Square-Enix has been extremely tight-lipped about Final Fantasy XIII. Aside from the odd scanned Famitsu page or brief recut trailer, very little is known about the new game other than the fact that it features some gorgeous graphics and will hit the PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 simultaneously in the West.
One disappointing new detail has been confirmed, though: Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has gone on the record to say that the long-awaited game won't be coming to North America or the UK until April 2010—at the earliest.
Wada spoke with Reuters, where he said that "Overseas launches of the latest Final Fantasy game will come in the business year from April 2010 or later." The game is still currently on track to be released in Japan during calendar year 2009. Plans to simultaneously release the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of the game in the West also appear to be on track, which will certainly affect the ultimate drop-date of the software elsewhere in the world, as the game remains a PlayStation 3-exclusive in Japan.
With only a few noteworthy JRPGs on the horizon, namely Star Ocean: The Last Hope and White Knight Chronicles, it seems that fans of the genre will simply have to sit and wait as the Japanese enjoy an early release. Though for those who have been following the franchise for some time now, that will hardly be anything new.
Source: Ars Technica