Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII
Cover art, featuring the game's protagonist, Lightning
Developer(s)	Square Enix 1st Production Department[a]
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Motomu Toriyama
Producer(s)	Yoshinori Kitase
Programmer(s)	Yoshiki Kashitani
Artist(s)	Isamu Kamikokuryo Tetsuya Nomura
Writer(s)	Daisuke Watanabe Motomu Toriyama
Composer(s)	Masashi Hamauzu
Series	Final Fantasy Fabula Nova Crystallis
Engine	Crystal Tools
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Windows
Release	PlayStation 3 JP: December 17, 2009 WW: March 9, 2010 Xbox 360 WW: March 9, 2010 JP: December 16, 2010 Windows WW: October 9, 2014
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Final Fantasy XIII^[b] is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles and later for Windows (in 2014). Released in Japan in December 2009 and international in March 2010, it is the thirteenth title in the mainline Final Fantasy series. The game includes fast-paced combat, a new system for the series for determining which abilities are developed for the characters called "Crystarium", and a customizable "Paradigm" system to control which abilities are used by the characters. Final Fantasy XIII includes elements from the previous games in the series, such as summoned monsters, chocobos, and airships.

The game takes place in the fictional floating world of Cocoon, whose government, the Sanctum, is ordering a purge of civilians who have supposedly come into contact with Pulse, the much-feared world below. The former soldier Lightning begins her fight against the government in order to save her sister who has been branded as an unwilling servant to a god-like being from Pulse, making her an enemy of Cocoon. Lightning is soon joined by a band of allies, and together the group also become marked by the same Pulse creature. They rally against the Sanctum while trying to discover their assigned task and whether they can avoid being turned into monsters or crystals at the completion.

Development began in 2004, and the game was first announced at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2006. Final Fantasy XIII is the flagship title of the Fabula Nova Crystallis collection of Final Fantasy games and is the first game to use Square Enix's Crystal Tools engine. Final Fantasy XIII was critically acclaimed in Japan and received mostly positive reviews from Western video game publications, which praised the game's graphics, presentation, and battle system. The game’s linearity received a more mixed reception from some critics. Selling 1.7 million copies in Japan in 2009, Final Fantasy XIII became the fastest-selling title in the history of the series. As of 2017, the game has sold over 7 million copies worldwide on consoles.^[1] The Windows version has sold over 746,000 copies according to SteamSpy. A sequel, titled Final Fantasy XIII-2, was released in December 2011 in Japan and in February 2012 in North America and PAL regions. A second sequel, titled Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which concludes Lightning's story and the Final Fantasy XIII series,^[2] was released in November 2013 in Japan and in February 2014 in North America and PAL regions. As of September 2014, the Final Fantasy XIII series has shipped over 11 million copies worldwide.

The game was added to Xbox One backward compatibility in November 2018 along with its sequels.^[3][4] It is also Xbox One X Enhanced allowing it to run at a higher resolution.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).