If You Want The FFXIII Demo Start Saving For Last Remnant
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| Date Posted: | 18/2/2008 |
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Story
Intro
Earlier this year we posted reports from Japanese Gaming Magazines Famitsu and Degeki speaking of a Final Fantasy XIII demo. Tetsuya Nomura, Character Designer for the Final Fantasy XIII, said himself that they plan on releasing a demo so fans of the series and everyone else anticipating the game can see the battle system in real-time for themselves. This announcement, along with earlier speculation in 2007 about a possible demo, has led to various debates about the format the demo would come in, and to whom it would be open to. A Playstation Network demo, a solo demo disc, or possibly packaged another Square Enix game, all of these are possible. We're going to dissect the ramifications of each of the possibilities to see which we can expect in the near future from Square.
Playstation Network (PSN) Release
A PSN released demo is a no brainer for most of us these days. Anyone interested in demos with a PSN account has downloaded at least a few and took them for a spin. Burnout Paradise, Devil May Cry 4, Motorstorm and Uncharted are all examples of extremely popular demos for the Playstation 3, and they were all released through the Playstation Network. However, many triple-A games have breezed past releasing PSN demos, such as Assassin's Creed and Metal Gear Solid 4. Ubisoft simply did not release any demos of Assassin's creed to the mass public.
A PSN demo is a double edged sword in the eyes of game publishers and developers. Releasing a demo through the PSN can either be a huge success or a disaster; it all depends on the quality of the demo. Thanks in large part to the massive audience that can jump into PSN demos, if something is bad about the game in the demo, it will be picked up and more than likely beaten like a dead horse across the internet for weeks. Something like this exposes the final game, along with the publishers and developers, to some severe criticism. Alternatively, if the demo is solid and enjoyed by the majority of players, the game can be propelled into potential stardom and gain a significant amount of hype, in turn the game gets much more positive exposure, can bring in new people to their audience, all of which could possibly boost the sales of the game when it hits the shelves.
Square Enix could literally play it stupid though. Square could release a demo solely in Japan and be happy with that, while completely cutting themselves off from all other regions of the world anticipating the game. Not many PSN users are wise to that fact that anyone can actually access another region's demos through alternate PSN accounts with addresses in the demo's respective country.
Separate Disc
Remember the Playstation in the 90's? The separate disc scenario would see Square Enix release the Final Fantasy XIII demo on a standalone disc, much like Gran Turismo Prologue. Whether it would cost as much as GT:P is anyone’s guess. In the Playstation era Square released the Final Fantasy VII demo on a Official Playstation Magazine demo disc, packed in with other demos. With Final Fantasy VIII Square Enix scored and exclusive version of the Official Playstation Magazine UK, solely featuring loads of information on Final Fantasy VIII, as well as coming with an exclusive demo disc.
The difference between the two is that with the stand alone demo disc or the Magazine Pack-in demo disc there is incentive to get the demo disc with the magazine as the magazine is a sound buy by itself, a demo disc seems like a freebie. However, a stand alone disc can leave people feeling a little abused, as the price of the slice of the game (the demo disc) can impact how a buyer feels about the game after having played it. GT:P was around $40 US when released in Japan, over half the price the final game is going to be, and no where near 50% of the final games content.
A separate demo disc is unlikely though as the popularity of magazines with demo discs has steadily declined since the employment of the internet as a means of distributing demos came about. With the amount of anticipation, and the amount of people across the world behind that anticipation, this strategy is not a wise one to follow, and Square Enix more than likely knows this.
Packed In
Once upon a time, in 2007, there was a little known game called Crackdown. Once upon a time, later on in 2007, the inclusion of a ticket into the Halo 3 Beta was announced to ship on the Crackdown disc. In the end Crackdown sold over a million copies thanks to the pack in of the Halo 3 Beta. A similar tale to Crackdown is what Konami did with Zone of the Enders and the packed in Metal Gear Solid 2 demo.
Square Enix can easily repeat those successes with the opportunity to push a Final Fantasy XIII into one of their releases prior to the release of Final Fantasy XIII itself. Square Enix knows this path well, as they did this with Dragon Quest VIII in 2005 when they included a demo of Final Fantasy XII on its disc. Obviously this not only helps sell the host game a lot, but the demo in turn raises the hype of the demo game's profile, just like PSN demos have for PS3 games.
How would this work though? Final Fantasy XIII is Square Enix's planned title to lead the charge into the next generation is it not? Wrong, that would be The Last Remnant, scheduled for a second quarter 2008 release world wide. Not only would it help push The Last Remnant, and possibly have the PS3 version push past sales of the Xbox 360 version (The Last Remnant is multi-platform), but it could prematurely hook the Final Fantasy audience into buying Playstation 3s, Playstation 3s they had planned to get some time around Final Fantasy XIII's release. Square Enix is known for releasing demos ridiculously early as well, with Final Fantasy XII's demo coming out nearly one year before its release in 2006.
Closed Demo - Expos and Conferences
Last, and hopefully least, is the option of making the demo exclusive to expos, conferences and press events. This is done repeatedly by game publishers, recently for example, Konami's Metal Gear Solid 4. At the E 4 All expo, Konami had the MGS4 demo playable for the first time to the general public. Unfortunately as it goes, once the expo was closed, the demo went with it, and Konami has announced no plans to release it for the rest of the public to enjoy.
As Square Enix has tried to keep Final Fantasy XIII below the radar in the news, whenever news is released, even in the smallest morsels, fans go into a frenzy. Square Enix could use this to their advantage by hosting press-only demos and letting fans salivate by the sidelines all over the web. This is a sound strategy as Square Enix is currently employing it with the upcoming PSP Final Fantasy fighter, Dissidia Final Fantasy, to great effect. Do not be surprised if you see Square Enix repeating their methods there with Final Fantasy XIII.
Conclusion
To most of us, a PSN demo is a sure fire way for us to get a chance to sink our teeth into Final Fantasy XIII, and it seems like the most sensible option to Square Enix. If the demo is a success, hysteria revolving around Final Fantasy XIII would erupt, satisfying die hard fans, and easily introducing new people to the Final Fantasy.
From a business standpoint, Square Enix would only gain more sales of Final Fantasy XIII from this. Knowing Square Enix though, they will look to benefit themselves in more ways, with the most prominent of these being using the demo to boost the sales of The Last Remnant.
