Yoichi Wada On Final Fantasy XIII’s US Launch

At the Final Fantasy XIII launch party we had an impromptu chat with Yoichi Wada, CEO and President of Square Enix. The conversation started with the topic of the night, which was of all things Final Fantasy XIII.

Final Fantasy XIII will be released in North America tomorrow. How do you feel about the launch?

Tonight, everyone welcomed our game with a warm heart. I have a feeling it’s going to be successful in the US market.

After this, Final Fantasy XIII will re-launch in Asia with Chinese and Korean subtitles. How did this deal come about?

We always wanted to do a Korean and Chinese version. It just happened this installment was the one we were able to do it. It is within our plan to localize other titles with Asian languages. Whether or not we make an Asian version for each game will be a decision that we make at a later time.

How did the deal come about to bring Final Fantasy XIII to Xbox 360?

The Xbox team has been asking us to have a [Final Fantasy] game developed on our platform. Also, the Xbox 360 console is available in many homes in US and European markets so that was not really a hard decision to make.

Speaking of the European market, how come there is a Final Fantasy XIII limited edition package there, but not one for the US?

I pretty much leave it to the regional heads’ decision on how products are being sold. I believe the European region had some demand.

What is one thing you would like to change in Final Fantasy XIII?

I believe this is a well done game, however there are points we could improve on. In order to realize those improvements we would have to incur more development costs. Therefore, I would rather not elaborate on that.

Now, that Final Fantasy XIII is finished, there are a lot of other Square Enix Japan titles such as Blood of Bahamut, SaGa 2, Estpolis, and Four Warriors of Light… are any of these coming to North America?

We released some of those titles already, but the sales figures weren’t very good. So, we’re not sure. We will continue to bring other Square Enix titles to the US market, that plan hasn’t been changed and we’re doing it already.

Since Square Enix and Eidos are under the same umbrella has the release schedule for those games changed?

The only thing we’re going is we’re going to make sure there are no conflicts timing wise. There is nothing major changed in terms of schedule.

Everyone on the panel tonight kept discussing Final Fantasy VII. What are your thoughts on a remake, maybe one for PSP one if development costs seem too high on PlayStation 3?

Right now we don’t have a clear direction, but many fans have requested we remake Final Fantasy VII. We’re going to explore the possibility – whether or not we’re going to do it, if we’re going to do it, and the platform.