Microsoft RPG Announcements on PS3/360 Japanese RPGs
Microsoft announced three big new RPG developments today:
- Star Ocean 4 (Developed by tri-Ace + Square Enix, Published By Square-Enix), is announced for 360 in 2009. Square Enix evade mention of PS3. I suspect this means a timed 360 exclusive, and the devs are contractually not allowed to mention PS3 info, although this isn’t confirmed.
- The Last Remnant (Developed/Published by Square Enix), a PS3/360 title, is now announced to hit 360 first. The PS3 version is still confirmed. We don’t know how long the timed exclusive window will be.
- Tales of Vesperia (Developed/Published by Namco), is announced for 360 only. Namco recently listed this as coming for the PS3, and retracted that as a “mistake”. Again, it sounds like a 360 timed exclusive, where they are contractually not allowed to mention the PS3 version
Microsoft also reiterated that Inifinite Undiscovery and Fable 2 are still permanent 360 exclusives, but we’ve known about those for a while.
On the PS3 side, we still know about White Knight Stories + FFXIII which are the giant PS3 exclusive RPGs for 2009. We also have Disgaea 3 and Valkyrie Chronicles coming (already out in Japan). We finally get Eternal Sonata (already out on 360) later this year.
In terms of upcoming long-term exclusives, PS3 probably still has the edge: WKS + FFXIII are generally much bigger titles than Fable and Infinite Undiscovery. And these new Microsoft announcements are all probably timed exclusives, rather than long-term or permanent exclusive arrangements. However, Microsoft is definitely gaining a lot of ground on this front.
Clearly, these Japanese RPGs are valuable strategic points for Microsoft’s bigger-picture objectives, and their business teams are aggressively pursuing deals around these key properties. I suspect Microsoft has more cash than Sony that they are willing to use in this kind of deal making.
Of course, there may be more cards left to be played. E3 is just around the corner and there’s a good chance we will see unheard of 2008 projects unveiled then. We’ve mentioned this before, but so far the PS3 hasn’t had a major exclusive RPG release in the west. Of course, there are non-exclusive titles, like the upcoming Fallout 3, but in general, most PS3 and RPG fans are eager to see this situation improve.
Try now - 
June 10th, 2008 at 11:36 am
Sony had better get there act together at E3.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
But what I want to know is, how many of these RPGs are split-screen multiplayer (either co-op or antagonistic)? That, after all, is one of the main reasons to buy a game console over a PC.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Man, MS again buys they exclusives^^
It’s just sad, as all JRPGs up until now bombed on the 360, and this trend isn’t likely to change anytime soon (LO was quite a good game).
I just wonder, what Sony is doing in the meantime…
June 10th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
The 360 is an the verge of death in japan. So they need some kind of fire power. If those games dont save them NOTHING WILL.
June 10th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Im 9 hrs into mgs4 now…but im not that good..i just reached the second act…just to tell every1 the game is awesome…and the only disappointing thing was the install…first b4 u can play there is an 8 minute install..ok fine every game these days seems to have that..but then after i finished the 1st act there was a 3 min install..i was like WTF..and for every1s info..there are other environments..incase any1 didnt know
June 10th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
I would hate to be SCEJ right now… or SCEA for that matter. The Playstation brand being outclassed on the RPG front? tsk tsk
June 10th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
The PlayStation brand? PS2 and PSP have both been getting great recent RPG exclusives. It’s just the PS3 that doesn’t have any big RPG exclusives yet.
June 11th, 2008 at 4:35 am
What I am really looking forward to is a sequel of Baldurs Gate with 4 Player CoOp, 50h of gameplay and massiv dungeons with cool equipment to gather… why is Blizzard not porting a Diablo3 to the PS3… this would be awsome!