14 DAY TRIAL // Square Enix left Sony fan boys in a daze, following rather ambiguous statements in a Wall Street Journal interview. Taking a closer look at the ongoing battle between the great three of the console market, the notorious publication turns to Square Enix for clarification. The RPG powerhouse showed a moderate approach on next generation consoles, very different for the exclusivity we saw the last generation. Thus, Square Enix senior VP Michihiro Sasaki implies PS3 support will be weaker than that of the PS1 and PS2.
Square Enix is playing its cards smart, waiting for the right opportunity to go into costly business decisions. "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them," he said. "But we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much."
Sasaki's comments have the brute numbers of PS2 sales to give them extra weight. Playstation popularity has been heavily influenced by titles like the PS2-exclusive Final Fantasy XII which sold over 1.7 million units within the first four days of the Japan launch. Kingdom Hearts moved 3 million units in North America alone and its sequel another million units in the first month after its March 2006 release.
The Japanese developer currently has titles scheduled for all next generation consoles, including Project Sylpheed for Xbox 360 and Dragon Quest Swords for Wii. Of note is their yet unnamed MMORPG to feature on PS3, Xbox 360 and Vista PCs, with a speculated Xbox 360 port from the computer version. The PS3-exclusive Final Fantasy XIII is undoubtedly the heaviest franchise, expected to move a lot of Sony's upcoming consoles out of the shelves and into your living room.