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Q: How does it feel to have the Final Fantasy XIII news out there now, and be able to talk about it?
Yoichi Wada: We always wanted a lot of users to enjoy the game, so we wanted to put it on the Xbox 360, and we're happy that we could finally make the official announcement. But more than that, we've had a very positive response from the audience, so we're very happy about that too.
Q: It was one of the biggest cheers in the Microsoft conference. What does that tell you about the status of the Final Fantasy franchise, even when there were a number of other high profile titles being displayed?
Yoichi Wada: It was a positive response, and we feel a lot of support from the media, and users as well. The title has a lot of focus on it - a lot of people are watching out for it - so we feel that we have to make a really good game. We feel a lot of responsibility, and we don't want to release anything that's not fun, or half-baked.
Q: How important is the relationship with Microsoft - FFXIII and the other RPGs, such as Infinite Undiscovery could be pivotal for it in the region?
Yoichi Wada: We're now in the age of the multi-platform, but depending on age and territory, users have different tastes. Therefore it's very difficult to just deal with one company or one hardware platform - in order to offer our product to the vast majority of gamers we need to deal with multiple companies and platforms.
In North America Microsoft is doing very well with its hardware, and for that reason it's a very important partner for us.
Q: How important is Square Enix to Microsoft?
Yoichi Wada: In Japan we know that the Xbox 360 isn't really that strong yet, but for me I feel very calm about dealing with any company, and we're not partnering exclusively with any particular company.
You might think that we'll release FFXIII for Xbox 360 in Japan, but that's not what I mean. We always consider the territory and hardware for titles, and I just want to make sure that we're neutral about dealing with companies.
Q: Square Enix has some experience in releasing films - how do you see the convergence of media for videogame publishers?
Yoichi Wada: In the future I believe this convergence will probably go further. The main point at the moment is to own original IP - it's very important - and if you own original IP it can be utilised for movies, music, and a great variety of other activities.
When you look at Capcom it has its own IP, and that company is engaged in a number of activities around that IP. We've had our own IP for a long time, and it's an advantageous position to be in, so I think from now on I think we'll be able to work on a greater variety of activities.
I want to emphasise that owning our own IP was a key strategic decision I made, and we try not to utilise other company's IP as far as possible. It was a very intentional direction.
Actually Western companies have only really been talking about original IP in the last couple of years, and recently they're having more and more interest in the subject.
more here
Yoichi Wada: We always wanted a lot of users to enjoy the game, so we wanted to put it on the Xbox 360, and we're happy that we could finally make the official announcement. But more than that, we've had a very positive response from the audience, so we're very happy about that too.
Q: It was one of the biggest cheers in the Microsoft conference. What does that tell you about the status of the Final Fantasy franchise, even when there were a number of other high profile titles being displayed?
Yoichi Wada: It was a positive response, and we feel a lot of support from the media, and users as well. The title has a lot of focus on it - a lot of people are watching out for it - so we feel that we have to make a really good game. We feel a lot of responsibility, and we don't want to release anything that's not fun, or half-baked.
Q: How important is the relationship with Microsoft - FFXIII and the other RPGs, such as Infinite Undiscovery could be pivotal for it in the region?
Yoichi Wada: We're now in the age of the multi-platform, but depending on age and territory, users have different tastes. Therefore it's very difficult to just deal with one company or one hardware platform - in order to offer our product to the vast majority of gamers we need to deal with multiple companies and platforms.
In North America Microsoft is doing very well with its hardware, and for that reason it's a very important partner for us.
Q: How important is Square Enix to Microsoft?
Yoichi Wada: In Japan we know that the Xbox 360 isn't really that strong yet, but for me I feel very calm about dealing with any company, and we're not partnering exclusively with any particular company.
You might think that we'll release FFXIII for Xbox 360 in Japan, but that's not what I mean. We always consider the territory and hardware for titles, and I just want to make sure that we're neutral about dealing with companies.
Q: Square Enix has some experience in releasing films - how do you see the convergence of media for videogame publishers?
Yoichi Wada: In the future I believe this convergence will probably go further. The main point at the moment is to own original IP - it's very important - and if you own original IP it can be utilised for movies, music, and a great variety of other activities.
When you look at Capcom it has its own IP, and that company is engaged in a number of activities around that IP. We've had our own IP for a long time, and it's an advantageous position to be in, so I think from now on I think we'll be able to work on a greater variety of activities.
I want to emphasise that owning our own IP was a key strategic decision I made, and we try not to utilise other company's IP as far as possible. It was a very intentional direction.
Actually Western companies have only really been talking about original IP in the last couple of years, and recently they're having more and more interest in the subject.
more here