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FFXIII will open doors in Japan - Microsoft

Attempt 3528 to break the Japanese market...

While the Xbox 360 release of Final Fantasy XIII may be a Europe only affair, the repercussions of the series appearance on Microsoft’s console could still help the company’s position in the important Japanese market according to Shane Kim.

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The Microsoft Game Studios boss believes the appearance of the legendary JRPG on the 360 "opens doors" for the system Japan.

"The Final Fantasy XIII announcement has some beneficial side-effects," Kim told 1UP. "The more games of this nature, and of the Devil May Crys and Resident Evils, that we secure on 360 opens doors for us in Japan, and gets developers over there interested in the 360, so it's a step-by-step process."

"Take Capcom for example: they took a chance with us with Dead Rising and Lost Planet, and have had great success, with both of those titles selling over a million units each," added Kim.

"Japan is obviously a very unique market to crack and gain support in, but I think we're making good headway with what we've accomplished on 360 so far, and we'll continue to surprise you."