Final Fantasy 13 as online rental?

[Raidou]

Source/ full story:
Final Fantasy 13 as online rental, possible (http://ps3.qj.net/Summon-your-aeons-Final-Fantasy-13-as-online-rental-possible/pg/49/aid/121462)
Jun 24, 2008 at 01:58PM by Gino D.

In an interview with Square Enix head honcho Yoichi Wada, it was revealed that their upcoming PS3-exclusive, Final Fantasy XIII, might branch out to different means of publishing. This was discussed during a meeting with stockholders, in which Wada had a quick Q&A session with those who were present.

In between discussing Square Enix's progress in the world of finances and markets, they touched on FF13. Because seriously, part of a game's success could be determined how well it is marketed to the audience, and how accessible you want to make it for the consumer. Now, remember when Wada said he wanted simultaneous worldwide releases? Well, this might be a spin-off solution to that.

The long and short of it: Wada reveals that they're planning to offer Final Fantasy XIII, not only on retail shelves, but also as an online rental (probably over the PlayStation Network). Here's an excerpt of the interview/Q&A, as translated to English by the guys over at Forever Fantasy:

Q: FF13 is on its way, but in the current game market, the more you ship, the more your titles end up in used game stores, returning no profit to the developer. Given that, would it be possible for you to rent games out similar to movies?


A: Your opinion is very important, thank you very much. The current generation of games all incorporate some type of network connectivity, which means almost all need online resources. Even titles without online play have online rankings, leaderboards and so on.

In correspondence with the online component, we believe the restrictions of physical media leading to the used game sales problem can be worked out.

Rather than renting out the physical media of titles, we're thinking more along the lines of an online solution.


Online solution can mean many possibilities! Will it be summoning your aeons will need you to be connected online? Buying items/ weapons online? and etc. What do you think folks? Good or bad news for us FF fans???

[Phakiel]

I hate it, i am old school and prefer my games to be in physical form, otherwise I just own air which can go to shit if my hard drive or account becomes completely ****ed.

[Sibek]

I prefer digital distribution if it provides a lossless copy (i.e games and other software).Fewer boxes to throw out and less money spent on storing the game boxes. Usually you can burn the digital copies to a disc if you're mad about backups. I suppose you can't really do that with console games but you should be able to download the game as many times you want so long as your account is working. Even if it's not working, you should be able to get your games back by contacting service.

Music is a much different case since you're paying for a more crippled and compressed version of the song (or album) and usually has more stringent DRM attached when it comes to making backups.

[Phakiel]

The multiple horror stories on Consumerist dictate the contrary.

[Sibek]

Because we all know the Consumerist is the end all be all objective look at evil corporations.

[Phakiel]

I much rather think that the consumers who get royally ****ed by Microsoft and Sony's online services have more faith in their stance frome me than said corporations yes.

[Sibek]

Actually Sony's customer service is among the best in a world run by outsourced representatives. I've had to deal with Sony on three occasions (once on a PS1, once on a PS2, and once on a TV under warranty), and never once had an issue.

Microsoft is a different situation (never dealt with MS but am full aware of the stories). Nintendo I've had to deal with because they wanted me to pay for service for GBASP because the backlight went out after 11 months and I shipped it on the day before the one year anniversary.

The Wii also has a fatal flaw for its backups. If it does break, in order to retain the games bought from the store, you have to have the product serviced. Any games backed up on a SD cannot be transported between machines. This is why I think DRM based on Machine ID is fatally flawed. Account tied DRM is much more ideal.

[Phakiel]

Thats cute.

[Calamity84]

Hey all, first off I'm new to the forums, been visiting the site for a while though... :)

But I'm on the fence about this online rental deal.

It sounds like it would work well for the company but for the consumers it seems like we could be getting ripped off in the long run.

How would they be able to backup the game(s) if our HD gets messed up or our PS3 gets stolen or whatever else?

Not to mention I love going to the game store and getting a copy of whatever game I have been waiting for. Makes it more exciting! Or maybe I'm just wierd, seeing how I save all the games I love and never trade em' in!

[Sibek]

How would they be able to backup the game(s) if our HD gets messed up

PSN games are tied to the PSN account. If the HD were to fail it would be possible to redownload the game with no hassle.

or our PS3 gets stolen

If your PS3 is stolen, your disc games are most likely going to be stolen with it. Chances are that it would be easier to restore your digital copies by contacting Sony than getting the discs back. I also believe that PSN accounts are transferrable between machines so you could in essence redownload the game. The only thing is that only one person with the PSN ID can be on at a time, logging in kicks out the last person logged in.

or whatever else?

The only problem that could happen is a stolen account but obviously the chances of that happen depends on the security of the Sony network and your password

[Calamity84]

That is very interesting info.

You are swaying my on the fence opinion over to I like this idea :)

Then again I still like having a disc, that way I can add it to my collection.

[Raidou]

I really hate this whole idea of bringing FF13 online. Now I'll wait and see what they will actually do to this title before even deciding to buy a PS3.

[Nickoten]

I'm guessing it means that you download the game but have to pay a fee for the right to play it for a specified amount of time. And I'm guessing that paying retail price will give you a "lifetime" service for the game much like Steam. That's just my take on it.

[Priest4hire]

I have nothing against online rental. Seems to me to be little different than regular rental. As long as normal purchasing is available I have no issues.

Digital distribution is another story though. I think it's due to my having a rather old fashioned notion of property. It goes thusly: I own it ergo it's mine. I don't ask permission to use my toaster and I sure as hell aren't going to go like Oliver to beg for a key to unlock my game. Can I have another activation please? Screw that. This is also how I feel about activation in general. If I'm not going to go begging for more I certainly have no desire to be asking for their blessing in the first place.

There is only one sort of DRM I will freely accept. It's one that works like the front door of my house. As in I buy a key and it unlocks the software. Not once, but forever. Just like my key unlocks my front door. I can almost hear the cries of 'Piracy!'. That door has long since been blown clean off its hinges. There isn't a major title that doesn't get promptly pirated. All these prohibitive DRM schemes have done is punish the people who actually pay. Which makes so much sense. (In Bizarro World that is.)