And the regional division of the console war claims its last, and most arguably most important, third party exclusivity victim.
Hell has frozen over, pigs have sprouted wings and taken to the skies, and Square-Enix has officially announced that previous Sony exclusive Final Fantasy XIII will be launching in the US and Europe on the Xbox 360...
Though fanboys the world over will call Square-Enix "the high priced callgirl of Japanese third-party developers" (which, sadly, is somewhat true all things considered), they made a good move here. Why? Because the Playstation 3 continues to trail both the Xbox 360 and the Wii in the US and the UK, which make up a large portion of the worldwide videogame market. If Square-Enix was concerned with only Japanese sales, there'd be no reason to port the game, as it will still move thousands upon thousands of PS3 units upon its eventual (2010?) release. The Xbox 360 version of XIII is confirmed to be US and EU exclusive, so Japan will not be getting the same multiplatform release.
It is interesting to speculate what effect a multiplatform release in Japan would have had on the currently Sony-dominated userbase there. Currently (as of today), there are actually more and better games available for the Japanese 360 as opposed to the PS3, and of those early adopters, many bought the system assuming third parties would continue to develop sequels to the franchises they love for the Sony platform.
The first gamer to own a PS3 in Japan, upon exiting the Yadobashi Camera in Tokyo, was interviewed, and when asked the reason for purchasing the PS3 he responded with two words: "Final Fantasy". The interviewer proceeded to notice that no launch games were purchased along with the console to that particular gamer. This really tends to make me wonder what the rest of the PS3 userbase in Japan is thinking, given that the attach rate of games to consoles is still pretty low.
As far as companies go, everyone wins in this arrangement. Square-Enix gets to have an actual chance at making a return on their investment in developing the game (a 10 million worldwide userbase isn't enough, even for a game like FF), Microsoft gets to compete toe-to-toe with Sony for Japanese RPG fans in the US and Europe (a fight that, right now, they appear to be winning - there are more than double the number JRPGs out on the market and in the works for the 360 when compared to the PS3 ), and Sony gets to maintain its stranglehold on the next-gen market (in Japan only - though you KNOW they're pissed about losing FF exclusivity in overseas markets).
Though I can't imagine Sony is too happy about this. Then again, considering Metal Gear Solid 4 gave the PS3 a boost in sales for.....two weeks....
I wonder just how much even Final Fantasy could do for the struggling next-gen market in Japan. The Wii, in its simplicity, continues to dominate. Which begs the question: what major Square-Enix franchises are going to end up on the Wii? (and no, spinoffs like Jag-on Quest Swords and Chocobo's Diabl...errr Dungeon don't count.)
I'd bet money on Kingdom Hearts.
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