Square-Enix Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster

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Like @libregkd said, the install base for the XBO in Japan is laughably low. I mean, the PS4 hasn't exactly been embraced by Japan either, but for a Final Fantasy title it really does not make sense to release on the Xbox. FFXIII did abysmally on the 360 and I don't see FFXV performing well on it either (while its release on PS4 will without a doubt boost PS4 sales in Japan). Porting FFX/X-2HD to the PS4 honestly seems like a weird choice to me just because the PS4 hasn't really caught on in Japan yet, but the PS3 release sold so well that I imagine they're looking to leech as much out of the title as possible, combined with the rumors of a X-3.

It is a crime that FFXII hasn't been remastered yet, though. Totally with you on that.

 

For one, I don't care about the Japanese market. If that was the only market in consideration, I'd fully agree that it's a waste of Square-Enix's time and resources to release Xbox games. In fact, I'm surprised that the Xbox version of FFXV is getting a Japanese release.

For two, according to VG Chartz, FFXIII sold 2.11 million copies worldwide on 360 as of March 2015. While this is less than half of what it sold worldwide on PS3 (5.26 million), cutting out the numbers for the Japanese version (because there was no 360 version in Japan) shows that it sold 2.8 million copies on PS3 in North America and Europe. This is, obviously, still higher than the 360 version, but not even close to the difference made by the Japanese sales. Like I said, I'm ignoring the Japanese market here because their sales have no bearing on western markets.

These numbers tell me a few things: 1, the game did not sell "abysmally" on the 360, but rather only a little worse than the PS3 version. 2, There is a viable market for Final Fantasy on Xbox, even if it isn't as major as the PlayStation market. 3, I'm still very surprised that the X1 version of FFXV is getting a Japanese release. 4, I wonder if Square-Enix would consider a digital release for FFX/X-2 on X1.

I don't have the numbers for Type-0 (though pre-order numbers are about a 3:1 PlayStation to Xbox split, which makes a touch more sense when you realize that there are twice as many PS4s in the wild than X1s), so I can't really speak for how the X1 version of that sold.

Regardless, I can at least say I'm happy that Xbox got Type-0 and is getting FFXV and Kingdom Hearts III. Better those than nothing.

 

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At the same time, Final Fantasy XIII was released in 2010. The Xbox 360 in 2005. There were four and a half years to build up the market between the release of the 360 and FFXIII. This is not the case with the Xbox One, which only released about a year and a half ago, and Type-0 HD.

If we take the timing and the fact that there are twice as many PlayStation 4s in the wild than Xbox Ones, I think the 4:1 split in sales for Type-0 HD makes perfect sense. Square-Enix has stated that Type-0 HD has sold over a million copies. This means that the X1 version of Type-0 HD sold around 20% of the game's sales. This means that the X1 version of the game has most likely sold over 200,000 copies, which is not an insignificant number. I'm also curious what the numbers would look like if we cut out the Japanese numbers again (unless of course, the million sales is only counting the western release, if so, disregard this curiosity) because, let's face it, Xbox will never get a significant market share in Japan.

While I get is that there is a much smaller market for Final Fantasy (and JRPGs in general. Tales of Vesperia, Star Ocean: The Last Hope and Lost Odyssey all sold quite poorly on 360, despite being exclusive, at least at the time of release) on Xbox, this doesn't mean that the market is not worth pursuing. I think the best option would be a digital only release for something like Final Fantasy X.

Also, Square-Enix has already announced that Kingdom Hearts III will be on PS4 and X1. I think it's quite likely that the X1 version will be canceled in Japan, but like I said, I'm surprised that Final Fantasy XV is getting an X1 release in Japan in the first place.

EDIT: Also, I have no access NPD and publishers are not obligated to release numbers and rarely do. I cited VG Chartz because I had no other source to rely on.

 

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I think my point that Square has the option of digital-only releases still stands. This is something that they've never experimented with. Bandai-Namco has seen some success releasing niche Japanese games on PSN. Because of that, we got a release of freaking One Piece: Pirate Warriors of all things!

You're very right that there just isn't as strong of a market for JRPGs on Xbox as there is on PlayStation, but there is still a market there for Xbox and I don't see much sense in not at least experimenting with digital releases.

As for the Japanese release of FFXV: http://kotaku.com/how-final-fantasy-xvs-combat-works-1686957069
They've released controls information in Japan for the X1 version. I'm not even going to try to say that releasing the game on X1 makes any semblance of sense in Japan.

 

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