360 port could be the cause of long Western wait for anticipated RPG.

By Steve Watts, 01/15/2009

Those hoping to play Square Enix's next blockbuster RPG may have to wait a bit longer than expected, as a Guardian report confirms that Final Fantasy XIII won't come out until next year in the U.S. President Yoichi Wada stated the game will release in April 2010 or later in North America, well after its scheduled 2009 release in Japan.

There's no reason mentioned for the long wait time between releases, but Square Enix has said that they're going to finish the PS3 version before starting on the 360, rather than developing the two at the same time. Since the 360 and PS3 versions are supposed to see a simultaneous release in North America, this could be the culprit for added development time to an already long-awaited game.

Of course, the 360 version will also be developed as the game is being localized, so it's hard to tell when the game would release if not for the 360 porting process. We'll let you know a more specific drop date as soon as we hear it from Square Enix.

FUUUUU**

If true.. im po'ed. :(

I can't believe anyone was expecting it sooner... it was still tentative for a Japan release in 2009, and the West gets these games months after Japan at best.

How many times will this be posted???

2011 EU release?

Was anyone expecting it sooner?

How can anyone have expected it any earlier? We know that FFXIII will release in japan very late in 2009, like november ish. So a 5 month wait in between regions for a FF game is short or in line with other games in the series (7 months for FFXII, FFVIII for example).

This isn´t surprising at all...this year in Japan, next year for the rest of the world.

Simulacrum said: 360 port could be the cause of long Western wait for anticipated RPG. By Steve Watts, 01/15/2009 Those hoping to play Square Enix's next blockbuster RPG may have to wait a bit longer than expected, as a Guardian report confirms that Final Fantasy XIII won't come out until next year in the U.S. President Yoichi Wada stated the game will release in April 2010 or later in North America, well after its scheduled 2009 release in Japan. There's no reason mentioned for the long wait time between releases, but Square Enix has said that they're going to finish the PS3 version before starting on the 360, rather than developing the two at the same time. Since the 360 and PS3 versions are supposed to see a simultaneous release in North America, this could be the culprit for added development time to an already long-awaited game. Of course, the 360 version will also be developed as the game is being localized, so it's hard to tell when the game would release if not for the 360 porting process. We'll let you know a more specific drop date as soon as we hear it from Square Enix.   FUUUUU**

Somebody needs to do a little research. I'll post the same thing here that I did in the other thread.

Final Fantasy VII

^JP January 31, 1997
^NA September 7, 1997
^EU November 17, 1997

Final Fantasy VIII

^JP February 11, 1999
^NA September 9, 1999
^PAL October 27, 1999

Final Fantasy IX

^JP July 7, 2000
^NA November 14, 2000
^PAL February 16, 2001

Final Fantasy X

^JP July 19, 2001
^NA December 20, 2001
^PAL May 29, 2002

Final Fantasy X-2

^JP March 13, 2003
^NA November 18, 2003
^PAL February 20, 2004

Final Fantasy XII

^JP March 16, 2006
^NA October 31, 2006
^PAL February 23, 2007

Fanboys can try to blame MS all they like. The simple truth of the matter is that FFXIII is taking so long to release because of the PS3 architecture. When the game was announced for 360, the PS3 version had been in development for over 3 years. The swiftness of the games port to 360 will only serve to further the point.

Dunno would there be reason to buy this from Japan..?
And ok I hoped this for late 2009...