MicroTechXP

Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Peter Dille has played down the significance of losing PlayStation 3 exclusivity of Final Fantasy XIII, suggesting that long time fans will still be drawn to the Sony platform release.
“What you have with Final Fantasy XIII is a lot like what they’ve paid for with GTA. It’s not an exclusive on their platform. It’s now a cross-platform game,” said Dille, during an interview with MTV’s Multiplayer Blog. [PSU]

“I think if you look at how GTA behaved in the marketplace and how it drove - or didn’t drive - either console, that’s what I’m talking about. Consumers responded to GTA on the PS3 just as they did on the 360. And it becomes a bit of a jump ball. But it didn’t rise the tide for them.”
Dille stated that long time fans are likely to purchase the game on PS3 on the strength of the series lenghty association with the PlayStation brand, adding, “I think if you fast forward to when Final Fantasy XIII comes out I think you’re going to have millions of people who grew up playing Final Fantasy on the PlayStation playing it on a PlayStation 3. They spent a lot of money, I’m sure, to get Final Fantasy onto the 360 but at the end of the day it’s on our platform as well.”
“Let’s look at what happens when you have Metal Gear Solid on your platform … when the NPD numbers come out … I think you’ll see the value of what a real exclusive title does and how it raised the bar for PS3 versus 360,” he said.
Elsewhere, Dille stated that he believes the PS3 is the best option for third party companies looking for global return on their investments: “… if you look at the global footprint, PlayStation 3 dominates in Japan where the 360 is really irrelevant. In Europe, the PlayStation 3 is already past the 360. And in the United States you have a dogfight. You’ve got PlayStation 3 and 360 going at it and we’ve swung the momentum our way outselling the 360 during the first half of the year.”
“So back to the third-party community, they’re looking at what’s going on, they’re realigning their development resources to exploit PS3 and I think they understand that if they want to have a global return on their investment, PlayStation 3 is the only place they’re going to get it.”