Report: Square Enix Waiting On Xbox 360 Dev Kits To Start FFXIII Port

In a developer roundtable video shown at Square Enix’s DK Sigma3173 event, Final Fantasy XIII director Motomu Toriyama revealed that he has been telling his team to “not think about the Xbox 360 [port] right now,” as the studio is still waiting to receive development kits for the system, according to a report from consumer video game site GameSpot. Previously a PlayStation 3 exclusive, Final Fantasy XIII was announced for the Xbox 360 at the E3 Media and Business Summit in July. Though Square Enix will first release the game for the PlayStation 3 in Japan, the company intends to ship both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions simultaneously for the North American and European markets. “We haven't changed the direction of the development,” said the designer. “We're making the PS3 version first, and then porting to the 360 later.” With its current strategy, Square Enix will likely be forced to hold back the Final Fantasy XIII’s PS3 release in North America and Europe as it completes its Xbox 360 port. Toriyama also dismissed rumors that the studio is working on a PC version of the game, explaining that reporters had confused comments from producer Yoshinori Kitase in which he alluded to the team developing on PCs. The developer discussion also revealed that Square Enix is hoping to include a playable FFXIII demo as a bonus disc with the Blu-ray release of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in Japan scheduled for March. The company has yet to announce any plans for releasing the Blu-ray disc stateside.