The news of Final Fantasy XIII appearing as a PlayStation 3 exclusive at May’s E3, from the pages of the next Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Rumor Mill, and it didn’t take long for Square Enix’s public relations department to send out an official response to the buzzing.

Of course, if I’ve learned anything from public relations statements in the past, anything past a “no comment” only encourages more people to believe the rumor (and often means there’s some truth). Final Fantasy remaining exclusive to Sony isn’t much of a shock to begin with, but the news was enough to get Square Enix to prepare this:

“While there have been numerous rumors about Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix has never released any information about the title. The recent online article stating that the title will be exclusive for PlayStation 3 and shown at E3 is not based on any official information obtained by us. I hope readers will remember April Fool’s day is tomorrow and many Print and Online outlets pull pranks ever year, before they get their hopes crushed by a joke.” — Sonia Im, PR manager at Square Enix.

1UP’s article was not a joke, nor was EGM’s statement about Final Fantasy’s alleged next-generation exclusivity. Heck, if it was, that would probably go down as one of the lamest attempts at faking out in the history of botched April Fool’s jokes.

– by 1UP