Hm....I think the most convincing evidence for this argument is in how Square looks at its titles and where to put them. As seen in recent years, Square has accepted a strategy of "wait and see" with new consoles for which will have the most sales with the most japanese support. PS2 fit this discription by default but the DS saw that Square is not as Sony-centric as the industry would have thought.
It began with the stepping down of Yamauchi and the entrance of Iwata as head of Nintendo. Once this happened mid-way into the Gamecube's life, the PR gates were finally opened for Square to freely move into the realm of Nintendo if they so wished. The DS began to overtake the PSP which triggered Square stepping into these waters with GBA remakes of FF I and II, Final Fantasy III remade into 3D, and Rocket Slime, a Dragon Quest spin off. Then we began to see FF IV, V, and VI. Could Square be coming back to Nintendo?? We have also seen FF XI with an Xbox and PC version. Wow, FF on an american console, showing that the industry has been going through a lot of changes.
Then Square drops the bomb. Dragon Quest VIII is NOT going to be on the PS3 or even the PSP! But the....DS! Also new FF titles are announced like FF XII Revenant Wings and Chocobo tails for the DS. Once PSP establishes a bit of a userbase, they finally get FF I and II, but it seems that the DS has the primary focus.
What does all this have to do with the Wii? A lot. The Wii is, even moreso than DS, taking off with record sales and Japanese support. This seems to have lead way to again a Dragon Quest spinoff, much like Rocket Slime was on the DS, in the form of Dragon Quest Swords. Then a new trailer of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is released and it look awesome, much better than the original trailer and the Gamecube effort. It almost looks like a member of the main Final Fantasy series! Then we hear of another FF spinoff in a Chocobo RPG for the Wii. Interesting.
But what about Sony and the main FF line? Well FF XIII has been in development for a very long time but for some reason talk on the title has gone mum. Now it appears there are going to be 6 versions of the title with 4 versions unaccounted for but most certainly not to be on the PS3. We know that with all the work put into FF XIII that it will at least release on the PS3 in some form, but what odd transitions are taking place within Square to cause such dramatic shifts? A simple answer could be a shift in sales trends and platform focus.
Recently Square was quoted as saying that PS3 and 360 are overengineered and that graphics were not as important as everyone has been saying. WHAT??? SQUARE SAID THIS???? yep. Hm, where have we heard that before?... They have also stated that they have more surprises in store for the Wii. Unlike FF XIII which has been in development for HD for quite sometime, the other Square properties up for grabs are Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, etc. Kingdom Hearts seems like a perfect fit for Wii.
There are many factors that are uncertain in the case of Kingdom Hearts though. Disney now has its own concentrated game development segment. Ouch. Also some birdies were chirping about the Kingdom Hearts team being in shambles. Now regardless it is obvious from the evidence that Square is switching its gears and the benefit is most definately going to be the Wii.
Log in to comment