Wada: Microsoft "asked us" to do FFXIII for 360

Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has revealed that Final Fantasy XIII went to Xbox 360 because Microsoft "asked us" to develop a title in the series for the console.

Speaking with Siliconera, he said the install base as it was at the time for 360 was just too good to pass up on to not get the game on the platform.

"The Xbox team has been asking us to have a [Final Fantasy] game developed on our platform," said the exec. "Also, the Xbox 360 console is available in many homes in US and European markets so that was not really a hard decision to make."

In July 2008 at E3, Wada delivered a world-ending megaton by revealing the once-PS3 exclusive was heading to 360, the first time a FF title appeared outside of a PlayStation platform in 12 years.

All just by tapping MS exec Don Mattrick's back and showing a video.

Final Fantasy XIII was released yesterday for PS3 and 360 in a US/EU sim-ship, with over 3 million units shipped in the west, it was revealed this morning. Overall shipped numbers for the series now stands at 96 million.

Writer for the game, Motomu Toriyama, is to speak at GDC tomorrow.