Square Enix has said it hopes to have Final Fantasy XIII on shelves throughout European territories within one year of the game’s Japanese release.
Speaking to Videogamer, producer Yoshinori Kitase reflected on the length of time between U.S. and European localisation of past iterations in the series, before adding that the firm is looking to speed up the process for FFXIII.
“Obviously we would like to release it over here as soon as possible,” he said. “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.”
“For example we have already started recording English voices, and also the text localisation has been in progress, too. Normally we complete the Japanese version first, then move on to the US and EU versions, but this time there are some tasks that are happening simultaneously. So this time we’re hoping to release sooner than a year later than the Japanese release.”
So, if all goes well, PAL gamers can expect to get their hands on the game by Christmas 2010 at the very latest. We’re counting down the days.
[Editor’s Note: The original source is Videogamer.com, not VG247.com. This has been remedied within the article.]