The soundtrack received good reviews from critics, who felt that it was Hamauzu's best work to date and an excellent mix of material and genres which took the series' music in a new direction. The theme song for the Japanese version of the game, ' Kimi ga Iru Kara' ( 君がいるから, 'Because You're Here'), was released as a single by For Life Music in 2009. An album of arranged pieces from the soundtrack, Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack -PLUS-, was also released by Square Enix in 2010, as was an album of piano arrangements, Piano Collection Final Fantasy XIII.
Selections from the soundtrack have been released on two gramophone record albums, W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII and W/F: Music from Final Fantasy XIII Gentle Reveries, both in 2010 by Square Enix. The main soundtrack album, Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack, was released on four Compact Discs in 2010 by Square Enix, the developers and producers of the game. Music from the game has been released in several albums. Former regular series composer Nobuo Uematsu did not contribute any pieces to the soundtrack. The music of the video game Final Fantasy XIII was composed by Masashi Hamauzu.
