With Final Fantasy XIII finally getting a Japanese release on the Xbox 360, people are now turning their attention to its fabled stable-mate, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and whether or not that, too, will also grace Microsoft’s console.
Originally quoted as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, director Tetsuya Nomura has tweeted the following ambiguous statement relating to the incendiary topic of developing a multiplatform title versus a port of an existing game. He states:
“Multiplatform is when you start development on a game with the assumption of optimizing for multiple platforms. Porting is something that’s done after you’ve developed a game specifically for a particular platforms.
The debate over porting is decided by the management based off the current market and the costs. All I can say right now as a developer is that [Final Fantasy] Versus [XIII] is being developed specifically for the PlayStation 3.”
Reading between the lines, it would appear Nomura-san is suggesting that if Versus does end up also shipping for the 360, such a decision will obviously stem from the upper echelons of Square Enix’s management department and is beyond his pay-grade.
Regardless, it would be a port of the PS3 version.
Source and translation by Andriasang
spats
How did anyone not see this coming? FFXIII was such a huge moneysink for them so they have to recoup costs somehow,
Charmed_Fanatic
moneysink … how?
Cjdamon042
And with Wada liking money, it can only be assumed that this will most likely be the case.
YOURMUMANDME
I think with Squeenix becoming increasingly popular on every platform it would be a stupid decision for them to shun a console for any reason. That said I hope it stays as an exclusive, the PS3 needs another sexy exclusive !
masoke
I’m over exclusives. I used to mind when a game went multiplatform, but then I realised that as long as the game I was going to get was OK then it didn’t matter if everyone got it.
In fact, I’d rather live in a world where there were no exclusives, and I could play what I wanted on the system I wanted to play it on.
a inferior race
I agree to a point about not wanting exclusives. However games like Halo 3 would not be as good without xbox live and Uncharted 2 probably wouldn’t of been as pretty.
Deathbrin
You mean there wouldn’t be Halo and Uncharted _at all_ because there would be no _need_ for the system(s) to stand out. It would be just some generic shooter and just some generic adventure game.
Jordaaaan
I’m fine with it as longs as it happens AFTER development has been finished and nothing gets cut from either version. I mean who wants a game that’s only half done?
Apnomis
How good were sales of FFXIII on the 360? I guess that would have a lot to do with the decision. However I suppose it depends how they have approached FF vs XIII, if they have really pulled out the stops on that one in optomising it for the PS3 (and let’s face it it’s been in development long enough) it might be quite difficult/costly to start a 360 port from scratch – they may decide that it’s not worth the effort and I doubt they would delay the PS3 version further to wait for it meaning it would be a timed exclusive so would further water down potential 360 sales…
tonycawley
I reckon they’re going to wait and see what the ps3 sales are like. If it sells well then they’d consider porting
aerobes
I have no problems with a port but when games of this calibre are being made multi-platform from the ground up I hate to think that the PS3 version is somehow compromised slightly.
Deathbrin
Not as slightly as you think, even.