360 to get Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest?

by Christopher Grant { Nov 15th 2005 at 12:45PM }

According to Yoichi Wada, president of mega-publisher Square Enix, we may be seeing Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX on both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. With the announcements of Final Fantasy XI for 360 and Crystal Chronicles for Revolution, the normally monogamous Square properties will already be appearing on all three major platforms.

In July Joystiq had a chance to talk to Peter Moore, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing for the Xbox, to get some insight into Microsoft's plans for conquering the Japanese market. Microsoft is well aware they need to penetrate the Japanese market in order to effectively compete with Sony. With developers like Tetsuya Mizuguchi, franchises like Ridge Racer, and the possibility of FF and DQ titles coming to the 360, it seems more and more like things are falling into place.

[Thanks to everyone that sent this in.]

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

CapAmerica @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Square has been hinting that since cost of making games is getting so much higher that they see a need to release their games on all systems and not just limit them to one.
I think its also a pretty safe bet that we may see Final Fantasy XIII and Dragon Quest IX on the Revolution too. With Square's relationship with Nintendo lately its almost unthinkable that Square would pass over releasing their games on the Revolution.

XD @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Now you can get what ever console turns you on the most and not have to worry about missing out on Square-Enix games! This is great news for all systems and even more for us, the gamers! You knew this was going to happen given the rediculous development, promotion and production costs; not to mention loss to piracy and resale. Companies can't give out brand loyalty without suffering like they used to. Sure there will still be some exclusives, but now the companies will likely get more $ for signing exclusivity. Even further, I think there will be more 6 month excusive deals than console only deals. I know this is only 1 company, but i think this will be a trend over this generation.

C. Grant @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

You think 360 and Revo will have two FF games each (XI and CC) while PS3 is left with just the flagship title? There's also the controller porting issue. It remains to be seen how much developers will embrace porting to the Revo.

bernie @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Revolution will also have a normal joystiq. Just like DS isn't only controlled by the touchpad.
All the cool games will be played by the new controller, while cheap and lazy developers will port their games to use a normal joystiq.

metal_gear_jello @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

This is just a rumor, this isn't even confirmed.

Oshi @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Missing out? On a Square-Enix title? That's a laugh. They haven't made anything worth while in years.

C. Grant @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

mgj, its a Reuter's story so its a little above rumor status. It has not been confirmed yet though, you are correct. His statement itself was non-committal.

#4: we don't know if the Revo will come with a standard controller out of box. Buying two sets of controllers is quite a burden on the consumer and would also deter developers from making use of it.

Sean @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Yeah, but it is more likly no then ever, specially with production costs.

"You think 360 and Revo will have two FF games each (XI and CC) while PS3 is left with just the flagship title?"

Oh course not, that's why they will get the "spin offs" ,that is stuff like FFVII:Whatever and XII-2.

"It remains to be seen how much developers will embrace porting to the Revo."

That's because we haven't seen the shell yet. Which is why the Revolution was left out of the rumor, but once we see the shells and see how they is used, then we will see the avalanche of ports. lol

Michael @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

"There's also the controller porting issue. It remains to be seen how much developers will embrace porting to the Revo."

I'm not convinced that it will be that hard to port to the revolution controller. I assume the game developer does not need to know how to interpret the movements of the controller, that should be built into the Nintendo OS/API.

In effect, the wand would look like an analog stick, but instead of only x and y motion it would also support z (forward and back) and t (tilting). A developer should be able to ignore the dimensions that they do not use and/or map both the y and z to the y direction. In this case it would look exactly like an analog stick to the game developer.

Of course, there is also the standard controller add-on.

Jack @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

I think square-enix want to turn FF mulitplatform, I guess their sick of losing money from other sides of the market.

matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

"Wada commented that major titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest aren't planned for multiple platforms at the current time since they're fully tuned toward one console, but he also said that things could change in the future."

nothing is for sure sorry folks. FF for right now is still a PS exclusive.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/08/04/news_6130333.html

Xbox360 Games @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

FF and DQ on the 360 would rock

nod @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

It makes sense that they're branching out. They have a popular brand, and by being locked-into one platform, they have been leaving money on the table for a long, long time now.

Servo @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Matt said:
"Wada commented that major titles such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest aren't planned for multiple platforms at the current time since they're fully tuned toward one console, but he also said that things could change in the future."

nothing is for sure sorry folks. FF for right now is still a PS exclusive.

Ya, seems like things did change in the 3.5 months since that outdated article was written. LOL, I'll go dredge up an article stating that FF games will be committed to SNES if ya want.....lol, but it might be a bit outdated.

Ken @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Don't forget that Sony decided to drop harddrive support for the PS2, basically kicking SE in the teeth as far as FFXI was concerned. As much of a Sony fanboy as I was, I had to side with SE for giving XBox owners to the option to play FFXI.

The fanboy in me is a throwing a fit, but if both systems have Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games I have even more incentive to wait and see which platform I prefer before I make any purchases.

matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Oh wow 4 months is so outdate jackass either way nothing is known for sure and wont be until like E3 of next year.

Christopher7xii @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

3 months isnt that long of a time considering none of the systems in question aren't even released yet. Besides, you're thinking like an american. Japanese companies think years ahead, not just for the current fix. Like mentioned above, FF's are tuned to be system specific, utilizing all the graphics and CPU tweaks they can. I can imagine trying to release something like FF on a Cell and a multi-core CPU just isn't feasable.

Another reason this gets dropped into the "bullshit" category, is FFXIII isn't announced yet. Only remote hint towards it is Nomura(?) saying that he can't head up an FF7 remake for the PS3 because he has another project lined up for that time frame... He's the guy behind Advent Children and Kingdom Hearts 2.

Add this to the dreampool. I'd love to pick up FFXIII for whatever system I wanted(IE cheapest), but I don't really see this happening. Sony is very willing to pay lots for an exclusive FF title. That will easily make/break the PS3's initial sales, wether or not an FF is confirmed to be released on it.

LSSLAVE @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

One thing that bothers me, and I am a N fan not a S fan, but I will cover S here...

Final Fantasy XI was offered for Xbox 360, that isnt exactly 'support'

If you want to talk about a company that has a chance of having support..

Nintendo:
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles II and DS
Mario Basketball 3v3
Final Fantasy III,IV,V,VI
Children of Mana

plus they also want to continue making Nintendo titles (let us count on Super Mario RPG 2!) and are supporting Nintendos in house RPG studio that is being formed, and even hinted on a Revo MMO (albeit they didnt say anymore)

Final Fantasy XI isnt much of a hint they will leave PS3 development, but if they did I would honestly have no reason to get PS3 (then again I dont even care about FFXII... all I care about is Kingdom Hearts II for PS2 games)

Though, I somehow do not doubt for 1 second they might work for Revolution over Xbox 360, lower development fees and the support they are showing lately, AND the fact that FFCC was alot of fun compared to FFXI and FFX-2...

Then again, could be good news for MS fans, but dont pass off other system exclusives, KOEI + Devil May Cry = fun

mat @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

doesn't sony own a big chunk of Square Enix?

how does that come into play?

LSSLAVE @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Altogether Sony owns approximatly 8 percent of Square-Enix, in other words they can whine and moan all they want but SE can do anything they really want, Sony makes profit from their 8 percent share of SE anyhow

SE does like Nintendo, but also have stated they show little interest in Xbox development

But maybe you people should also think of Mistwalker games, RPGs made by the father of Final Fantasy...

Of course he started out being 360 fan and has 2 titles coming for it, afterwards he seems interested in some Nintendo development aswell (whether it be ASH for the DS or the fact he, like most developers in Japan and even the world, loves the new control scheme)

matt @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

According to 1up.com they confirmed with Square-Enix that Wada's words were "incorrect" so who knows whats going on now hahaha

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?Dispatch=Display&cId=3145718

solomon_rex @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Square's PS2 lineup was the weakest they've ever had for a console. After the high times of the ps1, the biggest problem I saw was no Final Fantasy Tactics. They're letting down their fans, and I'm not sure Sony will really be hurt by them going their own way.

I have no-mane @ Dec 18th 2005 9:12PM

Guess what Sqaure is already in development for two revo RPGs but there not FF. the two RPG's will be released at the same time and, well what game is this you probably ask well it's one MMMORPG and MRPG don't get it well why do you think there's an extra M on each game. I'll tell yous that yous are right if anyone can guess why there is an extra M on each title.