HAHA!!!

SO true.  Of course to me, Versus actually IS the most important FF game.  I want it badly enough to purchase a PS3 for it (assuming nothing attrotious happens between now and the game's release).  But in terms of sales, its largely irrelevant.

@DMeisterJ

I didn't say Sony paid anything, but JRPG sales on the Xbox 360 in Japan are sufficient to economically justify a FFXIII localisation/port, especially when a port needs to be done for the West anyway.

Also everybody, remember that BOTH versions are ports of the PC build, meaning the Xbox 360 version would probably be CHEAPER and EASIER to port than the PS3 version.

It is perfectly logical not to have FFXIII on 360 in Japan and it is a good sign that neither MS nor Sony moneyhatted SE either way.

Why? Because having a simultaneous release would delay the game which could be bad for SE if they are counting on its revenue to round up a particular fiscal year and the extra sales of the 360 version would be unlikely to be worth it. Having a timed exclusive doesn't make sense either as by the time it comes around (6 months to 1 year after the PS3 version) FFXIII would be old news and that combined with the 360 low userbase in that country would mean sales likely to be low enough not to be worth the effort (this could change if others JRPG do well on 360 in Japan and/or help grow its install base there).

So the most logical thing to do is concentrate on the PS3 version, release it, then have the programers concentrate on porting it to the 360 from the PC base (reusing code from the PS3 version for the PPC portion of the cell) while non-programmers concentrate on the translations.

Had MS moneyhatted SE we would likely have had a 360 Japanese version. Sony had no need to moneyhat to have an exclusive PS3 Japanese version as it is the most logical course of action for SE to take and they keep saying that they do not moneyhat so it shouldn't be hard to believe that they did not do it and that they didn't know about the 360 version before us. It is also logical for Sony not to know about it as MS and SE wanted to keep the big reveal for E3 and the less people knew about it the easier it is to keep it a secret. Getting Sony in on the secret does not make sense (unless there was a prior exclusivity agreement between Sony and SE that we do not know about, in which case Sony would have needed to know about it to allow SE to withdraw from said agreement but that scenario is very unlikely).

Sony's stake in SE is small enough not to matter either way and what Sony lost in licensing fees due to the 360 version will not be made back through dividends from SE (that is, any monetary difference in dividends from SE to Sony between an exclusive FFXIII and a non-exclusive one will be lower than the licensing Sony would have gotten had it had the licensing fee for every copy sold on the 360).


To recapitulate, **in all likelyhood**:
_MS didn't moneyhat to have FFXIII on 360, SE did it because it made financial sense.
_Sony didn't moneyhat to have FFXIII exclusive to PS3 in Japan, SE kept it there because it made no/little financial sense to port it whether at launch or later.
_Sony didn't know about the 360 port before E3.

Yeah. Also, it came right at the start of the PS3 launch (at least in PAL regions) so timing was/is also an issue i feel

@iron_megalith:

touche - I'm also trying to avoid the wrath of the banhammer at the moment :(

You make a good point.  Whether SE releases a Japanese version might largely depend on perceived demand.

good
ps3 will win japan and euro soon :)

Don't care, as long as we get it in Europe I'm happy.

Great news Skeeuk that FF XIII will remain PS3 exclusive in Japan. PS3 should sell over 1 million consoles in Japan alone just with FF XIII exclusivity in Japan and expect FF XIII to sell around 3 million copies in Japan alone.

FF XIII Versus will also be worldwide exclusive game to the PS3 which should also help boost PS3 hardware sales worldwide and help PS3 bolt pass the X360 and edge closer to the Wii in console sales.

     LOL, Fo Shizzzle!!

FF XIII remains PS3 exclusive in Japan due to the game will sell a lot of copies on PS3 which will have a install base of over 5 million users in Japan alone by the time FF XIII launches in Japan late 2009.

Am with this guy!