Square Enix considering stakes in competing developers

by Ludwig Kietzmann on May 20th 2008 12:00PM

Speaking at the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit in Tokyo, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has said that his company may decide to get cozy with rival developers. "Economies of scale and breadth of scope are getting important," he said. "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." In moving "beyond" the company's traditional situation, Wada also hopes to move farther beyond the borders of Japan and boost international games sales. Out of total software revenue, overseas sales currently comprise 50 percent -- and he'd rather have them at 80 percent.

By forming alliances with other companies and better heeding the desires of the international market (MOAR GUNZ PLZ), Square Enix would be better equipped to deal with steep competition, "not only from Japanese videogame companies but from game companies worldwide." Square Enix's The Last Remnant, which is planned for simultaneous release in the East and West, may be the first step towards that goal.

Source

Tags: Japan, Square-Enix, The-Last-Remnant, Yoichi-Wada

Reader Comments (26)

Before Square do that, I still want some more DS remakes... Chrono Trigger and Mario RPG would be fine.

Dude, I'm getting ready to line up for those right now. My only worry is, where am I gonna park my flying pink unicorn while I'm waiting?

Before that though we need to formerly canceled Chrono Trigger 2 and Chrono Break to be released. I want my Chrono Cross sequal now damnit!

In all honesty, they could solve their problems for the next 2 years or so with some type of Final Fantasy VII remake as well as a Chrono Cross/Trigger creation. Or picking up some other series (mother?) and working from there.

There are many things that people want from SE that they seem to refuse to consider as they churn out yet another FF 2 remake.

In before fernan....GAHHHHH

They should consider making more traditional western games if they want their sales to reach 80% in western countries. Then again, when he talks about investing in other developers, he might mean ones that make western-style games (and thus Square themselves wouldn't need to branch out). Then again...since they now make games involving Disney characters, maybe they've already tried branching out. Who knows.

Um...funny.

Consolidation and merger make sense in industries that are struggling (i.e. airlines), but in a market with record revenues every year???? Come on now! Let's not lose the creativity that multiple gaming houses brings.

E3 they will announce that FFVII is being released on PS3 and that will boost sales in US by quite a bit. Even if you say you wouldn't buy it for the PS3 I know anyone that played the original would buy it again.

Good. SE's been pushing the new IPs pretty heavily lately-- Last Remnant, Infinite Undiscovery, and TWEWY-- so hooking up with rival developers can only help them. Anything which gets Square thinking about new stuff, rather than the endless rehashes and remakes gets my vote. (this of course discounts the fact that I'm really looking forward to FF4 DS)

I'm quite surprised that Square's overseas revenue is 50%... I honestly would have figured that number to be MUCH lower. Apparently we love FF a bit more than we really thought we did here in the Anglophonic world. Asking for 80% overseas revenue is a bit much, however... unless Square comes up with a game with as much appeal as GTA or something similar, they're not likely to even come close to that number. If that's what they're shooting for, then consider me on the edge of my seat.

Three simple words:

Earthbound Chrono Trigger

I am all for it as long as they align with "good" honest developers not evil ones.

What, exactly, is your definition of an "evil" developer?

a developer who is not in the same according with square one that cares about money instead of making a good game.

I hate to break the news to you, but all developers care about money, and I'm sure most care about making a good game...without a good game, odds are the money won't be forthcoming from the general public.

Yay! More Dragon Ball Z lookalike games

JAYARPEEGEE's have some of the worst titles ever.

infinite undiscovery?

really?

I'm pretty sure they joined with its-name-must-not-be-spoken(EA) for a previous ff game, i think it was ff8... i could be wrong though...

As long as they keep making quality games of the genres they are good at and create some original content every now and then its cool.

Whats the worst that could happen? Them going serious on busines and flooding the market with yearly versions of the same,flooding the market with crap multiplatform liscensed games and trying to take over every other remaining big good company,in what could lead to a horrible dirty monopoly,and worse,the eventual downfall of the videogame industry and into the next industry crash crysis and the end of all what we love!?!?

They need to get games out quicker, it would really help their bussiness. They should also branch off from FF, start new franchises.

...as long as these alliances/stakes make it for quicker release dates for FinalFantasyXIII and other games to come out!!

don't get me wrong, I still want the quality to be there, but the delays are frustrating...on the other hand, maybe they're trying to make sure everyone has a chance to complete FFXII and their other remakes.

Square lacks the leadership to make Western-centric games a reality. their biggest franchises are deeply entrenched in Eastern culture leaving them no room to appeal to Western audiences for fear of alienating or disenfranchising the former.

if they truly wish to make games that appeal to the Western market they can start by dropping the 15 year-old, gender-confused, melodramatic, male protagonist who suffers from amnesia while wearing bright clothes with way too many belts, straps and buckles. And everything that follows...but they won't because at this point it seems like they just don't know how to.

they've been making the same games for, mostly, the same audience for 20 years now.

Capcom, by contrast, understood this when creating Dead Rising specifically for the Western markets. Long story short; I don't think we'll be seeing Frank West at any cosplay conventions soon.

MKvsFFVII?

How about creating characters that didn't just walk out of Vidal Sasoon, and wearing shit from Windsor Fashions.

"Hey you are over generalizing again!"

No I am not, its true Square Enix's design department really hate to break traditions in their character designs it seems.

"Hey what about western developers obsessions with 40 year old balding men, and dudes on steroids!?"

Umm, there is way more diversity in design when it comes to western gaming houses. Everyone in Japan is content sticking to Anime or Manga, can you imagine if most of western design stuck to one single form of influence?

"Man you are a hater, you just don't get Japan, they are superior in their design to the West"

No they are not, you suck....

Wow! You, like, totally answered all the questions for me! Except...

"Hey you are over generalizing again!"
Yeah, you kinda are. Last time I looked, you couldn't find steel gauntlets at your local mall. The reason most look the same is because the character designs for a lot of the big games have been done by the same person for a while(Nomura). And before that, Yoshitaka Amano. But in all seriousness, if you tell me Fran(FFXII) looks anything like Shiki(WEWY), I'm gonna have to slap you.

"Hey what about western developers obsessions with 40 year old balding men, and dudes on steroids!?"
Uh... Gears of War, God of War, Halo, Grand Theft Auto... Yup, uber masculine leads. Not that that's a BAD thing. But if you're telling me that American gamers don't jump (mostly) at the games where the main character oozes testosterone... Well, that's slap #2.

"Can you imagine if most of western design stuck to one single form of influence?"
Show me a best-selling American game NOT on the Wii(ie made specifically for hardcore gamers) that don't have a "realistic" art style. Not many, huh? That sounds like a single form of influence, doesn't it?

"Man you are a hater, you just don't get Japan, they are superior in their design to the West"
And, no, you DON'T get Japan. Japan is about conformity, and small steps in evolution, not jumps, like we are apt to admire in the US. That doesn't make them BETTER(as a matter of fact, it holds Japanese development back, a concern that many of them have actually spoken about). It just means you're wrong.

I am sorry, but there problem isn't being non western centric. Many people like Jrpgs because they are Jrpgs. Their problem is they don't make anything any more, seriously what was the last game to come out from Square enix, that was on the WII, or the PS3 or XBOX360 that wasn't some sad off shoot of something else. FF XIII was supposed to be out since forever, they are still riding that FF VII train hard. I don't even mind if they made DQ, and FF,CT and the rest but atleast make them. Even Dragon quest for the DS got pushed back.

How can they complain about competition if they never put anything out to compete with.

Or they could just make more of there games multi-platform. That'll drive oversea sales up a lot. Final Fantasy as a franchise will do well on whatever platform its sold on. Its almost silly in this day and age limiting yourself to one audience when you can do it potentially on 3 platforms (PS3, 360 and Wii.)

The Last Remnant in no way has the same brand hype or appeal as a game that carries the final fantasy name (obviously).

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Square Enix considering stakes in competing developers

Reader Comments (26)

Posted: May 20th 2008 12:08PM FernandoRocker said

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