Square Enix (still) eying Western developers for purchase

14 Comments by Scott Jon Siegel Jan 15th 2008 12:00PM
Filed under: RPGs, Business

For over a year, Square Enix CEO John Yamamoto has been saying that the future of the company's enterprises lies in Europe, expressing interest in acquiring at least one Western studio to assist in broadening Square Enix's mass-market appeal.

MCV reports that Yamamoto is reiterating his earlier statements, but that this time he really means it. As part of a new worldwide focus, MCV asserts that Square Enix will most likely be buying up a European developer sometime in 2008. In addition to including Western-developed titles under the umbrella of Square Enix, Yamamoto also promises to fully localize more titles for international distribution than in previous years. It's a neat idea, but we'll have to wait and see if Square Enix follows through this time.

Tags: john-yamamoto, square-enix, squareenix

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(Page 1) Reader Comments

aaron_k7: Jan 15th 2008; 12:06PM

They should buy Team Ninja and make some kind of kick-@$$ RPG or action RPG.

elpmis: Jan 15th 2008; 12:11PM

They could remake Final Fantasy 8 into an action RPG, and it would be the hardest most frustratingly awesome game of all time.

aaron_k7: Jan 15th 2008; 12:14PM

Yeah, and FF8 was so stinking hard already given the fact that the monsters leveled up along with you!

aaron_k7: Jan 15th 2008; 12:14PM

Yeah, and FF8 was so stinking hard already given the fact that the monsters leveled up along with you!

Jerk Face: Jan 15th 2008; 12:54PM

Yeah, FF8 was hard alright. Hard to get past the absolutely horrendous plot, that is.

"So, like, we all grew up in the same orphanage and forgot because of our magic? Like, wow!"

"Dude, I know, and did you realize that the evil sorceress was totally the chick who RAISED US OUR ENTIRE CHLIDHOOD? We totally forgot that too!"

"Crazy magic!"

Boo!

Jerk Face: Jan 15th 2008; 12:54PM

aaron_k7: Jan 15th 2008; 2:03PM

I didn't like the story all that much, FF7 was much better, more engrossing, etc. That said, most Final Fantasy games have an amount of randomness to them.

ThornedVenom: Jan 16th 2008; 1:48AM

Yeah right, Team Ninja would summon Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick Square Enix, just to assert that Squeenix makes "wimpy" games compared to Team Ninja's.

Robert: Jan 15th 2008; 12:18PM

Yeh they leveled up with you but it still got real easy after a point i remember mowing down ultimacia in a bout 5 mins.

Leobebes: Jan 15th 2008; 12:41PM

How about an RPG that instead of settling for effeminate spikey haired man boys settles for effeminate Baroque period nancy boy fencers? That would be awesome! They would look like Louis the VIII and summon guillotine monsters.

Zsavior: Jan 15th 2008; 3:17PM

How about your companies future lies with you putting out New games, I mean actual new games you know with different characters and a whole new story and maybe with in a whole new land but I don't want to push you to hard Square.

VampireHunter Z: Jan 15th 2008; 3:43PM

Too late to nab Bizarre Creations. What other good companies are out there in EU? If they could get some ex-workers from NCSoft that would be amazing. But I'm guessing they are looking for a well established company.

Semantic: Jan 15th 2008; 3:47PM

They should buy Sci and sell the bits they don't like - they have more than enough cash to do it with pocket change now.

Ethan: Jan 15th 2008; 6:27PM

I never thought I'd be glad EA got Bioware.

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