Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream conducted an interview with Square Enix’s Shinji Hashimoto about the future of Final Fantasy (translated by IGN here). In it, Hashimoto revealed that Square Enix was hesitant to release their RPG titles on the Virtual Console.
“We feel that the Japanese game market still requires [physical] media. Also, FF and Dragon Quest are played by a wide range of users, from children to adults, so there are limitations when you consider the problems that we would have with billing systems.”
What can this be deduced to? Square Enix can still charge plenty more for releasing their older Final Fantasy’s (or Dragon Quest for that matter) via physical media (see: Final Fantasy I and II on PSP). In any case, don’t expect the beloved NES and SNES Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest titles on the Virtual Console just yet.
