So it’s been about twenty-four hours since Square-Enix announced yesterday during Microsoft E3 press conference that they were deciding to bring Final Fantasy XIII to the Xbox 360 as well as the Playstation 3 later this year (or early next year) and fan reactions to this startling news have been pretty much what one would normally expect from the denizens of the internet.
Most have expressed shock at this abrupt and surprising decision. While it’s true that Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and XI have made an appearance on the PC (XI also appeared on the Xbox 360), this will be the first time that a major Final Fantasy title will launch simultaneously across multiple platforms. Additionally, Square-Enix has always been renown for their close ties with Sony, and breaking whatever exclusivity agreements they had prior to E3 signifies perhaps the deterioration of a strong relationship that the two companies have shared since Final Fantasy VII debuted on the Playstation over a decade ago in 1997.
Or maybe it’s a simple matter of Square-Enix going where the money is at. While it’s entirely believable that Microsoft may have offered some sort of monetary incentive for Square-Enix to rethink their stance on console exclusivity, it’s also entirely possible that Square-Enix’s decision to put the latest installment in the super popular Final Fantasy franchise was motivated by a fear that Sony’s installbase won’t be enough to recoup the massive expenditures associated with a game as huge of a business venture as Final Fantasy XIII.
Or maybe Square-Enix is really just trying to make the most amount of money possible. They have certainly milked dry the Final Fantasy VII franchise for every cent that it’s worth (I’m still waiting for the Final Fantasy VII remake to be announced) and this is hardly the first time that Square has shifted loyalties. It’s easy to forget that Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) used to be tight buddies with Nintendo until Nintendo decided to opt for the cartridge based Nintendo 64 instead of a CD-based console like Sony’s Playstation. It was definitely a smart move, and I believe a big reason why they haven’t developed multiplatform in the past is merely due to Sony’s overwhelming success in the console market with their Playstation and then Playstation 2.
The Xbox 360 has a humongous install base in Europe and North America, and frankly, it would be foolish for Square-Enix to pass up an opportunity to take a taste of that market. People like to talk about the “loyalty” that Square-Enix owes to Sony, but at the end of the day, the only “loyalty” that they owe is to their own business. Passing up a business opportunity that will potentially make them a lot of money in favor of adhering to this fabled “loyalty” is nothing short of irresponsible.
The only true complaint I can make about Final Fantasy XIII making the jump to the Xbox 360 is the potentiality of a loss of quality in the final product. It’s true that development of the Xbox 360 version won’t begin until after development for the Japanese version for the Playstation 3 is complete, but that doesn’t mean Square-Enix isn’t keeping in consideration the technological limitations of the Xbox 360 in comparison to the Playstation 3. They’ve promised that both versions will be indentical, but that is no guarentee the end product won’t be a degraded version of what it could have been had Square-Enix been focusing exclusively on taking advantage of the Playstation 3’s powerful hardware. In all likliehood, Final Fantasy XIII will ship on multiple discs for the Xbox 360, and while I don’t mind that in the slightest (we’ve been swapping discs since Final Fantasy VII after all), if the game ends up being gimped as a result, I can’t say I will be too happy about that at all.
I criticized Electronic Arts for electing quantity over quality, mass producing tons of games without caring about the quality that ships out. I’ll be very disappointed in Square-Enix if they elect to take the franchise multiplatform only to neglect the quality that the company has become renowned for.
But I suppose that’s something gamers will have to figure out later on once we learn more about Final Fantasy XIII in the coming months.
And how have others been taking the news?
Though this video is fake (and hilarious) it’s worth noting that this imitation of an enraged fanboy really isn’t all that disimilar from the plethora of angry posts that have been popping up over internet chat boards like wild fires.
There are some who feel as though Square-Enix is betraying them by taking Final Fantasy XIII multiplatform and are vowing to boycott Square-Enix’s products until they apologize to the Sony community.
That’s the internet for you. A place where everyone’s opinion counts. Sort of.
Mark Fujii: I'm your typical college student who plays too much video games. I also work as an electronic sales associate, meaning I sell Ipods and violent video games to your children when not trying to sneak off and play Super Smash Bros while the boss isn't looking. Oh, and I'm totally awesome. True fact.
Comments
John (John) says:
(Posted July 15th, 2008 at 11:23 pm)
It’s not so much rage at S-E for being OMG TRAITORZ as for the simply fact that they’ve screwed over PS3 gamers for a wad of fat cash. Great for S-E, lousy shit for us. And just like S-E doesn’t have to care about anything but the bottom line, I don’t have to give a damn about anything but my own enjoyment.
And quite frankly, watching a supposedly great game being gimped to fit on the 360 with worse sound, worse graphics, and less features isn’t exactly something that makes me cheer. So yeah, good for S-E, not good for me, and I’m not a dumb enough fanboy to cheer for the company over myself. Too bad many are.
Steve (Steve) says:
(Posted July 16th, 2008 at 9:05 am)
I doubt the 360 will ‘gimp’ the game. The graphics may suffer, but who cares. I don’t play FF for the graphics.
nikki (nikki) says:
(Posted July 16th, 2008 at 9:18 am)
@John: How is this screwing over PS3 gamers? Square-Enix isn’t taking it off PS3 altogether. In fact according to their presser, they’re not going to start in on the 360 version until after they’ve finished the PS3 version AND the localizations of the PS3 version. The only people who really have any right to be pissed are the people who bought a PS3 before the price drop specficially for FFXIII, and that’s kind of their own fault anyway. I see no difference here to what they did with FFXI.
lol (lol) says:
(Posted July 16th, 2008 at 10:30 am)
Them fucking backstabbing nip! There was Pearl Harbor and now this? It is time for another nuke!
John (John) says:
(Posted July 16th, 2008 at 6:31 pm)
@Nikki: Just like all multi-platform games, you have to make sacrifices. The Orange Box is perhaps the perfect example (or any EA sports game), or even GTA IV. The developer for GTA is on record admitting the game was scaled down in order to fit the 360’s disc size and cpu.
It’s the same with FFXIII. Sony Enix will never release a 360 port that’s noticeably worse than the PS3 one or missing features. As such, they’ll shrink the game to fit on DVDs and cut out extra content, they’ll have worse graphics, worse sound. All to sell more copies.
Like I said, this is smart, really smart by Square Enix. But I don’t really give a damn about how many extra million in profits they make, I care about my enjoyment. And getting a game that’s worse than it could be, that’s definitely not something I’m dumb enough to cheer. Too bad a lot of fanboys are. Especially on the S-E forums.
nikki (nikki) says:
(Posted July 17th, 2008 at 9:17 am)
@John: I really don’t think that will be the case. There’s no need to shrink the game that significantly to get it on DVDs. Just add an extra disc or two. That’s what they’re doing with Last Remnant, though granted, that was planned multiplatform and not a last minute port. I suppose this will be a test of my faith in Square Enix. I don’t think they’d throw out things that have already been planned and/or developed for the PS3 version just to make the port measure up.
Maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know… But with two exceptions, I’ve never been disappointed in a Square Enix game (and given how many I’ve played over the years, that’s saying something). So I’ll continue to believe that they’ll deliver a quality product despite the 360 porting until I see otherwise.
Add your comment
the217
Sections
Buzz Magazine
Mark Fujii
I'm your typical college student who plays too much video games. I also work as an electronic sales associate, meaning I sell Ipods and violent video games to your children when not trying to sneak off and play Super Smash Bros while the boss isn't looking. Oh, and I'm totally awesome. True fact.
nikki (nikki) says:
(Posted July 15th, 2008 at 10:54 pm)
I think much of the yelling and complaining is born of shock. We all know how many gamers get emotionally attached to their console of preference. Fanboys/girls are all over the net. I openly admit to being a diehard PS2 fangirl (original XBOX still sucks monkey balls, by the way).
But I think Square-Enix did themselves a huge favor here. And considering their multi-platform Last Remnant, and the 360-exclusive Infinite Undiscovery, maybe it’s really not as surprising as everyone’s making it out to be. Nothing wrong with testing the waters. They did it with handheld titles, and look how well that’s turned out for them.
I don’t think people will be complaining when the game finally gets here (unless, of course, it turns out to be another X-2. *shudder*).