Final Fantasy Type-0 is one of the best titles available on the Sony PSP but unfortunately the game never saw a release outside Japan. Fans all over the world have shown interest for the game, with many campaigns like Operation Suzaku starting petitions and letting Sony and Square Enix know that fans still want the game.
Square Enix also announced Final Fantasy Agito a few days ago which is supposed to be an alternate take on Type-0’s story for mobile devices. Agito is all but confirmed for an international release judging by a registered trademark in Europe and according to the developers but Type-0’s future remained a mystery… until now.
In an interview with USGamer, Final Fantasy Type-0 director Hajime Tabata pretty much confirms that the game will be released eventually in western regions and mostly likely on the PS Vita. Check out the full interview below:
Some honesty — some modified honesty — is required here,
When Type 0 initially came out in Japan, we were already working on a localized version for the game. The work did actually start. It exists, to a degree. But at the time, when that work was progressing, the market for PSP in North America and Europe had very much gotten smaller. The projections we got from our overseas subsidiaries in Europe and the U.S. had also shrunk, together with the market.
But we were very conscious — I was very conscious — that despite the fact that we weren’t able to provide the title at the time, there were many people who wanted to play it. I heard all the voices calling for it. An idea we had at the time was that, well, if the PSP market is shrinking, then maybe its successor, the PS Vita, was something we could consider for the title. At the time of this proposal, though, when we were talking about a Vita version, the number of Vita units in North America and Europe and what their expectations were, all that was very unclear. This was before it was launched, or right as it was being launched. These kinds of things were unclear, and the company was uncomfortable with going forward on the project without knowing more information about what the expectations were. Our final decision on that was to wait a bit and see what would happen.
Now, with Agito coming up, our hope – my hope – is that we’ll be able to provide users in North America and Europe with both Agito and Type 0 as a full experience. That would be ideal, if we could provide both for the users. That’s the direction we’re going in right now. With Agito coming out, we can provide that full experience.
Obviously the release of Agito factors into this decision, but it wasn’t just that. I now hear from the subsidiaries that Type-0 is something that they really want released in their regions. With Agito coming out — Agito coming out is a certainty for North America and Europe — the subsidiaries’ opinion was that releasing Agito without having access to Type-0 would not be the best idea.
Well, let me modify this statement a bit. [Type-0’s localization] is in the final stages of consideration. It’s definitely the direction that we want to go in. Nothing is absolutely concrete right now with release dates or anything like that. But it’s definitely something that we want to do. Really, the primary motivation behind wanting to release the whole experience would be all the support and passion and enthusiasm of the North American and European gaming community that has reached out to us and asked for it. I feel very thankful, very grateful for that enthusiasm.
This is as official as we’re gonna get for now, if Tabata-san really is telling the truth (why wouldn’t he?) and everything does work out we should see an official announcement soon.
Thanks USGamer (via NovaCrystallis)
