The Day The Fantasy Died
by andres on Jul.15, 2008, under Headline News
Yesterday, during the E3 Microsoft Keynote presentation, we heard Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, give an announcement that broke millions of hearts.
Final Fantasy XIII no longer a PS3 exclusive. An Xbox 360 version will be released in Europe and North America on the same launch date as the PS3 version.
I think I’m justified in feeling terribly betrayed right now, since time and time again the world was assured that Final Fantasy XIII was to be a PS3 exclusive–the trailers had logos on the end that read “Exclusively for the Playstation 3 System”, the rumors were quelled time and time again, really–we all thought we could trust Square Enix. They have Sony’s back, we thought. Sony saved them when they were drowning after FFX-2 and Spirits Within. They gave them a huge chance with Kingdom Hearts–it’s the only reason they’ve been able to explode back up. And now this.
I can’t imagine the amount of money that must have exchanged hands for this to have occurred–Xbox 360 must have realized they didn’t have all that much in their 2008 lineup and called up Square Enix, begging for a slice of cake. I do, however, get the feeling Square won’t be having to merge with any other company anytime too soon.
To give some good news, Final Fantasy XIII Versus remains a PS3 exclusive, and XIII itself will of course still be released on the PS3. But Square has wounded me this time. I’ve been able to forgive and forget time and time again. But this? This is betrayal. I’ve been stabbed in the back. And not only me–I get the feeling Sony didn’t know about this announcement either. Nor any other Playstation advocate out there.
Square Enix, you’ve got to win back my respect and my approval. Both are gone for now. You have one more chance: make these two games so spectacular My eyes pop out, or become dead to me from here on out.
Let’s hope you make the right choice.
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July 16th, 2008 on 12:03 am
Wait, we are still getting FFXIII on PS3 right? Why do you care about Xbox getting the game as well? What does it matter to you? You get to play the game. So do Xbox players. What’s the problem? If Sony doesn’t care enough to keep FFXIII PS3 exclusive, thinking they don’t have to rise a finger to keep their most anticipated JRPG on their homeconsole, I don’t mind it going to Xbox since they seem to get all the other JRPG titles as well. To be completely honest, exclusivity should be a thing of the past. If you don’t have all 3 big consoles you can’t play so many good titles it ain’t even funny.
Only thing I’m pissed about is that they didn’t tell us sooner. Now I have a PS3 to sell and Xbox to buy, which sucks since I’ll lose few hundred bucks. But looking at Sony’s E3 press conference they aren’t even trying to keep RPG players like me on their console. If they had not ignored my type of player completely I wouldn’t make so hasty decisions. But it really looks bad for me right now.
July 16th, 2008 on 12:44 am
@Nico: The thing about exclusive titles is that they’re what make or break a console. You don’t see Zelda on the Xbox and you don’t see Master Chief running around on the Wii. Ico is firmly stuck in Sony hardware and Mario is never going to be on the PS3. That’s the way the console market works: different consoles are different, have different features and therefore offer different play experiences, and are probably not going to offer all the same games.
The reason this move was a backstab to the PS3 is because FFXIII would have been what’s called a “killer app”–a piece of software exclusive to a piece of hardware that people want and therefore causes the hardware to be desirable; an example being, in the early days, the program VisiCalc on the Apple II computer. It wasn’t available on any other machine, and that’s one of the things that that helped the Apple II become such a huge success.
Some other of the PS3′s “killer apps” are MGS4, Killzone 2, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet. Examples of the Wii’s killer apps are Super Mario Galaxy, Smash Brawl, Metroid Prime: Corruption, Wii Fit (in theory) and the newly announced Wii Music (also in theory).
The Xbox 360 ports everything it’s got over to the PC eventually, so it really doesn’t have that many killer apps. But for now some of its exclusives are Blue Dragon, Lost Oddyssey, Halo 3 and Ninja Gaiden II.
If Sony was relying on Square to provide a killer app, their decision to also port it to the 360 is considered a backstab. For people who want to see more of their console sold and grow in popularity and strength (which you of course want if you want more games to come out for it) killer apps are vital, and the last thing they want is for their killer apps to appear on competitor’s consoles.
I trusted Square to maintain loyalty where loyalty is due.
July 16th, 2008 on 1:15 am
Aye, I bought my PS3 with FFXIII in mind.
I just can’t help but feel that Sony did something wrong with their approach. I mean if they really wanted they could keep SE on a tight lieau right?
I don’t know, if I mind if consoles have few exclusive titles.. but most games should be non exclusive, although if hardware is a limiting factor (like MGS4 on Wii) I wouldn’t support it.
I’m not completely sure what is Sony’s “exclusive make or break title” either. Nintendo’s is pretty obvious Mario etc. and Xbox has that Halo.. are first party titles aren’t they? I’m not sure if other companies need to have loyalty to the homeconsole, I think it’s the sonys/microsofts/nintendos duty to keep their franchises exclusive, but that’s just an opinion.. But I don’t think third party companies should be loyal, just do what’s best for their company. They don’t have to care about Sony nor Microsoft. I mean, if releasing FFXIII only on Sony would make SE go bankrupt, I think avoiding that would be the #1 thing right? And I think SE told us they’re not doing that well as a company. I’m quite sure that has something to do with it.
I also think if the companies were doing bad or could get more profit off going multiplatform we’d see Ninja gaiden 2 (PS3 already got gaiden 1 right?), Lost Odyssey and similar games on PS3.
I hope you understand what I mean~
July 16th, 2008 on 9:39 am
@Nico: Well, Sony started out rough for various reasons–something I detailed in my post, “Everybody Hates the PS3″. But they’ve grown more and more and already pretty much had the title guaranteed. Should they have done more?
Well, it’s like if Bungie decided to release Halo 4 on the PS3. No, Halo is not first party–Bungie is its own developer. But they publish for the Xbox 360 dedicatedly. Them going multiplatfom’s simply unheard of. Ever since PS1′s switch to CD format, Square has firmly been supporting Playstation 1. No Final Fantasy past 6, apart from Chronicles (which doesn’t count) and FFXI (which is an MMO) has been made for any console other than Sony’s. The idea that Square would go multiplatform is unthinkable–partly because their franchise is so successful that they’d be guaranteed people would buy the console just to get their game–especially now that the PS3′s going down in price.
Plus, it’s more than likely Microsoft’s throwing money around to get these games. They paid a great huge sum for Grand Theft Auto IV, which would have been a PS3 exclusive otherwise, and now they’ve taken Final Fantasy XIII.
I know how you feel, because you’d love to play EVERY game. But it comes down to simple economics and the fact that, in this world, there can only be one iPhone. Notice how many iPeripheries are made for Apple products and not other MP3 players (which there are many of). Apple has simply flooded the market, and iPod has become a common household word. As long as PS3, Xbox 360 and the Wii keep duking it out, that’s not entirely likely to happen.
Square has been doing badly because they’ve released too many crappy games. After the fantastic success of Kingdom Hearts 2, they went for several portable remakes and then Final Fantasy XII, which just wasn’t the success they would have liked and cost them too much.
I guess it makes sense that accepting a huge sum of money would be good for them. But it’s really their own fault for constantly dividing their team between projects. And now they’ve lost a huge bit of loyalty from a preexisting fanbase.
July 21st, 2008 on 12:03 am
Let’s hope that SE will have something for PS3 on their own oddly named event in japan! I think they hinted at something exclusive for the PS3 in some interview. That MMO they have been working on for PS3 would be good, as any other MMO I’ve seen lately has been a disappointment, but that’s gonna be multiplatform so I doubt it.
August 15th, 2008 on 1:55 am
I don’t personally feel backstabbed by Square. Square dropped out of my favor ever since the directions they decided to take company in some hackneyed direction of milking the series more than it’s really worth. I consider them putting FFXIII on the 360 as another move of milking since they lack many widely acclaimed titles (Sorry, VP2 wasn’t nearly as good as VP1, Radiata Stories* was good) I suppose having a PS3 and a 360 could influence my nonchalant attitude regarding it, but I’d still prefer to purchase it for the PS3.
If a “FF” fan decides that multiplatforming just the first FFXIII gives them one less reason to own a PS3, I beg that they understand there’s a bagillion more, unique RPGs out there to play.
“*” Not directed at you. Just friend who think Square-Enix is the uber RPG company for best games.
August 15th, 2008 on 2:10 am
@ithunn: I haven’t been disappointed in Square since Final Fantasy X. Yes, they’ve milked their series a great deal, but don’t tell me other developers and companies are not guilty of the same. Mario. Zelda. Resident Evil. In fact, every Capcom game. Dead or Alive.
I do agree with you that they began their shift in just producing for the sake of earning money, and Kingdom Hearts 2 and Final Fantasy XII were hints of that. My worry is that Square has forgotten about making truly moving masterpieces like FF4, 5 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 were. FFXIII being ported to the 360 is a sign that Square no longer cares about its fanbase much at all–especially it’s American fanbase, since Japan is still getting the PS3-exclusive release. This is a warning for the future and a reflection of Square’s attitude towards people who play their games. If Final Fantasy XIII ends up being just another commercial extraveganza with no real substance, I think that’ll be the final indicator that we might as well not buy Square games anymore.
And it’s a shame, because I really enjoy Square RPGs.
August 22nd, 2008 on 10:23 pm
I should have been clearer when I mentioned milking the series. I believe that ever since Square was merged with Enix (when both were producing what I would consider “high quality titles), I felt like the company began a higher emphasis on quality versus quantity. This statement is excluding any other series that have become milked or lost a lot of quality because we’re only talking about Final Fantasy here.
But when you think about it, SE never put a huge company direction in pleasing its American fanbase ever since International releases or exlusive packages/etc always never make their way stateside. In-so-much, I look at the porting of FFXIII as Square simply wanting to make more revenue because of the current amount of people in America who own a 360 versus a PS3 (and in Japan the 360 constantly fails, so a port would lose them money when the dev kits come out). I’ve never felt like a satisfied “Squarefan” or felt like Square ever catered to “my American gaming.” I can see what you’re saying, but I never expected Square to care for its American fanbase as much as Japanese due to multiple reasons. FF comes out in Japan? Everyone goes crazy. Finally released in America? The traditional FFers berate the game.
All I’m just saying is that I personally never . . . unexpected something like this from Square.
August 22nd, 2008 on 10:24 pm
QUANTITY VERSUS QUALITY! Sorry >> No edit button for the fail.
August 25th, 2008 on 3:53 pm
@ithunn: I can understand that well enough. I guess SE never really did anything to *piss me off*, which is why I never felt like they had anything against their American audience. Other than not exporting some quirky spinoffs of the same released games (Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix and the like) which I could understand because most of their American audience (seen through market research) are not really keen to repurchase the same game twice, despite new content.
So this sudden disregard is news to me, and makes me very upset.