Final Fantasy XIII may not be PS3 exclusive

Square Enix may follow other PS3 titles to the Xbox 360

March 23, 2007

Georges Fornay, a VP at Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, has revealled that despite Square Enix's original announcement of the game, Final Fantasy XIII is not confirmed as a PS3-exclusive title.

Fornay revealed this bit of information while speaking with a French site (dna.fr) about platform-exclusive titles, and mentioned that the cost of development makes developing a third-party platform-exclusive title an unfavourable move for most game publishers.

Fornay himself revealled that Final Fantasy XIII's exclusivity is "under discussion". Square Enix had previously announced that both major titles in the Final Fantasy XIII project (FF13 and Final Fantasy Versus XIII) would be released on the PS3 only.

Speculation arose immediately about the game appearing on Microsoft's Xbox 360, which seems to be the only other viable console for the title. This would be a huge win for Microsoft, considering the massive following of the Final Fantasy series. The relative success of the online title Final Fantasy XI on the Xbox 360 would also promote this move.

Square Enix wouldn't be the first to move a major franchise away from PlayStation exclusivity. Devil May Cry 4 and Ace Combat 6 were both announced for Xbox 360 this week. The mediocre performance of Sony's PS3 sales in North America to date may be a major factor in these decisions.

Square Enix has yet to reveal its official stance on the matter.