"We Need To Go Beyond Traditional Square Enix" - Kotaku

Kotaku writes:

Square Enix honcho Yoichi Wada (above, left) is worried. Western game companies are doing really well! Meaning that competition is getting harder. Yet, Wada hopes to capitalise on the Western market, aiming to increase the ratio of overseas sales from its current 50 percent to 80 percent in the next three years. According to the exec:

"We face competition not only from Japanese videogame companies but from game companies worldwide. We also see some new players from outside the videogame industry coming in... Economies of scale and breadth of scope is getting important. It may be a business alliance or it may be us taking a stake in others, but we need to go beyond traditional Square Enix."

That business alliance sounds nice and all. But, how about stop calling everything Final Fantasy? Or make things other than RPGs? Or if you are going to make RPGs, why not make the games people have been asking for for the past decade?

[Superfragilistic]

Dominated by Nintendo loving, handheld doting gamers that don't spend anywhere near the amount of money on software that the burgeoning American market and solid European market do.

I really thought the departure of designer Hironobu Sakaguchi (along with composer Nobuo Uematsu) to found Mistwalker in 2004 to catch the prevailing winds might've woken up Square a lot earlier.

Now that "The Last Remnant" is coming to both next-gen consoles, should we speculate about more prominent franchises doing the same?

[Fishy Fingers]

I guess your suggesting Final Fantasy? Sony hold a large steak in S-Enix, Final Fantasy will never be on a rival machine while that is still the case.

[Superfragilistic]

I wasn't specifically talking about Final Fantasy, but in regards to it never happening it already has! Final Fantasy XI was released on PS2 in 2004, and later on the Xbox360 in 2006.

EDIT: It was also released on PC.

Please explain disagrees.

[Death]

FFXI is on the Xbox 360.
FF1-IV are on the DS (a competitor to the PSP)
The new FF is built on a cross platform engine that is shared with the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

-Death

[Superfragilistic]

"Sony hold a large steak in S-Enix, Final Fantasy will never be on a rival machine while that is still the case."

Sony currently hold, as of the end of last financial year, 8.6% of Square Enix stock, compared to Enix founder and honorary chairman Yasuhiro Fukushima 21.3%, and his private company's additional 8.8%, giving him over 30% of the company. Square founder Masafumi Miyamoto owns approximately 7.1%, whilst the remaining 54%+ majority is controlled largely by American and Japanese financial institutions.

In other words, Sony does not control Square Enix, it does have a substantial voting block but nothing to influence the day to day business operations of Square Enix as a company.

The key reason Square was largely exclusive to Sony last generation was because the PS2 dominated the console market with in excess of 100 million consoles and the merger with Enix had not yet been completed.

This generation is different with all consoles continuing to grow and appearing to split the market. Unlike ourselves, Square Enix is not a gamer but a business, and a business' motive is singularly about one thing... profit. If Square Enix believes that a multiplatform approach to some of it's previously exclusive titles will yield it greater profits then it is likely to do so and you, I and Sony could do little to prevent it.

In the event that Square Enix appears to be moving towards a multiplatform base the only option Sony may have is to make a sizable payment to retain exclusive rights. This would be much like we saw Microsoft do to ensnare exclusive episodic content for GTAIV, and would immediately become public knowledge by virtue of shareholder transparency.

[season007]

yes i know a good game is still a good game 2 years later

but yes 2 years later, i would be busy with other newer good games instead of an old one

seriously..Sony doesn't need the power to influence how SE work..just that it can extend the exclusive right for another year from 1 to 2 it is more than enough

I have yet seen a game that still interests me a lot 2 years after, although that probably doesn't represent everyone, i am sure it still represent more than few people out there...

[Superfragilistic]

I completely agree mate. My above post was solely in response to Fishy Finger's misinformed post earlier.

If the case arises where Square Enix goes multiplatform (I stress the word IF), Sony would be likely to pursue a timed exclusive and if successful would get essentially the same benefit of a full flung exclusive.

[Fishy Fingers]

S-Enix just need to get some "next-gen" games out of the door.

It's all fair and good saying how your competition has increased and you are trying to break more into the foreign markets but you can't do that without releasing a game.

If you even want to go more direct than that and simply attract gamers to your brand STOP releasing all your new footage etc behind closed doors to industry types, they are not the ones who buy your games, we are, show us!

[Britjadg]

to be fair they have been releasing games. just not on next gen consoles. guess handhelds are easier to develop for when you are not producing a brand new engine for ps3 from scratch - ie this supposed white engine SE have been tooting.

[SpartanGR]

All they need to do is to drop their ill-fated xbox360 support and focus solely on ps3. Most people fed up with ms and their crappy console, while ps3 is gaining love from all over the world day by day.

[kwicksandz]

N4g never ceases to amuse!

[tweaker]

Wow that was direct and straight forward. lol

[thenickel]

Please keep that crap in the open zone. It's one thing to have an opinion and voice it but it makes no sense to try and use it to be an azz hole and offend other people. Wether you like it or not MS is a big player this gen and in most cases really out does the PS3 in software sales while maintaining a nice lead in hardware. Square wants to make money also and the only way they can maximize will be if they go multiplatform and leave the only Sony mentality behind. This is going to be a really tough generation for you and especially next gen as MS starts to earn more and more marketshare and all of those once Sony Nintendo exclusives jump over to the American made console you obiviously hate. Thanks for the laugh so early in the morning jerk!

[Citizen Cook]

Western developers are innovating.... Japanese are just churning out the same old gern RPG's year after year...

Look at Oblivion, Mass Effect, Fable 2...

Then look at FF, Lost O, Blue Dragon...

Move forward you stpid F**KS!

HA HA HA HA!

[THE TERMINATOR]

Mass Effect? You mean POP Effect LOL
Oblivion best on PS3, 360 version full of framerate problems, long loading.
I dont call that Innovation.
FF12 is Innovation.

[Elginer]

I concur.

[Says you]

You've seen something innovative from american devs oh you mean like Mass effect that look more like a shooter then an RPG just to fool every one to think that is an RPG but really falls to the catergory of shooters and if american devs are so innovative they would stop making more shooters on your so called precious system you guys have like 13 shooters if you count the launch titles and PS3 only has 4.

[Says you]

Multiplatform but that doesn't mean the game is

[KatanaSteel]

...remake FFVII for PS3. That will make their accountant's heads explode, I guarantee it.