DMC4 was 'gimped' looking prior to the announcement it would be on the Xbox 360 as well? In fact, I recall everyone claiming the game looked too good to be done on the 360!
j pg
I guess being a Sony fan these days is like being a Republican. Every 5 minutes you need to revise past statements and claim that you new belief has always been your belief.
Oh, and just try and call me a fanboy:
http://img372.imageshack.us/img372/8692/00001re2.
- "Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem"
...nope, that was Sony stock falling.
But seriously, I'm not in the least bit surprised. In fact, I've been expecting FF13 to go cross-platform for quite some time now. Square has more reason to go cross-platform, now more than ever before. When they were with Nintendo, they were pretty tight, and were more intimately familliar with their hardware design. They switched to Sony only because Nintendo screwed them with the N64. FFX came out long before the XBox or GameCube, and even FF12 was in progress while those consoles were in their infancy. And up until now, there hasn't been any direct competition with Sony that revolved around the exact same user-base. That's changed... and we have two very similar consoles, with similar (or at least potentially similar) install bases. The fact that Square has already jumped ship on many other titles, makes me think they're not adverse to doing so with any... and it just seems the safest, and most ecconomical, to do so.
There's only one line of reasoning as to why they would be better off remaining exclusive. That is that if the PS3 were to fail, the resistance to the 360 in Japan may not simply go away over-night... meaning NO ONE would have a system capable of buying and playing FF13 on. If they were to port FF13 to the 360, the Japanese may simply ditch the series as well as the PS3, and go completely over to the Wii. Still, in the US, where Final Fantasy is the strongest, porting FF13 to the 360 would generate enormous sales, enough to counter any strange occurences that Japan might provide.
I gave FF13 a 75% chance of going over to the 360, back in November... this news raises that to about 90%.
It's going to go, let's just sit back and watch the fireworks.
Multiplayer Gaming (defined): Sitting around, discussing single-player games with my friends, at the bar.
I would summarize it as: - Nicer battle system (more interactive, more realistic) - Lots of eyecandy - Poor transitions (from in-game to pre-rendered video, for example many boss attachs) However, it has these certain MMORPG overtones - Lots of repetitive tasks - Sidequests don't add much to the overall story value - Grind... And the plot is a bit lacking - Underdeveloped characters - Less believable characters - Pretty, but fluffy... However, the environment itself was rather nice. In the english version, the use of somewhat archaic language added somewhat to the game IMHO