Final Fantasy XIII dated for US/Europe

By Robert Purchese Published 13 November, 2009

Simultaneous PS3/360 launch in March.

Square Enix has announced the simultaneous PS3 and Xbox 360 release of Final Fantasy XIII in Europe and the US on 9th March, 2010.

The date comes at the end of a video posted moments ago on the official Final Fantasy XIII site (and soon Eurogamer TV).

The video also reveals that former X-Factor winner Leona Lewis will sing the theme song. It's called "My Hands" and is taken from her upcoming album Echo. Some people wait a lifetime for a moment like this.

If you live in Japan, you can play the PS3 game from next month. Look out for our import review at the turn of the year.

For more on FFXIII, check out our hands-on of the playable demo from the FFVII Advent Children package in Japan, our E3 preview with more on the battle system, our gamescom preview covering Paradigm Shift, and yesterday's news of the Crystarium growth approach to character development. Phew.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • The_Inquisitor #1 2 years ago

    That doesn't give me much time to complete number 12. Is 4 months long enough to get good at the game?

  • Shane86 #2 2 years ago

    If it comes out earlier in the U.S. at least I can import it.

  • freakzilla #3 2 years ago

    GOW, GT5 and FF13.... uh oh. And it seems jan and feb will be pretty busy too.
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 15:42

  • Pastici #4 2 years ago

    Wow, so speedy!

  • Bertie Verified Senior Staff Writer, Eurogamer.net #5 2 years ago

    Apologies for the various updates. Video encoding for EGTV now.

  • Shotaro #6 2 years ago

    Thats my 26th birthday present sorted for my missus then! :-D

  • Gaol #7 2 years ago

    Much sooner than I expected.

  • ParanoidZombie #8 2 years ago

    good news!!!! Looks like porting the game to x360 wasn't much of a challenge, Unless there's a catch, of course.

  • j-bo #9 2 years ago

    omfg leona and FF

    just had a fangasm

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #10 2 years ago

    It's rumoured it'll be the goriest Final fantasy yet.

    They keep bleeding, they keep keep bleeding...

  • danathjo #11 2 years ago

    Just started disk two on FFVII, this should give me enough time!

  • NotSoSlim #12 2 years ago

    Too many games in March :o)

  • GamesProgrammer Verified Games Team Programmer, Eutechnyx Ltd. #13 2 years ago

    Just watched the vid it does not say march it says spring, which goes on alot longer than march, it also does not state where, nothing at all not even as generic as western release.

  • killyourtv #14 2 years ago

    leona fuckin' lewis

  • GreyBeard #15 2 years ago

    @Gamesprogrammer

    Errr, the end of the video has a big zoom out to a full-screen caption saying 3. 9. 2010

  • groovychainsaw #16 2 years ago

    So, every game has been moved to spring to avoid call of duty, and now they're all going up against final fantasy XIII?

    Why do I suspect all these games that were delayed are going to get delayed again, to next xmas or something, just to avoid this. And some of those I wanted to play soon, too... :-(

  • M_of_the_sys #17 2 years ago

    @GreyBeard

    It's out next September?!
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 16:05

  • ParanoidZombie #18 2 years ago

    @groovychainsaw: lol, alpha protocol will never be realeased if your theory is correct, then.

  • YobRenoops #19 2 years ago

    I call GT5 getting pushed to at least April. Also PS3 price drop to £199 for March.

  • ZeroAX #20 2 years ago

    ah the stupidity of using 2 forms of date (DD/MM/YY or MM/DD/YY). great job humanity.

  • Bigglesworth #21 2 years ago

    Just had a listend to the LL song... hmm. Superficially, it sounds like a generic breakup song. At a stretch, and with an accompanying Final Fantasy storyline, I guess you could mine a deeper interpretation from it.

    Oh well, no Engrish in the lyrics, at least =)

  • markymark22 #22 2 years ago

    Day one ps3 purchase for me! Microsoft shall spend some amount of money on advertising this game wait and see!

  • ZuluHero #23 2 years ago

    /collapses

  • sugapunk #24 2 years ago

    Spring 2010 is going to be insanely good. :)

  • GreyBeard #25 2 years ago

    Q1 really is getting stacked, I wouldn't be surprised if quite a few titles get pushed further back into the year.

  • SilverNeon #26 2 years ago

    This better be good never played FF12 but heard it's pretty awful.
    This generation of RPG's on the consoles has been playable but been far form perfect compared to last gen or even the PSX era, only the DS has had the better all round RPG's so far.
    Edited by 4 at 13/11/09 @ 16:54

  • Rens11 #27 2 years ago

    Why choose leona lewis whats she gonna add to it!?

  • owl #28 2 years ago

    final fantasy XII is ace, tell em owl told ya'

  • kinky_mong #29 2 years ago

    Flicking through endless menus while having to listen to Leona Lewis? It's my workplace made into a game!

  • Lionheart #30 2 years ago

    Do you think Leona Lewis will complete it before me?? I hope not :o(

  • Futaba #31 2 years ago

    I think I understand why she was punched a few weeks ago now...

  • WinterSnowblind #32 2 years ago

    Was planning on importing the US PS3 version. Guess there's no need now, really surprised to see we're getting it at the same time.

  • Les #33 2 years ago

    * yawn *

  • stevetuck #34 2 years ago

    so its march or september? :p

    Anyway i dont really care... never liked one final fantasy game yet
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 17:12

  • VMerken #35 2 years ago

    I would have loved to have been a fly on the ceiling at the meeting where they chose Leona Lewis's song. To know the thought process behind that. Probably would have fallen onto the ground, smiling at the pretty colours surrounding my claws.

  • dominalien #36 2 years ago

    The date at the end of the trailer is 09.03.2010.

    If this is an American trailer (the "host" has an American accent, doesn't he?) then this will probably be the US date notation, meaning September 3, 2010.

  • Bigglesworth #37 2 years ago

    Ok, I'm tired of the Lewis hate already, and I'm not even a fan.

  • VMerken #38 2 years ago

    @Bigglesworth
    The fact that Coca-Cola was prominently visible in FFIX and Parasite Eve II irked me greatly, yet that doesn't mean I hate Coca-Cola. I simply don't like alien product placement in video games. They should have at least asked Lewis to produce a fully original, exclusive piece for the game.
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 17:53

  • Bigglesworth #39 2 years ago

    This is a world away from product placement! Anyway, if the song fits the scene for which its intended (which no one knows any details of!) then everything's hunky dory.

  • Pedrolot #40 2 years ago

    What about Versus?


    Thats the one im looking forward to..

  • Scimarad #41 2 years ago

    Ooohh!!!

    /dies from excitement

  • VMerken #42 2 years ago

    @Bigglesworth
    As far as I can see, this is a product (a song) being placed inside another product (a game) which technically has nothing to do with the former as the one was produced independently from the other, without the video game in mind. Obviously, the producer of the song and the artist Leona Lewis are going to profit from this exposure inside a video game.

    Also, it would be an enormous stroke of luck if this song, out of the box, is a perfect fit for this video game with assumable complexity. It's more likely that, unless the song will appear in the end credits only, the game has been adapted in function of the song. And that I don't like - I prefer custom songs, tailored to fit the game via symbiosis, and not the other way around. For example, the Snake theme tune in Metal Gear Solid 3 (halfway the game, as you're climbing up a sewer pipe) was simply brilliant and tailor-made for that sequence. Konami could have bought the intro tune to the latest Bond film and place it in there, yet they made something just right for the Snake.

    With that said, Leona Lewis will not keep me from buying FFXIII, at least not while I still have working digits and a mute button :).
    Edited by 2 at 13/11/09 @ 21:16

  • Emmit_Assassin #43 2 years ago

    March my arse. My birthday's on 14th April, I reckon it could well be a perfectly timed 30th birthday present. Fuck me I'm 30 and still getting exited about an FF game. I'd never have thought that when I was playing FFVII when I was 17.

  • Cid #44 2 years ago

    Maybe we'll eventually get some more details on the choice of theme. I know you have to take interviews and the like with a pinch of salt, but maybe they genuinely liked the song and thought it would be a good fit for the game. (Although they would obviously have been looking for a new song for the western release anyway)

    It's a rather strange twist, but I'm alright with it.

  • VMerken #45 2 years ago

    @Emmit_Assassin
    March my arse. My birthday's on 14th April, I reckon it could well be a perfectly timed 30th birthday present. Fuck me I'm 30 and still getting exited about an FF game. I'd never have thought that when I was playing FFVII when I was 17.

    This made me smile :). I remember buying FFVII at the time and showing it at home, after which my father (not fond of the whole video game thingamajig) said, "I sure hope this will indeed be your "final" Fantasy". My response: "Don't worry, I'll quit as soon as the Resident Evil series ends".

    Well, here I am, gradually regretting, but still holding onto, that statement for the time being :).
    Edited by 2 at 13/11/09 @ 21:23

  • Les #46 2 years ago

    I am somewhat curious how this turns out but with FF XII being the first FF since VII that I didn't finish (and in the meantime I did finish X-2 and IV on GBA) coupled with all the crap SE put out for this gen, I'm not expecting much.

  • Charlie_Miso #47 2 years ago

    Who cares. Where the fuck is Dragon Quest IX is the question we all should be asking.

  • EffEmmGee #48 2 years ago

    @VMerken
    I will happily admit if I'm wrong here but from what I remember Coca-Cola was never IN the actual game, it was a collaboration between Square and Coca-Cola to do some commercials in Japan. I completed this game at least 4 times and don't remember seeing any product placement.

    "Starting on March 6, 2000, Final Fantasy IX characters were used in a line of computer-generated Coca-Cola commercials. Figurines of several characters were also used as prizes in Coca-Cola's marketing campaign."

    <a href="http ://uk.psx.ign.com/articles/077/077377p1.html">TG S: Final Fantasy IX
    Characters Do Coke</a>

    If you know otherwise please feel free to prove me wrong.
    Edited by 1 at 13/11/09 @ 23:28

  • darkphoenix #49 2 years ago

    Well, I am 35 and I still love FF, and games in general.

  • VMerken #50 2 years ago

    @FMG
    Hrm, true enough. Must have been my mind playing tricks on me as far as FFIX is concerned. I remembered seeing the commercials and must have mistook them to be in-game. It's been about 8 years ago that I last completed IX, so detailed knowledge of cutscenes is fading away. However, Parasite Eve 2 does come with Coca-Cola placement, of that I am pretty sure. And Devil May Cry II had some Diesel in there, if I'm not mistaken.

  • parrapa #51 2 years ago

    This game will blow you c**k off, I promise.

  • dominalien #52 2 years ago

    This game will blow you c**k off, I promise.

    I like my c**k right where it is, thank you. Unless you mean c**k, in which case I don't mind getting it blown off. :p

    Either way, the game will turn out the way it'll turn out, regardless of any promises you make.
    Edited by 2 at 14/11/09 @ 10:02

  • PazJohnMitch #53 2 years ago

    Wasn't the video in American. Therefore the date is 3rd of September.

  • Slurmseh #54 2 years ago

    Just have to decide 360 or PS3 now! Thankfully this was designed for PS3 from the ground-up (wasn't it?) so it hopefully won't be inferior to the 360 version like most titles!

    Although FF on anything other than a Sony machine seems almost sacrilege!

  • PazJohnMitch #55 2 years ago

    @Splurmesh

    Strange then that currently there have been the same number of core series titles on Nintendo formats as there have been on Sonys. (FF to FFVI versus FFVII to FXII).

  • Diomedes #56 2 years ago

    Too many good games in a too short timeframe .....hate to say it but Sony should plan carefully the releases to accomodate 1 megahit each month and not 3 in the same month.

    For example

    January :MAG
    February :SOIV (not a megahit but still..)
    March:FFXIII
    April:Gran Turismo 5 in Europe,in Japan in march where it doesnt have FFXIII anymore.
    May:Heavy Rain
    June:White Knight Chronicles EX

    I would push God of War 3 two months into May and push Heavy Rain to July or June and WKC to July or release WKC in february too.....lets not forget there are also other heavyhitters as Bioshock 2 ,Yakuza 4 ,Resonance of Fate ,Battlefield Bad Company II all coming in the first months of 2010.

  • Arwin #57 2 years ago

    Diomedes, that assumes that everyone likes all game genres.

  • Widge #58 2 years ago

    Slurmesh.... I think FFXIII was done on some cross platform tool. No idea about Versus.

  • Darren #59 2 years ago

    I'm really looking forward to playing FFXIII on the PS3 then next March. Looks really great from the video clips I've seen.

  • Bander #60 2 years ago

    "So, every game has been moved to spring to avoid call of duty, and now they're all going up against final fantasy XIII?"

    Yup, and of course each other. There's only been two games of high interest to me in the second half of this year, but in a few months it's going to get very expensive. Along with FFXIII I also want Bayonetta, Lost Planet 2, Alan Wake, Resonance of Fate, Mass Effect 2, Sega All Stars Racing, Aliens vs. Predator and Phantasy Star Zero, which are all expected to come out early 2010.

    Oh dear. Looking at that list, Sega have once again been their own worst enemies, regardless of the FFXIII announcement. I really hope Resonance of Fate in particular isn't screwed.