Square Enix summons development studio in LA

Smart move, SE. Also dumb. Bring in top talent to the hotbed of business, but kill them with smog.

Eh, most of the complaints in the reviews for TLR was because of the Unreal 3 engine, can't blame them for that.

And here's hoping for maybe a PS3 entry into the "Musashi" series, ya know, PS1 had Brave Fencer Musashi, PS2 had Musashi: Samurai Legend", so a PS3 one would be great.

I'd like to take this time to state how awful Dirge of Cerberus was. Maybe Squeenix should be like like fake gangsta rappers and stay away from guns.

Some more full quotes from Squeeeeeenix here:

"The games we do in Japan do what they are supposed to do...but the Japanese market isn't growing."

"We're not deliberately focusing on the North American audience. We're just trying to make a good game."

"We're not trying to make a game with a Western looking main character and with blood and gore.There is no point in making another FPS. Our task is different."

The source being Arstechnica (as Joystiq already pointed out).

"It's not a good idea to make a game for people you don't understand,"

It's good you're finally catching on after a decade or so Squeenix.

Square Enix could go F@#$ themselves for all I care.

Didn't they have a studio at one time in LA? I remember they did the background cg in ff8, and weren't they the ones that made 'Secret of Evermore'? That game i quit playing 30 minutes into it. That was the first and last American made Square[pre Enix] game ever iirc. I just hope that this doesn't repeat itself. Also i would like square to make some ps3 games, and to stop using the 360 to fund the next round of final fantasy games. (Thats my reason for why there are no ps3 games)

Honestly, SE has got it wrong.

"It's not a good idea to make a game for people you don't understand," game development manager Fumi Shiraishi told AT.

It should be "It's not a good idea to *market* a game to people you don't understand".

I don't believe that there's some inherent difference between Japanese people and western people that prevents a game that sold well in Japan from selling well in the rest of the world. Instead, it's mostly a matter of marketing. If SE had a better understanding of how to advertise in the west, they could sell as many copies of Final Dragon Quest XVLIQ here as they can in Japan.

Just look at Nintendo. Brain Age, which was supposedly an impossible sell to North Americans, has become one of their biggest successes because they played it up to the strengths of the western market.

It's just a matter of tapping into your target market and introducing your product in the way most compatible that market.



Finally... "western niche" -- I call FPS or TPS.

Maybe we'll finally get that much anticipated Secret of Evermore sequel?

TLR never had a chance. First of all, it has only been released on the 360. The audience, carried over from the X-box, is not the pool of American gamers they sold to last gen. They are dominantly gamers who like the western brand of RPGs: action combat, light on the cutscenes, and no random battles.

Second, they are now releasing TLR on the PC. The PC gaming community is where much of the X-box croud came from. So, as you might guess, they like the same or similar (but usually more technical) brand of (W)RPGs.

When and if they EVER release TLR on the PS3, I believe that it will be better received. The (J)RPG croud on the PS3 are like a lake full of piranhas starving for what they had on the PS2. Much of them (myself included) dove headfirst into a PS3 purchase for the excitement of the HD wave of (J)RPGs that we were would flood the new console. Take a quick look at the RPG section of the Playstation forums and you'll see what I'm talking about. I assure you that there will be a lot more cautious buyers next gen.

Unfortunately, the PS3 version of this game will probably be canceled soon. SE won't know the mistake that they've made until FFXIII is released in NA.

"'SE America" should focus on more mature RPGs than their typical home-grown fare. I'm not talking gratuitously vulgar and violent, ala Fallout 3, just more grown up than FF and their other franchises. A more accessible and user-friendly MMO would be really nice as well: I wanted to like FFXI, but I have no patience for a game that punishes you for playing it.

How is Final Fantasy XIII not so full of win that it doesn't matter? I don't really care if that gae ever comes, out, the trailers are just so beautiful and full of promise, and THAT'S what Western audiences want. That's what Eastern audiences want, and that's what Southern and Northern and audiences on the freaking moon want.

We're all human, we like pretty things, we don't like being frustrated. Make a pretty game with a good story and non-frustrating controls and you have a good game. I know it's much more complicated than that, but it's still true.

Let's clarify one thing: I could care less about where my games are coming from. Just gimmie a new XIII, Crystal Bearers and MH3 trailer.

Squaresoft should just stick to publishing. I'll give them credit, they hit home runs with Space Invaders Extreme, but their traditional output, TWEWY excluded (co-developed, supposedly), has been atrocious. This has been the case for 10 years. Like most Japanese developers, they're looking to yesterday to guide them for tomorrow, but the 90s are dead and people recoil from the artless Dragonball look. Sqauresoft are pretty much the worst of the big developers, right 'up' there with Capcom, Epic and ID Software. if there was a God, Acclaim would still be alive and Squaresoft would be dead.

Infinite Undiscovery wasn't exactly that niche. And it was a great game, so nyuh.