Final Fantasy XI developer talks PS3

During an interview with Japanese news site Impress, Final Fantasy XI producer Hiromichi Tanaka has hinted that his development team could be working on an entirely new MMORPG for Sony's next-generation console.

No further details were let slip on the new project, although Tanaka commented that the new MMO would be developed for both PS3 and Windows Vista. It's possible that further announcements on the new project may be disclosed at E3 in May, where the focus is likely to centre heavily on software for Sony's machine, just as Microsoft stole the show last year in preparation for the Xbox 360's November launch.

The team's first MMOG, Final Fantasy XI, has just been released on Xbox 360 - the first Massively Multiplayer title for the new platform - while PC and PS2 owners are now receiving the game's latest expansion pack, The Treasures of Aht Urghan.

Whilst discussing the similarities of the Xbox 360 and Windows operating systems, which has made the process of porting the game from PC to Microsoft's next-gen console a relatively simple task, Tanaka stated that a PS3 version of the game would take roughly two to three years to produce, because it would effectively need to be redeveloped from scratch.

Tanaka feels that the development time required to bring the latest version of the immensely popular franchise to Sony's machine would be better spent on developing an entirely new game - which is exactly what his team are working on achieving - effectively seeming to rule out the possibility of FFXI ever appearing on the PS3, although it's likely that the PS2 version of the game will continue to work on the new hardware.