Sony downplays FFXIII Xbox 360 deal Comments by Robert Purchese

Thing is, it was never supposed to be a dogfight - after Sony's dominance with the PS2, the PS3 'should' have wiped the floor with the 360 and the Wii - and its not happening.
MS wasn't really a valid alternative last time around (i.e. you had to have a PS2 as well as an Xbox) but this time its different....

Lol of course they'd play it down.... it's either that or cry...

However they spin it, it's still a massive kick in the spuds

The lost money is going to be people with a 360 now having one less reason to go for a PS3 as well.

For people still with neither, he probably has a point.

Not if it has the same affect to hardware sales as GTAIV did...

am I the only person who couldn't care less about ANOTHER FF whatever platform it's on?

Most overrated series ever!! (But that is coming from someone who thinks JRPGs are the most overrated genre ever so maybe a little biased!)

What's the real situation? are there statistics on totals of games that are sold every month split by platform across the different territories? That would give a better indication of which platform is doing best surely, rather than consoles.

Does that mean we can have the other Sony exclusives on the 360 as well? Cool.

The only game i might have been tempted by on PS3 so far was FFXIII - so but putting it on a system i already own they do indeed lose one sale... for now!

I'm buying it (360's FF13)... for historical reasons.

As far as history goes, GTA titles on the PS2 sold each more than 10 million. The 360 has eaten more than 60% of that. We'll talk about FF13 in 2009/2010 but I am seeing a similar scenraio happening at least in the US, less likely in europe but the 360 version will still eat into the PS3 hardware sales bump even in europe!

Personally, I was going to buy a PS3 for FF13, now I dont have to, yet.

Heh, the console war has less and less significance these days. The market has grown at an extrodanary rate and continues to grow. It has literally become big enough for all three companies to be sucessful in varies degrees and most are only held back by their choice in hardware and manufacturing costs.

"Personally, I was going to buy a PS3 for FF13, now I dont have to."

As he said ^^.

Perhaps they understand that they shouldn't be aligning themselves to any one console (unless that's the wii, heh) and should be spreading costs between PS3, 360 and PC?

They're not going to shoot themsevles in the foot getting exclusive PS3 games. Cross platform all the way.

'"Personally, I was going to buy a PS3 for FF13, now I dont have to."

As he said ^^. '

And me.

It really does make me wonder how big effect this will have on what were potential PS3 sales, Microsoft really need to make sure that people know its coming to 360 (much in the style of the GTA4 adverts a saw a lot before release)

What a great day for PR bullshit.

I barfed in my mouth a bit right there.

@Bad09
To put it differently: if I wanted to play this or these kind of games, I probably would have bought a PS3. All these JRPG's coming out on 360 have me kinda puzzled.
(This offcourse is a VERY PERSONAL oppinion)

damage control, damage control.....

Jesus blig_merk,

How in the world of buggering fuck do you know that they had no intention of buying it?

/Takes own advice from other thread and steps back, takes breath and actually goes back to work

Watch out Blig_merks about, he's now got so desperate he'is even making up quotes to reply to in an effort to protect his treasured Sony.

Are they both worldwide at the same time releasewise? PS2/PS1 Final Fantasy's took ages to come out in Europe afetr the US release but the Square/Enix stuff on 360 has had a much quicker turn around so far.

Just a thought and obviously, pure speculation.

"Pfff.. didnt hurt!" yells Sony, his voice breaking as he scrambles away, tears forming in his eyes, rubbing his bruising arm in the spot where the big bad bully punched it.

Mummy is going to have to conjure up some extra kisses for that bruise tonight, but she knows the crying will continue well into the night.

I wonder how much it costs to develop for both consoles and how much cheaper it would be if there were one standard format. Or maybe two, one based on Nintendo's current direction and one based on the other two's direction. Would that encourage innovation or slow it down?

What? I thought they were happy about it and made a drunk party with strippers to celebrate...

Blig...

Might "hate" PS3, but doesn't mean they hated PS1/PS2 and the previous Final Fantasy games.

Except for Bad09, but he's entitled to his opinion ;-)

/Goes misty-eyed at the thought of playing FF on his PS1, loving it until his memory card lost all his game saves and he had to start from scratch. *Sniffs theatrically, wiping eyes*

PlayStation 3 dominating in Japan? There is a lot in this sentence waiting to downplay.

It is safe to assume that the lead at the United States is still bigger than the PlayStation 3-s lead from Japan and Europe, combined.

"PlayStation 3 dominating in Japan?"

? I thought Nintendo was.

@strangeed

I agree, the world would be a happier place (for me) if there was just the Wii and one other good-graphics console instead of both PS3 & X360. Just so long as they base it on the good one, and not the shit one ;)

I really hate all the rhetoric these guys spin out.

The PS3 has a higher base than the 360? I've got both consoles and i've remained wholly unimpressed with the games that I got with the system and the ones that have subsequently come out on the PS3 compared to the 360. The only reason I have the PS3 now is because it is a "cheap", upgradable Blu-ray player. I don't play games on the PS3 and have very little inclination to start

I wonder how many people own a PS3 primarily as a blu-ray player and not as a gaming system and if those numbers are ever taken into account when Sony talk to developers about getting a return on their money? The 360's installed base is entirely gamer, the PS3's accommodates more than just a gamer.

Either way i don't give a toss and the winners are Square-Enix who spend a lot of money on the franchise and this just means that the FF franchise can move into a new and more expanded market and grow from there. Don't really care about exclusivity and think that console exclusives of games just shows a lack of ambition by many software developers and a draw purely to the cash as opposed to the old days where people wrote games for fun.

I think you're going to have millions of people who grew up playing Final Fantasy on the PlayStation playing it on a PlayStation 3.

what about those of us who grew up playing final fantasy on the SNES huh?

so i guess Sony wouldn't mind losing Tekken 6 exclusivity? ;)

@blig_merk

Very nice analysis yes but you're forgetting something very importanr! What would have happened if there was NO 360 version AT ALL, the obvious response would be HUGE numbers of PS3s shifting.

Compare the above scenarioi.e. no 360 version at all VS what happened and then we can talk about the REAL impact of GTA. Like you said 60:40 percent split (in the US that is) so that 60% would have gone to PS3 i.e 60% of the number of copies of GTA sold were on 360, if there was no 360 version, those 60% console owners (around 5 million in the US) would have caved in and bought a PS3 for GTA.

I'd say 5 million is a BIG BIG loss of potential consoles sold.

"Outside of japan, a 60:40 split will be inevitable, and it is less likely that it wil bethe system seller that MS hope it will be - as was the case with GTAIV. "

@ blig_merk

You're completely missing the point. No one's calling it a system seller for MS, but more a means to discourage the consumer from buying a PS3. Say a 360 owner was considering buying a PS3 for FFXIII alone. Following the port announcement, said owner's need for a PS3 is rendered obsolete - in other words, no extra 360 sales, BUT crucially, no extra PS3 sales.

I haven't bought either console yet, but was going to get a PS3 largely for Final Fantasy. Despite the announcement I think I still will, becasue as far as I can see, Final Fantasy Versus is still a PS3 exclusive. I don't understand why Sony aren't playing that up. Surely it means that the PS3 is still the console to get for Final Fantasy fans?l

Fact is that Sony have made the wrong decision at every strategically important point during this generation, and they're going to be paying for it for a long time.

"I think you're going to have millions of people who grew up playing Final Fantasy on the PlayStation playing it on a PlayStation 3."

There will also be millions of people who grew up playing FF on the PS2 (as I did) but will now be playing it on the 360. What's your point?

I never had any interest in the Final Fantasy series at any point in history, so this single piece of news doesn't really bother me at all.

However, I am pleased that so many prior exclusives are becoming multi-platform. I hate the way console manufacturers buy exclusives, forcing anybody interested in the series to buy their machine at an expense of hundreds of quid. And while this surely works for them in terms of increasing revenue (after all, I bought the Xbox 360 because of the exclusives that appealed to me more than the exclusives on the PS3), it has always seemed morally dubious to me. I mean, I'd like to play certain games on the PS3, such as GT5 if it's ever released, but I don't have the moolah to shell out for another console.

Let's keep breaking down the exclusivity barriers! Get the European Commission to do something about it I guess! They LOVE suing people! They'll sue ANYBODY! For ANYTHING!

Good god why does every story like this turn into a 360 vs PS3 arguement. It's a good thing if you have a 360 and you want to play it. FACT. More people have 360's than they originally had with Xbox's because the 360 came out before PS3 by a year and people wanted a new console with "new" games. FACT.

End of the day it's good for 360 owners that they're getting a wider choice of games. Wasn't Bioshock a 360 exclusive not long ago? Isn't that coming to PS3 now? It works both ways. Whatever system you have just enjoy the games that come out for it. More choice is always a good thing

Sigh........

but.....

ah fuck this...

Sigh again.

>If you look at the global footprint, PlayStation 3 dominates in Japan where the 360 is really irrelevant

As is PS3.

So just because i used to play FF on sony's consoles, that means that i owe them some type of unwritten loyalty? Sony are fools if they think that is the case.

So cute, Sony, saying 'at least we're glad it still comes out on our console'. So manly.

Anyway, I was going to get a PS3 for FFXIII, and now I don't have to ever get it for anything. Rock.

Er, most rubbish logic ever. GTAIV and FFXIII not being exclusive will mean people with a 360 already will not need to buy a PS3 to play them. So they'll lose sales. Genius.

Not really. How many people who are fans of the Final Fantasy series would have a 360 but not a PS3?

The way I see it is fans of the series will get it on the PS3, ''most' people who don't have a PS3 would never have bought it. It's like a 'bonus' to 360 only owners.

Just how many people were holding out on getting a PS3 just for this one game? Not many I would guess.

I have a 360 and a PS3 and I won't be getting it on the 360.

How many people who are fans of the Final Fantasy series would have a 360 but not a PS3?

In the US and UK (the 1st and 3rd biggest national markets for videogames)?

Probably just under half of them. You wait and see.

I agree with most posters - I'm one of those people that would have bought a ps3 just for FFXIII. Now, I'm quite sure that Versus will remain ps3 exclusive, but Versus is still a long way off, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if it didn't turn out to be ported if the ffxiii 360 version sells well. After all, once they ported the "white engine" to the 360 for ffxiii, the technology to do it is there.

The only thing I'm curious about is what effect this will have on the series. The series had been moving to being a lot less linear on the PS2. If this doesn't change, then the 360 version may have a bit of a challenge in terms of multiple discs and such (though I guess you'll just install one on the HDD and keep one in the disc, and insert the others for all the cinema or something?).

After FFX-2 but of course especially after FFXII I wouldn't want to go back to the way things were in the 'old days'. But I'd also be disappointed if Square doesn't fill up a full dual layer BluRay. ;) So will be interesting to see where it ends, beyond just lowering quality or increasing compression of cinematics in the game ...

"It's not an exclusive on their platform. It's now a cross-platform game,"

Exclusivity on their platform isn't the point - the lack of exclusivity on your platform is the point.

This whole "We're gonna sell it on PS3, too" talk is useless for me.

But what I like is this:

I have an Xbox 360. Many people desire Final Fantasy XIII, GTA IV etc.

Microsoft makes it happen, that I, as a Microsoft customer, can play these games on their console.

Now I have the nice, warm and fuzzy feeling, that I own a games console where the manufacturer cares that I can play all the really hot games. And if they are originally PS3 exclusive, Microsoft goes great lenghts that they lose this exclusivity so I have the option to play them as well.

@Godfella:

"Not really. How many people who are fans of the Final Fantasy series would have a 360 but not a PS3? "

Lots, I think. If the only reason for owning a PS3 was for FF (as was in my case) then I wouldn't bother buying one until the game was out. I'm a huge fan of the FF games (I imported FF VI for the SNES, back in the day, and I've never looked back) but I also prefer the 360 to the PS3.

Why would I go out and spend £300 on a console to play FF XIII on when I've already got a console I can play it on? Does it make me more of a fan if I play it on a Sony console? How pretentious is that?

I wonder how many discs this is going to come on being a very FMV based game? HD FMV too!

RE: 360 getting FFXIII preventing sales to the Ps3.

Strike 1: It's not out in Japan, where FFXIII will shift plenty of PS3s.

Considering the game doesn't even have a release date, that situation has plenty of time to change. That's the beauty of not knowing exactly what's gonna happen in the future. Keeps life interesting.

Strike 2: Not everyone buys more than 1 console - only a very select few.

And how exactly do you know that? Have you stumbled across a study in which each and every console owner was asked whether he/she owns more than one system, and concluded that it was a "very select few"? Unless you have then it's an utterly groundless claim to make.

Strike 3: Many people who have already chosen the 360 arent going to abandon ship for 1 game.

Abandon ship? That's got nothing to do with it. You seem to be acting under the impression that these people are going to choose between a 360 or a PS3, and not possibly go for both.

Strike 4: if FFXIII was so important that it influenced your hardware decisions then either you'd wait and see which version is the best before deciding, or not buy into any newt console until its released and get it in a bundle.

...yes, that is usually how things work. I'm not entirely sure how this is meant to be a "strike".

Strike 5: GATIV did nothing for console sales, despite selling huge numbers on BOTH systems.

Again, you're missing the point. The fact is that if the game had been exclusive to either platform, that system would have seen an ENORMOUS boost in sales over its competitor.

Strike 6: If Square really believed that keeping it PS3 exclusive would see equal numbers of sales across that sole platform, then why did they chose to release it on the 360, citing improved sales potential as the main reason?

Because they probably felt that the 360 ownership held potential for extra sales. Again, I'm not sure how this is meant to be a "strike."

So no, your counter arguments dont really work, do they.

Care to actually prove that?