Final Fantasy and Japan's 360 Support

Square Enix says it's still undecided on the fate of its flagship franchise while Microsoft's CEO bigs up the effort in Japan.

So you've decided that you'll be getting a PlayStation 3 over an Xbox 360 because that's where all the Japanese RPGs are going to be, right? Maybe not.

Will Final Fantasy XII be the last Sony-exclusive main series instalment?

Yoichi Wada, president of RPG powerhouse Square Enix, told news service Reuters this week that the company is considering taking its flagship Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises to Microsoft's next-gen box too.

"We will decide by E3 in May as to whether to release them on both the PS3 and Xbox [360], or just one platform," Wada told Reuters, according to a GameSpot report.

Of course, this wasn't wholly unknown.

Microsoft made a lot of noise about Square Enix's decision to bring its massively multiplayer game Final Fantasy XI to the Xbox 360. This report does, however, suggest that the main singleplayer games would be considered for release on Xbox 360 too.

Microsoft is scurrying to gather as much support from Japanese developers as it can so that it can break into the Japanese market after Xbox's abysmal performance there. Microsoft sold only around half a million consoles in the nearly four years since Xbox launched in Japan.

Already several big names in Japanese development have signed on, including Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who is bringing exclusive games to Xbox 360. The problem is that development appears to be going slowly on all the high profile Japanese titles - especially the RPGs.

But Microsoft is confident that it has the right plan in place for bringing in Japanese gamers.

Speaking at an event in Japan this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Xbox 360 would definitely outdo its predecessor.

"I know for sure, 100 per cent, we will do much better in Japan than we did with Xbox," Ballmer said. "Given the excitement and enthusiasm from many of the game developing companies here in Japan, I expect us to do quite well."

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games