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Ever since Capcom announced Devil May Cry 4 was going multiplatform, various gamers across the Internets have found themselves questioning the exclusivity of other big name PS3 titles; Final Fantasy XIII and Metal Gear Solid 4. Of course, with SCE France’s president recently saying FFXIII’s exclusivity is under discussion, though possibly taken out of context at best, even more gamers are starting to believe that Final Fantasy XIII may just go multiplatform. Of course its obvious that Final Fantasy XIII going multiplatform would bolster huge sales in the West since the Xbox 360 has a bigger install base in the West; but for the sake of speculation and even self-interest and hypothetical analysis, would Final Fantasy XIII going multiplatform move 360s in Japan?
It’s an interesting thing to think about even if both Final Fantasy XIII and Versus XIII are both being developed and released simultaneously since the 360 isn’t doing so hot in Japan. With a FFXIII demo coming later in the year for the PS3, would Square-Enix consider multiplatforming FFXIII in Japan or keeping it as a PS3 exclusive, considering the 360 Japanese install base isn’t so huge? Rather, would Square-Enix keep FFXIII a PS3 exclusive in Japan and only multiplatform the game for the Western audience? Would Square-Enix benefit at all?
You may be asking yourself why Japan is such a big deal; to Microsoft, penetrating the Japanese gaming market is one of their biggest goals with the Xbox 360 by featuring titles that’ll appeal to the East. Blue Dragon managed to create some sort of ripple followed by Lost Planet and Gears of War; but after those titles were released, things returned to the way they were with 360 sales going down. If Microsoft succeeds in taking away Final Fantasy XIII from its PS3 exclusivity, things may turn out for the best; and maybe the 360 install base in Japan will grow and embrace the console. Then again, if the PS3 version of FFXIII is released first, PS3 sales in Japan may go up with 360 sales suffering when the 360 version is released. What do you think?
Remember. This is just mere speculation, not absolute truth.
