At its annual briefing to software partners, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made what can only be described as a Yamauchi inspired comment about the lukewarm sales achieved by Final Fantasy XI in Japan.

“While the popularity of online games can't be denied, Final Fantasy XI has been a failure,” he said. “Square has been unable to attain half the number of users they anticipated (200,000) due to the management of their online servers. Typically, new chapters in the series sell more than 2 million copies. We're paying particular attention to the online environment to ensure the success of future network games such as Phantasy Star Online for GameCube.”

To simply call the game a failure, blame the fact on technical mismanagement and neglect to mention that Square halted its sales, due to the fact that Sony couldn’t produce enough PlayStation 2 broadband units was always going to ruffle a few feathers.

Square was quick to respond. Company president Youichi Wada replied almost instantly to press, saying, "The scale of the online market, its profitability and problems, are much different from conventional videogames. Final Fantasy XI has been an experiment to broaden the market - something we think Nintendo should encourage. Players have been very pleased with Final Fantasy XI, and we hope Nintendo's comments today don't dissuade any future players from experiencing the game themselves.”

Not as bad as it could have been but worrying all the same.

In other related news, Iwata also mentioned that the Square/Nintendo joint venture in development at Game Development Studio will be released next year. He said that the game will feature connectivity with the Game Boy Advance and will dramatically cut development costs. He also said that what Square and Nintendo are doing with the game is groundbreaking and will become the main focus of the games industry.

Final Fantasy N then. Just remember where you read it first.