Final Fantasy XIII Needs “10 Times the Success”

Final Fantasy XIII producer Yoshinori Kitase says that there is an extraordinary amount of pressure on the game to succeed, and succeed overwhelmingly – “ten times the success” of normal games.

So, how ’bout that new Final Fantasy game? It’s been a long time in the making – five years, as a matter of fact. Five years is a long time in the games industry, and for a big-budget series like Final Fantasy, five years of development isn’t exactly cheap. With Squeenix stock at a five-year low, there’s bound to be some pressure on the FF13 dev team to hurry the hell up to get some sort of return on investment, no?

“You’re right, there is an unusual sort of pressure on Final Fantasy XIII,” producer Yoshinori Kitase told EDGE Magazine. “I’d say we need this game to have ten times the success of these smaller titles.”

Still, despite the pressure, Kitase stated that the team wasn’t looking to cut corners: “I don’t think that means we’ve compromised in terms of the game design or creativity in any way,” he continued. “Indeed, the development of the game has very much followed in the tradition of the previous titles in the series, welcoming input from the full range of development staff.”

Despite that, it’s hard to imagine that the Squeenix folks aren’t beginning to sweat just a little bit, as the game isn’t slated to be launched outside of Japan until 2010. Let’s refer back to our handy little chart of Final Fantasy sales releases, shall we?

Final Fantasy – 1987 (Japan), 1990 (NA)
Final Fantasy II – 1988 (Japan)
Final Fantasy III – 1990 (Japan)
Final Fantasy IV (II NA) – 1991 (Both)
Final Fantasy V – 1992 (Japan)
Final Fantasy VI (III NA) – 1994 (Both)
Final Fantasy VII – 1997 (Both)
Final Fantasy VIII – 1999 (Both)
Final Fantasy IX – 2000 (Both)
Final Fantasy X – 2001 (Both)
Final Fantasy XI – 2002 (Japan PS2/PC), 2003 (NA PC), 2004 (NA PS2), 2006 (All Xbox 360)
Final Fantasy XII – 2006 (Both)
Final Fantasy XIII – 2010…???

The (presumed) four-year gap between FF12 and FF13 will be tied for the longest in the series’ history – and this time around, it won’t have the multiple launches of FF11 to cushion the blow.

So, better get crackin’, fellas. Maybe if you hadn’t spent so much time trying to get the game to use 100% of the PS3’s power…

(Kotaku, via Videogamer)