ON-GOING RUMORS:
From Gamefront.de (through Babelfish)
Square speaks over finally Fantasy XII
31.01.03 - UNCONFIRMED: In the Famitsu, which appears to 07.02.03, is to be an interview with Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo and Yasumi Matsuno of Square. The two speak with a reporter about their current projects and plans. The following passage of the discussion is interesting:
Miyamoto: ' as they advance with finally Fantasy XII ?'
Matsuno: ' co-operation with Nintendo was good. Or haven't I might say that now (laughs)?'
Reporter: ' isn't Fantasy XII final for PlayStation2?'
Miyamoto: (laughs)
Matsuno: ' if the time is ripe, I it will say.'
Since the Famitsu did not appear yet and we cannot examine next week ago whether the discussion ran available and/or in such a way, applies to this message: WITHOUT GUARANTEE and UNCONFIRMED .
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Japanese Developers Talk About New Projects
"Comments from Yasumi Matsuno, Shigeru Miyamoto and Level 5 inside."
"In interviews published in the recent issue of Weekly Famitsu, Square's Yasumi Matsuno said that about 120 people are working on his current project, Final Fantasy XII, which will be released later this year in Japan. From a development standpoint, he wants the game to be a truly unique title this year. Furthermore, he mentioned the possibility of doing something with the card e-reader."
FACTS:
- Nintendo's president last year made a statement that more FF series will come to Nintendo's platforms.
- PS2 outnumbers GC by 4 consoles to 1. It has the largest userbase resulting in PS2 titles dominating in sales.
- PS2 can store all of FF12 on a single disc=8.5 gigabytes. GC discs are only 1.5 gigabytes and will likely require 3-4 discs, thereby increasing Square's publishing costs $3-4... and reducing profits by about $3*500,000 units = $1.5 million reduced profit.
- Square is desperate for cash. The flop of FF:Spirit Within hurt them financially. They need every dollar they can get.
- Every initial release of previous Final Fantasies was exclusive to only one console. FF1-3=NES, FF4-6=SuperNES, FF7-9=PS1, FF10-11=PS2.
MY OPINION:
- Nintendo's president's statement very likely refers to FF: Crystal Chronicles and FF: Tactics for the GameCube/GameBoy respectively. He didn't say all FF series were coming to the Nintendo... just more of them. So FF12 could remain on PS2, and the president's statement would still be 100% accurate.
- Based upon the above facts, I think PS2 is the best choice for FF12 (exclusive). It would make the most profit at minimal publishing costs.
- The other possibility is that Square might target both PS2 and GC. I hope that happens, but I don't expect it to. It doesn't fit Square's love of exclusive titles.