Microsoft Desperately Marketing FFXIII Sony Playing Their Cards Right

The internet is at a buzz once again due to the recent Final Fantasy XIII TV spot making an appearance during the NBA’s recent All-Star event displaying only the Xbox 360 version of the title. Many argue that Square Enix is abandoning Final Fantasy’s roots as a PlayStation exclusive* series while abandoning their loyal fans. I find the whole situation to be very ironic and a sign of desperation. In all honesty who didn’t anticipate an Xbox 360 exclusive TV spot for this title? Microsoft knows that main Final Fantasy series is synonymous with PlayStation; which is why Sony could care-less about Final Fantasy XIII going multiplatform and being marketed on Microsoft’s platform.

As much as I love my Xbox 360 I question Microsoft’s “money to blow logic”. We’ve seen a ridiculous amount of money wasted and shoveled at publishers for things like timed and marketing exclusivity; Final Fantasy XIII is another example of this. Just recently the long rumored GTA IV Episodes of Liberty City was officially announced to be coming to the PlayStation 3 after Microsoft’s $50 million dollar timed exclusivity deal with Rockstar expired. Fallout 3 underwent the same treatment as in October of last year the GOTY edition of the title released on both platforms featuring all the current DLC available. There is one question the Microsoft camp should be asking themselves, was it worth handing money to publishers for limited exclusivity rather than investing in their own titles?

Those who look at FFXIII from Sony’s perspective shouldn’t care one bit about Microsoft’s desperate marketing. For one, God of War 3 releases no less than a week after that title; if Sony were to market that game as much Microsoft probably will they would be competing with themselves. Pretty much every enthusiastic Final Fantasy fan will purchase XIII on the PlayStation 3 regardless of it appearing on other platforms. The capacity of Blu-Ray relieves the hassle of having to deal with the tedious disc swapping of 360’s FFXIII. Its 2010 nobody wants to get out of their seat to switch a DVD because the game can’t fit on 1 disc, we dealt with disc swapping 10 years ago via Final Fantasy 7.

Xbox 360’s demographic doesn’t find much interest in JRPGs, we have seen plenty of these titles come and go on 360. Outside Japan these JRPGs being hugely successful on a Microsoft platform is wishful thinking. It would be much easier and far less expensive for Microsoft to just stick to their niche titles and cater to their crowd. What possible satisfaction is Microsoft getting with FFXIII when no one cares about it? They seem to tout games that are no longer exclusive to PlayStation 3 like an accomplishment so they can present themselves to Sony with a chip on their shoulder.

I question Microsoft’s rationality though I’m sure the publishers like Square Enix love the green that is thrown their way. In the end Sony is playing their cards right, they still have FFXIII releasing on their platform along with other blockbuster exclusives like God of War 3 and MLB 10 The Show releasing in March. Thank Microsoft for marketing FFXIII for Sony.

Edit: In this sentence from my article above: "Many argue that Square Enix is abandoning Final Fantasy’s roots as a PlayStation exclusive* series while abandoning their loyal fans" . I was referring specifically to the many extremely popular single player only Final Fantasy titles that have released exclusively on Sony platforms since Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy XIII will be the first title to break this long lasting streak.

Tags: 3, 360, fantasy, final, playstation, ps3, xbox, xiii

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Comment by Tom on February 16, 2010 at 11:13pm: @David Macphail

I usually dont even bother to sign up and post to these silly remarks but this one just took the cake so I had to drop by :) What you may call desperate, in a business world its called marketing. Trust me when I say microsoft is not hurting for consumers. You can tell yourself whatever makes you sleep better at night but the bottom line is this. I see a lot (not all) of PS3 owners SOOOO BOOTYHURT over the fact that FF is coming to 360 that they lash out and try to validate their rage by making up really lame excuses. Suck it up, deal with the fact that 360 is just as good a system as the PS3.

To the author of this article -

Im sorry but, your an idiot.

"Square Enix is abandoning Final Fantasy’s roots as a PlayStation exclusive* series while abandoning their loyal fans."

this is LOL -- How old are you? If you close to my age you should know where Final Fantasy's roots came from .. if not than read my first sentence. Secondly, what the heck is it with everyone saying that SE is abonding their fans?? YOUR STILL GETTING THE GAME ON THE PS3!! LOL So what that its not "Exclusive to the PS3" Im willing to bet that final fantasy fans extend beyond the reach of the playstation my friend. You want to talk FF roots -- got get a nintendo and then call me. Until then why do you care that MS wants to spend millions on a commercial and not share it with sony. You should be asking why sony isnt marketing more! Cant wait for sales numbers. The ONLY reason PS3 will probably outsell the xbox version si because they wouldnt let them release it in japan!!

Comment by Luis Ortiz on February 16, 2010 at 2:39pm: You can check with NPD then, the idea here is that, yes Sony is catching up, but they have not always sold more unit then the 360. And yes the PS3 is a better machine in certain way better graphics card etc. We can choose to believe that Sony didn't as well. The other idea I'm trying to get across is that this is a business. Both companies have done some mudslinging and spent money to get over the other. MicroSoft has been able to somewhat match Sony. In some cases even beat Sony in my opinon.

Comment by Aaron M. Powell on February 16, 2010 at 2:17pm: luis ortiz, you shouldn't tell someone to check vgchartz for the sales numbers, as they are inaccurate at times.... a lot...

Sony has gone on record as saying they don't pay for exclusives. We may choose to believe them or not but really if they did and lied to our faces and said they didnt, wouldn't you think one of the devs they supposedly paid money for exclusives would have shot back with a response by now saying how much of a lie that is?

Comment by Luis Ortiz on February 16, 2010 at 12:49pm: What sales data have you been looking at. Only in the last year or so has PS3 been out selling 360 (check VGCHARTZ). Exclusive games other then GTA microsoft has not thrown any money at any third party, but even if they did. Has not Sony and Nintendo done the same, as a matter of fact GTA3 had an exclusivity clause as well. I really don't think that they have wasted anything as they still made money which honestly is the bottom line

I think both 360 and PS3 have some great exclusives on the way I will be being the best games whether it's 360, Wii,PS3,NDS or PSP. God of War 3 and Halo Reach look to be really great titles I'm looking forward to, Alan Wake looks pretty interesting to me. Fable has always been good and keeps getting better. Don't forget crackdown 2 and slew of awesome xbox arcade titles. As for PS3 you've also got another resistance fall of man another Gran Turismo and another Killzone, which I'm also looking forward to.

Comment by David Macphail on February 16, 2010 at 12:30pm: Desperate is definetly the right word, Microsoft have been desperate since this generation began. They've been throwing money at third - party devs left and right for timed - exclusivity over games like Bioshock, Star Ocean, Fallout 3 DLC or GTA: IV DLC. Only problem is.....it hasn't helped one bit. The PS3 constantly sees better hardware sales over the 360 week - in, week - out. Microsoft are basically throwing money at a lost cause.

Sony have a plethora of AAA exclusives hitting in 2010, Microsoft have nothing but Alan Wake, Fable 3 and another Halo game. When you find yourself in that situation the only option they have left is to market a mutliplatform game as if it were exclusive. Too bad......Final Fantasy XIII has already sold 1.9 million copies on the PS3 and the majority of westerners will be buying the PS3 version as well, exclusive TV spot or not.

When Microsoft and their legions of 360 fanboys have gotten to the point where they're bragging about........exclusive TV commercials, you know they're getting desperate. If only Microsoft had the same number of exclusive games.......then maybe they wouldn't get outsold by their competition every week.

Comment by Luis Ortiz on February 16, 2010 at 9:22am: For one these are all companies trying to make money, in that sense microsoft has already won. Sony is still losing money for each PS3 it sells and game sales are not making back that money like they hoped. I find this sentiment to be in error.

"Many argue that Square Enix is abandoning Final Fantasy’s roots as a PlayStation exclusive series while abandoning their loyal fans."

Any hardcore gamer knows that FF started on the NES and SNES parts 1- 6. Square-Enix is loyal to the gamers of the world. You want Square-Enix to make games exclusive for the PS3, but many you fanboys are not buying the games this causes many companies not to make any money on PS3 releases. Other companies see this and have to create games on other systems that are selling games in order to stay in business.

Microsoft is making money that all it is to it. It healthy competition and I applaud microsoft for their effort. Even if you totally hate microsoft you got to admit they gave Sony some serious comp, when you look at how successful the PS2 was totally dominating and destroying the dreamcast.

Comment by rezenu on February 16, 2010 at 9:14am: tweed, how is the author a fanboy? He's pointing out what needed to be pointed out. Darkie has a history of lashing out at writers just because they dare to criticize Microsoft. I mean, heaven forbid Sony used this tactic several times in a row. The 360 fanboys would be howling and crying behind their computer monitors.

Comment by derek tweed on February 16, 2010 at 8:59am: i think darkie is perfectly within his right to slate the writer of this article, because i agree with him and all you guys baggin on him sayin he is the fanboy, when he was pointing out how big a fan boy thewriter is.. just makes you look like the biggest fanboy about. althogh i can see the point about microsoft throwing money at timed exclusive being pointless. this article is just a propaganda machine for sony

Comment by rezenu on February 16, 2010 at 4:48am: And Darkie, you shouldn't be calling anyone a fanboy when your posts reek of fanboyism. Every site I go to, you're trying to convince everyone that Microsoft is such an amazing company and Sony is evil. This guy's article wasn't fanboyish. He has an excellent point and that's something I've been saying for years since these two consoles were on the market.

He's doing you 360 fanboys a favor by pointing out the obvious. Microsoft needs to invest in new games, otherwise Sony will continue to destroy them in that department.

But of course, the sales argument will keep coming up instead of the actual quality of the games...

Comment by rezenu on February 16, 2010 at 4:44am: You're absolutely right and this was a very good article. Microsoft keeps wasting their money and throwing it around like this is some Monopoly game or something. This is why I prefer the PS3. There's nothing on the 360 that gets me excited at all. While I do respect some of the things Microsoft has done right, I really don't think they care about new IPS whatsoever.