Square Enix hoping for "long platform cycle"

Square Enix, the developer and publisher of the Final Fantasy franchise, is hoping for the current generation of consoles to stay around for a good period of time.

That's according to global president Yoichi Wada, who told GamesIndustry.biz in an exclusive interview that the creators of Final Fantasy XIII - due out in the US and Europe next year - have learned lessons from the process.

He revealed that preparations for the game's launch were "going very steadily" and that while it will be the company's biggest ever development, that wasn't "necessarily a good thing."

"We've completed the master of the Japanese version, and for the US and European versions we're just adding the final touches," he said. "The last stage of development has gone very smoothly this time.

"It took us a tremendous amount of time to develop the software for this generation, so that's a lesson for the creators."

And when asked if he was happy with the current platform mix following the release of the PlayStation 3 Slim, he explained that the best development scenario was a situation where there was just one console worldwide - but the next best thing was a long hardware cycle.

"The ideal situation for developers would be to have a single platform worldwide - but that's impossible, so with multi-platform, if you can expand your user base, I think we have to accept that reality.

"For the current generation, the ideal for us would be a long platform cycle and the prices to come down gradually, so that we can expand that user base."

The second part of the interview with Yoichi Wada is available now, along with part one.