Final Fantasy Tactics for iPhone delayed, Square Enix offers no explanation

In late June at E3, Square Enix tantalized fans of Final Fantasy Tactics by revealing that the game would be brought to the iPhone. The company even announced a release date for the game: September 15th. But September 15th has come and gone now without a release for this highly-anticipated title, ... and Square Enix's response to the delay is highly unsatisfactory.

I played the original Final Fantasy Tactics on the PlayStation, and it's one of my all-time favorite games. I didn't play the remake on the PSP because I never really felt compelled to buy Sony's handheld. However, I was excited enough about FFT coming to the iPhone that I set up an iCal reminder to check the App Store today for the game. It hasn't shown up, though, and it's not going to for the foreseeable future. Only two days before the game's supposed release date, Square Enix posted on its Facebook page:

"We are so sorry for confusing you. The wrong information about the FFT release date is spreading around somehow... It says the release date is to be September 15th but it's completely wrong. The release date is still 'TBD'."

I don't mind so much that the release date slipped; it happens all the time in the gaming industry, and honestly I was half expecting Final Fantasy Tactics to be delayed. But Square Enix's response to the delay is pretty classless. Not only did the company try to sweep the delay under the rug by only announcing it on its Facebook page and nowhere else, its claim that the wrong information about the release date is spreading around "somehow" is a complete fabrication -- that release date info came from Square Enix itself at E3.

If a company has to delay the release date on one of its games for some reason, that's fine -- as long as they can at least man up and admit that's what happening. A company shouldn't resort to "poor little us, wrong info got spread 'somehow' " tactics, especially not two days before such a highly-anticipated title's supposed release date. If the info really was wrong, Square Enix had more than two months to set us straight. Instead, this last-minute and all-but-unannounced delay, as well as the company's unwillingness to accept responsibility and call it a "delay," has only made the situation even more disappointing.