Sony: FFXIII PS3 exclusivity under discussion

[Bond]

One more platform-exclusive title may be going multiplatform, it has been revealed. The latest news appears to be that Square Enix's latest epic role-playing game, Final Fantasy XIII, may follow other titles--including Saints Row, Assassin's Creed, and Devil May Cry 4--that have now been announced as appearing on at least one other platform as well.

Sony Computer Entertainment France president Georges Fornay dropped the bombshell in an interview with French-language newspaper Les Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace (subscription required). He said, "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."

Fornay went on to say that he believed that the PS3 would be particularly successful in France, and that there had been approximately 60,000 pre-orders made (compared to 40,000 made for the Xbox 360, and 75,000 for the Wii). France will be getting approximately 150,000 of the one million consoles allocated to PAL regions.

He also answered questions about backwards compatibility for the next-gen console, responding to fears that the console would not support many PS2 titles without the Emotion Engine. Fornay said, "Now, if you ask me whether this was a blow to the launch, I would say that [Sony] would have done better to be sure that the console would be completely backwards compatible before announcing it. But hey, when it becomes clear what the PS3 is capable of, gamers won't really fancy playing PS2 [games] anymore..."

Square Enix had not returned calls to comment as of press time.

Source: Gamespot

Come to 360. Come to 360. Come to 360.

[Xantar]

Wait. Why is the President of Sony Computer Entertainment France talking about the possibility of losing Final Fantasy? It seems to me that this is the sort of thingc a Sony executive would try as hard as possible not to talk about.

[DarkMaster]

He's probably just addressing concerns that a lot of titles have been going multiplatform recently, and that Sony is in discussions with Square Enix to hold its FFXIII exclusivity, which is a good thing and was probably said in hopes of calming the PS3 fans.

[Jonbo298]

Sony probably can't afford to toss more money at Square to keep FF(insert number here) exclusive. Every company is feeling the pain of making everything "OMG HD". Business wise, its just too difficult now to keep things exclusive and make a return on a game enough to justify a sequel.

[Angrist]

Port FFXII to the Wii!

[Typhoid]

It would probably -if anything - go to the 360.

[Dyne]

Well, honestly, it wasn't built on the PS3's engine, it was built on the "White Engine". It's easy to port.

Honestly, wouldn't Sony make more money by just letting it go multi? You think there would be a group of Final Fantasy purists complaining that Final Fantasy is better on Playstation or some ****.

[Typhoid]

Originally Posted by Dyne

You think there would be a group of Final Fantasy purists complaining that Final Fantasy is better on Playstation or some ****.

Well, a good system doesnt make a game great.
A great game makes a system good.

Changing the system wont change the game itself, except for graphic qualities.

[Perfect Stu]

Originally Posted by Dyne

Well, honestly, it wasn't built on the PS3's engine, it was built on the "White Engine". It's easy to port.

Honestly, wouldn't Sony make more money by just letting it go multi? You think there would be a group of Final Fantasy purists complaining that Final Fantasy is better on Playstation or some ****.

Final Fantasy XIII exlusive on PS3 = boost in PS3 sales from some 360 owners wanting to play FFXIII. After that, it's a ripple effect. Never underestimate the ripple effect.

[DarkMaster]

Originally Posted by Dyne

Honestly, wouldn't Sony make more money by just letting it go multi?

How the....um, what? Did you mean to say Square Enix would make more money? Cause it might. Not really sure how Sony would benefit from losing the exclusivity of a multi-million dollar franchise.

[Null]

Originally Posted by Jonbo298

Every company is feeling the pain of making everything "OMG HD".

:P why would that be a pain? games have been running in hd for a long long time, thats nothing new to em.

[TheGame]

People thought microsoft was crazy for throwing out money to get people to develop for them, but it paid off. Now sony is gonna have to use similar tactics to hold on to it. Its crazy though, how much can sony really pay to make it worth it? XD

SE will have to take into consideration that 1) There's a lot of money (if not more money) to be made by making it on 360, and 2) Microsoft would probably pay a lot just to rip away the exclusiveness from sony, even if its still coming on Ps3. Sony better be dishing out big bucks :P They'll probably need to secure MGS too somehow too

[Perfect Stu]

Originally Posted by Null

:P why would that be a pain? games have been running in hd for a long long time, thats nothing new to em.

Uh...I [i]believe[i] he said "OMG HD", not "hd"

PS2, XBox, Gamecube: HD
PS3, XBox 360: OMG HD
PS4, XBox 720: OMGWTFBBQ HD

Get with the times.

[Null]

Originally Posted by Perfect Stu

Uh...I [i]believe[i] he said "OMG HD", not "hd"

PS2, XBox, Gamecube: HD
PS3, XBox 360: OMG HD
PS4, XBox 720: OMGWTFBBQ HD

Get with the times.

but erm um. ps2 xbox and gamecube were never hd. lol

PC 360 and ps3 are :P


but he did say omg hd. i was mistaken on that

[Perfect Stu]

Originally Posted by Null

but erm um. ps2 xbox and gamecube were never hd. lol

maybe you were never hd. ever consider that? huh?