Fans of Final Fantasy should be pretty happy with Square Enix right now, not only because of the announcement of the March 9, 2010 release date, but the facts behind it.

Previously the Final Fantasies with the closest Japanese and North American release dates were Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy IX. Both IV and IX came out in July in Japan, in their respective years (1991 and 2000), and then North America in November, again in their respective years. Four months isn't a bad wait, but Final Fantasy IX took another four months to reach Europe, and Final Fantasy IV didn't make it until years later on the PlayStation.

Final Fantasy XIII however is releasing in North America and Europe less than three months after it's Japanese release. Never before has a Final Fantasy's regional release dates been so close together, and never before has a main series Final Fantasy launched in both North America and Europe simultaneously.

In January 2009 the Guardian reported Square Enix saying Final Fantasy XIII would be after April, 2010. However, in May 2009, Producer Yoshinori Kitase told VideoGamer.com that they would like the Japanese, North American, and European release dates as close as possible.





"Obviously we would like to release it over here [in Europe] as soon as possible. Traditionally the Final Fantasy numbered series, it takes about half a year between the release in Japan and the release in North America, and another half a year before it's released in Europe. But we would like to minimise this, this time."

At the time Kitase noted that Square Enix had already started recording English voices, and text from the game was being translated as well. Normally Square Enix finish the Japanese version completely before taking it west, but it seems they've held true to their promises that they want Final Fantasy XIII, and all their titles, to have shorter localization times.

Square Enix has attempted this, and failed, before. The Last Remnant, announced in May, 2007, was toted as a Simultaneous release across the world, on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. That didn't come to fruitition however as the game was simply never released on the PlayStation 3. With Final Fantasy XIII's release date so close to now however, gamers should rest assured that Square Enix likely have everything set to meet today's promised March 9, 2010 release date.

TAGS: Final Fantasy XIII