E3 08: Square Enix shares rise on FFXIII boost

The share price of Japanese RPG specialist Square Enix saw its steepest rise in over a month yesterday on news that the firm is to

release the madly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII on both Xbox 360 and PS3

.

Bloomberg reports that the company’s share price rose 5.2 per cent on the Tokyo Stock Exchange – bucking the average daily stock performance of a two per cent drop.

Mizuho Securities analyst Takeshi Koyama said of the move: Square Enix is adopting a flexible strategy for releasing game software. The share price movement today reflects that investors welcome the news.’”

It’s the first time a full, numbered instalment in the Final Fantasy series has debuted on more than one machine, and (with the exception of PC MMO outing FFXI) the first time since FFVII that a new instalment hasn’t been a PlayStation exclusive upon release.

The news, coupled with Square Enix’s 360-exclusive RPG Infinite Undiscovery, is expected to boost Xbox 360’s poor performance in Japan.