@apujanata, I take your point, but I'm not convinced by the logic. The way I see it, the multiplatform owner is, by definition, not beholden to one platform or the other.
Have SqEnix announced whether the PS3 and 360 releases will be simultaneous or staggered? If the PS3 version launches ahead of the 360 version, that will swing a huge portion of the multiplatform owners.
@Joe80, Thanks for the hospitality. I just love this industry, from the financial structure to the production of the games themselves. I'm portuguese, sorry for any tipos. I agree with apujanata and jonman, it's perfectly clear that the FF series is going to be always strictly linked to playstation, specially in japan.
@Jonman, This "long link between FF and Playstation" is one of the main reason that I predicted multiplatform owner will choose to buy PS3 version over X360 version.
The other reason is that this game is developed primarily for PS3, and THEN ported over to X360. It is safer to buy "primary" version (PS3) than "ported over" version (X360).
Furthermore, I'm pretty confident that we'll see a higher percentage of the installed base buy-in on PS3 than 360, merely on account of the long-standing link between FF and Playstation.
As far as the multiplatform owners, the anecdotal evidence seems to me that folk tend to lean more towards a 360 purchase than a PS3 purchase, if only for achievements.
That's certainly the case for multiplayer games, where the "my friends are on that platform" effect comes into play, but I'm not sure the same logic holds for a singleplayer release.
Of course, all bets are off if it turns out that there's a difference in quality or content between the two versions e.g. crappy framerate or exclusive DLC.
@Jonman, How about multi platform owner (PS3 and X360 both), and which version they will choose ? I predicted that multi platform owner will choose PS3 version over X360 version.
AFAIK, there was no X360 DLC for FF13, so the ground is mostly neutral for both version, unlike GTAIV.
How well FF13 is going to perform on 360 is the big unknown for me at the moment. We've seen 'Western' RPGs like Fable and Fallout perform very well, and minor JRPGs perform comparatively poorly (Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon).
That said, Final Fantasy is almost a genre to itself, and has enormous cache. How many 360 owners have played and enjoyed a previous FF game? I'm thinking that it's a sizable number, and with the likely jump we'll see in hardware sales this holiday season due to the price cut, there's going to be a lot of new owners looking for the new hawtness, right about the time FF13 drops.
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Simultaneous in US & Europe, PS3 only in Japan (no X360 version in Japan AFAIK).