Driving a Square Peg Into a Round Hole
Driving a Square Peg Into a Round Hole
Many of you might have become aware of the fact that Square Enix held a press conference announcing that Star Ocean 4 was exclusive to the 360. On top of that, it has announced that The Last Remnant will be a timed exclusive on the system as well. My jaw dropped when I got this information. Not only was I severely disappointed (huge Star Ocean fan), but I was also baffled by the move. I’m not saying that just because I own and prefer the PS3 that it deserves all of the titles, but…I will ask a question or possible a few that calls into question this decision by our good friends at Square Enix.
At the beginning of this generation, Square Enix stated that it would attempt to support all of the consoles in a more equal manner. Some people applauded. I didn’t. The decision regarding Star Ocean 4 and The Last Remnant are obviously affirmation of this newly adopted policy. PlayStation owners have already suffered what has been described as a betrayal by Capcom when it released Devil May Cry 4 on the 360 after being a PlayStation staple. At least Capcom also decided to release this popular title on its “home” console as well.
Square Enix is taking a RPG away from the fan base that loves it and giving it to another. It would be one thing if the 360 offered Square Enix a myriad of RPG hungry fans. Possibly it does to some extent. However, it is more known for having individuals that love shooters (Halo) and action titles such as Devil May Cry. Square Enix is at liberty to make any decision it likes regarding where it will release its games, but wouldn’t it be wiser to release this on a console that is known for having people that love RPGs? Has Square Enix not read the many articles and threads of PS3 owners crying for RPGs?
Though the press release was recent, I believe that this might have been known on some level for a while. Why? Kaz has come out and said that there may be a change in policy regarding exclusive titles. I’m not saying that the 360 paid for Square Enix’s titles, but I’d be foolish to not at least consider it. I’m more saddened by the fact that Sony didn’t beat them to it on this regard. I didn’t cry when we lost DMC4, though I enjoy the title, it isn’t something that crushed me. This on the other hand has severely wounded me. We do still have FF XIII and Versus, but I want my Star Ocean. It is possible that we may see this down the line. You never really know with exclusivity these days any way. With Namco Bandai already throwing its RPG weight around in a confusing manner, what are we PS3 owners to do?
How should Sony address this RPG issue? Will Square Enix do something for us poor disheartened PS3 owners? Time will tell.
June 10, 2008 at 6:37 pm
You sound a raging fanboy in this post. When YOU lost DMC4? It was still released on the PS3. You were severely wounded? Seriously?
I respect your views and see what you’re trying to say. A complete abandonment of the platform that Star Ocean came up on is wrong, but why is it any worse just because 360 owners are getting it?
June 10, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Didn’t sony team up with Ncsoft and supposedly theyre making some RPGs together? Quote from Jeff
“How could I forget (I love RPGs as well), and am working to bring you some info on exclusive titles Valkyria Chronicles and Disgaea 3.”
Honestly i have no idea what those games are because i hate JRPG’s (except pokemon) so I really don’t pay attention to them
Chris are those you’re looking forward to?
But this does show sony is trying
June 10, 2008 at 6:42 pm
I never said that the game was any worse. I was merely saying that it was disappointing to see the franchise leave the console for one that has never had it before.
I clearly stated that DMC4 was still released on the PS3 as well.
This isn’t a raging fanboy post as much as it is me merely stating my views on the latest news as always. Bringing light to different issues and stirring discussion.
I was wounded because that was a strong selling point for Sony. The more consoles you sell, the more favor you’re likely to get from developers. Many 360 owners at the time were considering getting a PS3 for DMC4, but that changed once it was announced for the 360. Capcom has yet to give the PS3 an exclusive, hence the wound.
June 10, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I am looking forward to the JRPGs. That is my favorite game genre. I hope that there will be more JRPGs announced soon. But what I really want is to see them on the shelves.
June 10, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I’m VERY disappointed with both SE and Sony, more so Sony. SE is doing the only reasonable thing, going where the money is. If M$ wants to pay for every title, they have the right to.
My discontent from SE is them completely leaving the platform that gave their titles life. Have you ever seen a Star Ocean title on a M$ console before? No! What about all the Star Ocean fans who are now abandoned by their beloved franchise? SE honestly lost a bit of respect with me in the past few days… with both the Star Ocean and the Last Remnant announcements. Of course, all this could be timed exclusives too similar to the Bioshock deal. While I’m hoping that is the case or even only for the JP market.
I’m glad Sony is finally getting their act straight when it comes to paying for exclusives. The console war can still go either way. Once Sony secures a larger foothold they may not need to pay for exclusives like with the PS2 era, but in a time like this they cannot afford that luxury just yet.
June 10, 2008 at 7:00 pm
guys ,lets face it, Squarenix and capcom are game companies ,companies love money , Microsoft have a lot of money, Sony dont.
Microsoft is losing on japan, so they have to make this kind of decision.
Its simple as that, Microsoft gave money to rockstar for the DLC , and it probably gave a lot of money to squarenix, its sad but true.
sony is a little stuborn/pride , so theyre not going to pay for exclusives.
Maybe this changes as kazuo said. But its simple as that, companies like money , theyre not loyal (on most of the cases) to anyone.
an exception would be kojima productions ,even konami doesnt want MGS4 as a exclusive :S
also im getting at the title.
June 10, 2008 at 7:00 pm
The PS2 had many GREAT JRPGs, and what about the PS3 thus far? Um… Enchanted Arms?
June 10, 2008 at 7:03 pm
i want rpgs like fallout and oblivion, not jrpgs where you have a sword blade the size of a house and the handle is thinner than a matchstick
June 10, 2008 at 7:04 pm
Indeed Fersis, I can’t say anything about that. I think that they are being short sighted though. Making Star Ocean 4 360 exclusive really only netted them the exclusive money. Not additional sales. Oh well. White Knight Chronicles FTW!!!!!!!!!
June 10, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Ok, im gonna say this , accuse me of PS3 fanboy…
Microsoft is scared,they feel that they can lose the console war.
Theyre spending a lot of money ,buying everything they can.
On the long run PS3 will surpass the microsoft console.
At least that is my tought , because microsoft only has shooters , and shooters players.
MGS4,Little Big Planet,Home,Resistance 2, and a awesome (at least for me) announcement on E3 will be the ones who turn the tables.
The announcement on E3 cant be toped by microsoft.
June 10, 2008 at 7:46 pm
microsoft needs a spanking….badly
June 10, 2008 at 7:57 pm
No matter what Microsoft does, it still wont change the fact the the 360 will never have success in japan. Personally all I care about is if we’ll ever get these jrpgs or not.
June 10, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I believe that we will. Just some of them have been stalled for a while. That’s fine though. We’ll be hearing good news soon I hope.
June 10, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Ah well, you win some, you lose some.
At least we got FF.
June 10, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Star Ocean 4 was never announced as an xbox 360 exclusive. They did not comment on a PS3 version, dont think its wise to expect them to its was announced at a 360 event. Tales of Vesperia from Namco was announced as an exclusive.
June 10, 2008 at 8:16 pm
whoelse is cool ,he is not nervous ,he is cool…
he knows… i know ,MGS4 is PS3 exclusive, after that nothing matters .
June 10, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Lol, now now, MGS4 is going to be an end all type of game, but can’t you have some sympathy for me Fersis?
June 10, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I am just as baffled as you guys as to why SE would abandon its fanbase but I think there will be something at E3 for us PS3 owners.
June 10, 2008 at 8:31 pm
StarOcean 4 is only a timed exclusive, then it will come to the PS3 , with the fixes and more content. Just like Eternal Sonata (Or whatever the name was)
Dont get mad, Chris, right now is not the time for RPGs on PS3.
They will come.
June 10, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I know, I know.
So who all is getting FF XIII and Versus?
June 10, 2008 at 9:54 pm
This article makes very valid points, but SE is being arrogant, and they started it when they said they didn’t want to let any console be a clear winner. Read that right THEY THINK THEY WILL MAKE OR BREAK A SYSTEM! THe news today was, pardon may language, complete bullshit. They cock teased PSP owners with trailers of Star Ocean 4 with First Departure’s re-release, and now they say its going 360 where hardly anyone will play it. I feel Chris’ pain, SO4 looks awesome and not knowing whether or not it’s doming to the PS3 is bad business on SE’s part, SO3 barely broke a million units, how many do they think it will sell on the 360? I say 563,000 units global, and thats garbage compared to the at least million+ they would get from Playstation owners. If your not a Star Ocean fan then you wouldn’t undertand, especially sincet this is the game that basically starts all of the other ones. It sucks ass, and Microsoft can fuck off
June 10, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I need to add that I don’t understand why people think Sony doesn’t have money to spread around, just because they don’t make a big practice of it like Microsoft doesn’t mean they don’t have it. Sony has plenty of money, far more than Microsoft
June 10, 2008 at 10:18 pm
sony’s game division has been losing millions of dollars due to the ps3. i doubt they have money to secure exclusive. let face the truth: the ps3 so far bombed this gen. at least its a blu ray and mgs4 player.
June 10, 2008 at 10:19 pm
This is all about M$ taking (buying) fun out of PS3 owners’ hands. It’s pretty much been their ‘plan B’ ever since the PS3 started to outsell the 360 in every major region this year. They’re a disgrace to this industry.
June 10, 2008 at 10:34 pm
mike, the MS console is also losing money, is the way of the business, every company takes its time before being profitable.
In fact the PS3 will be profitable in less time than the MS console.
June 10, 2008 at 11:13 pm
I see it more like driving a round peg in a square hole. which is unorthodox, but possible nonetheless. i think we all know that square enix is just looking to attack a greater install base. and microsoft probably made them go Xbox360 exclusive or no xbox at all. but that’s just a shot in the dark. i dont know why they chose to do this unless they tell me… point is… what”re you gonna do about it?
June 10, 2008 at 11:25 pm
I’m actually thinking of buying a 360 now…
I really want some RPG’s.
I was playing Lost Odyssey the other day at my friends, and I loved it.
Eternal Sonata looks pretty good…and it’s not going to be release for PS3 in Japan.
Infinite Undiscovery looks pretty decent, too. Haven’t seen much of that, though.
And now The Last Remnant is timed, and Star Ocean exclusive? I’ve really been looking forward to The Last Remnant, but I have never played Star Ocean…and it seems I never will…unless I purchase a 360.
June 10, 2008 at 11:29 pm
^ I meant Eternal Sonata PS3 won’t get released in any other region apart from Japan.
June 11, 2008 at 12:12 am
I seem to remember Square once saying they would support the PS3 but not too much. They want it to do well but they don’t want it to completely dominate. The PS3 gets FF13/Vs13 and the 360 gets timed exclusivity of the Last Remnant and Star Ocean 4.
But still, I think SCEJ should pull their head out of their ass and make more effort in bringing some JRPG’s to the console. It’s as if they’re content to just sit back and do fuck all.
June 11, 2008 at 1:15 am
Sony as a whole company has plenty of money to spread around, the games division should break even by August and start making money. I don’t think Kaz would say something about buyying exclusives if they didn’t have any money, but SE being 28,000,000 in the hole for their fiscal year end probably made this deal with Microsoft to keep their profits up for some timed exclusives, but you can bet this was a last minute thing, and Microsoft didn’t do this to retain exclusives because they want to be the RPG console of choice they did it to piss on Sony and it worked. If I were heading up SCEI you bet your ass I would be hitting up some low blows to Microsoft right now and at the very least make a comment about todays news, and that’s what Sony should do but they won’t
June 11, 2008 at 4:19 am
Hopefully Sony will start cranking out some first-party JRPGs. That’d help to minimize this sort of problem in the future.
June 11, 2008 at 7:08 am
If you want RPGs for PS3 than sign up on this Petition, it works maybe.
SE will lose alot of Money cause all the pS3 fanbase has bought the PS3 for RPGs.
http://www.petitiononline.com/ps31134/petition-sign.html?
June 11, 2008 at 7:15 am
There’s still hope people.
“”We cannot announce anything on that. We can say that it will be released first [on the Xbox 360]. Whether we’ll release it on the PS3 is undecided. We may release it, we may not.”-Square Enix producer Yoshinori Yamagishi.
Source:http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/880/880441p1.html
June 11, 2008 at 11:44 am
http://n4g.com/industrynews/News-156067.aspx
Square Enix has revealed the official site of the DK S 3713 event and here’s the confirmed list of games:
- Final Fantasy XIII (PlayStation 3)
- Final Fantasy Agito XIII (Mobile)
- Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PlayStation 3)
- Kingdom Hearts Coded (Mobile)
- Kingdom Hearts358/2 Days (Nintendo DS)
- Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep (Sony PSP)
- Dissidia Final Fantasy (Sony PSP)
- The 3rd Birthday (Mobile)
- Sigma Harmonics (Nintendo DS)
- Final Fantasy VII AC Complete (Blu-Ray)
June 12, 2008 at 2:45 pm
one thing sony should do to counter MS attacks!! thats is make the ps3 at 300$ and in summer time!!! that will blow MS out of the water!!! and PS3 will sell like madness, and all companies will have to think a million times before making anything exclusive to MS!!
June 16, 2008 at 10:43 am
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