Okay everyone.  HUGE MEGATON ANNOUNCEMENT, FFXIII IS COMING TO THE 360 AS WELL AS THE PS3.  Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's break it down somewhat. 

Square Enix states that Final Fantasy XIII is launching day and date with the PS3 version in (get this) North america, and Europe.  No mention of Japan.  Which leads to my next point.  PS3 will have timed exclusivity of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan. What this means is that the country in which this really matters in terms of sales, Japan, will have the PS3 as the sole console to play this game on for a period of time.  Let's take a look at sales for Final Fantasy XII which launched on the PS2 with a much bigger install base than that of the PS3 and 360 combined:

Five million copies sold.

Where were the most sold?  Japan.  Half of the copies sold were sold in the land of the rising sun.  And the fact that it doesn't look like there might even be a release of the game in Japan, and if so, it's coming out after the PS3 version, really isn't working in Microsoft's favor.  FFXII sold less than a million in "others" which will also likely be won by the PS3 (see GTA IV), and two million in the U.S., which, by the time this game launches in the U.S. (provided the game comes out in late 09 in Japan, which would mean a mid-late 2010 release in the Americas), the PS3 should and will be a hell of a lot close to the 360 in America, which could essentially split the numbers of the game in half.

So to recap, PS3 has exclusivity (timed or not) of this game in Japan, and has the sales locked up for Others, and more than likely, America.  This is a really big coup for the 360 in terms of games, but not in terms of sales. 

That is all.

Discuss ^_^

The damage control is strong with this one.

starcraft said: The damage control is strong with this one.

I suppose so.

Or the realism... You be the judge.

Do I live in Japan? No. Do I want my PS3 right now? No.

There's no possible way to damage control this announcement. It's like Sony turning round and saying they have Halo 4 or something.

this game was suppose to be ps3's biggest game in japan not anymore, it will still sell better on ps3 there but it wont sell systems, sony should've locked this game exclusively

It will come to Japan as well on 360. PS3 is dead in Japan and rest of the world after this. FF is huge, 360 fans may not needed this game before but they know this is the biggest JRPG out there and one of the biggest games and coming to 360 mean huge blow to PS3. Now i belive Xbox360 will outsell PS3 WW.

Let's be honest.

Anyone who tries to put this announcement into perspective is going to be labeled as doing "damage control".

I'm not saying keep your PS3 and don't buy a 360, as a matter of fact, I will probably end up buying this for my 360 just for the acheivements, and am not too sure if I want to buy a PS3 now. I'm simply trying to rationalize all the crazies saying that the PS3 is dead.

well if its now in development for 360 i wonder when it will be released? i was hoping for early next year feb-march, but i doubt that now

@ DJ: may be so, but still, no matter how you turn this, this is a knife right into the heart of Sony.

DMeisterJ said: starcraft said: The damage control is strong with this one. I suppose so. Or the realism... You be the judge.

You're taking a very glass is half-full for Sony approach.  The argument has been made many times before that FF is starting to look to the West for it's very survival.  The Media Create aggregates out last month show the Japanese market rapidly declining (especially for hardcores).  At the end of the day, easily the cheapest way to play a single-player RPG just became the Xbox 360 Arcade.

Like it or not, this will shift a lot of extra Xbox 360's, stop the shifting of a lot of PS3's, and increase FFXIII's sales dramatically.  Lost Odyssey, viewed by Sony fans as a cheap knock-off, has shipped one million on the Xbox 360 with a much smaller userbase and higher price than FFXIII will have to deal with.

Consider you're point judged.