Square Enix outline their horrible new approach that may kill both them and Eidos

"Here is a PDF that does not make good reading if you like Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs, Deus Ex, and/or good RPG releases."

[majiebeast]

Yeah they lost it.

Lets all thank the new ceo. Who is behind this genius approach, of going after the 2 most unstable markets in gaming, mobile and online.

I never thought i would say it, but could we have Wada back please?

[HelpfulGamer]

PS3 partly to blame, While most Japanese Game Developer ran away from PS3 complexity on to Wii, 3DS, X360. SquareEnix stayed years to get running on PS3, costing them billions. Yoichi Wada stayed loyal for years to SONY in getting FFXIV:ARR running on PS3.

Thankfully, now Sony tries to repair the damage they done with the PS4.

[itBourne]

What? Their downfall has nothing to do with the ps3. Its the same downfall all the other Japanese devs have had, they didnt transition with the times, have failed to evolve. Eidos has kept them afloat. Hence why Nintendo is failing with their console. Same reason Level 5 has failed with consoles. The mobile is literally keeping all them jap devs alive(handheld included in mobile). With out the ds, professor leyton, and mobile all these japanese companies lose. You can throw Sony japan in their too.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Well for one thing nobody but Square made them spend ridiculous amounts of money making their games. Not really fair to blame that on Sony.
And two, Square (objectively) made mostly bad games this gen regarding the Final Fantasy series. How is that Sony's fault?. And three FFXIV was a complete mess to begin with and they've been spending a ton of cash over the years to make it an acceptable PC game, nothing to do with the PS3.

[itBourne]

Sony Japan takes 16 years to make Last Guardian (TeamIco), all the FF games are delayed, FF14 is a fucking mess has to be remade, FF13 has to have 16 games to make up for delays and cost. Capcom is a joke now RE is trash. Sega is doing nothing, literally a mess. Nintendo can only make handheld games and the same games they made for the past 10 years. Do I need to keep going? Japanese devs are a joke right now... not all.. nothing is all encompassing but for the most part a literal joke.

[Dagobert]

That makes no sense. The problem was they were focusing on the 360 far more when it had a very small RPG fanbase. Then they focused on a shit title that people complained from the beginning but bought it because it had Final Fantasy in the beginning. Then creating a shit sequel which people thought might be better but it still sucked, and then another damn sequel.

[FamilyGuy]

They spend too much on their games, too muh time and money. Tomb Raider could've easily been profitable had they not given it such a high budget. A lot of games fall in that category, they don't way the demand properly and end up spending too much creating the games.

FF14 was meant to be a huge profit turner for them and it fell flat on release for multiple reasons. None of which were the PS3 because it never released that iteration on PS3. A Realm Reborn is actually doing BETTER than they predicted and is helping them stay afloat because of its subscription based model.

All japanese devs aren't "terrible this gen", some of you just lost interest in those type of games. Gaming taste are subjective and the influx of shooters this gen have left japans gaming styles behind.

[mikeslemonade]

IF FFXIII remained exclusive it would have been a better game. Instead they chose to make for the 360 too which held it back.

[mechlord]

you know what ruined them? Waiting all this long to put out a Thief;
Waiting all this long to put out KH3
Waiting all that long to release the underwhelming FF13 and on top of it, make FF13-2 and FF13-3
Waiting this long to put out FF13Versus having to rename it in the middle
Being so lame, disrespectful, full of themselves and stupidly low talented to even think about releasing the first incarnation of FF15

I can keep this up for a little longer

[webeblazing]

I think it have to do with all the rehash SE have done. KH3 should been out and they should of let their devs create new ips. SE is headed the same path as Capcom, and I wouldn't care if they crashed and burned just hope the talent they still have left starts a studio.

[UltimateMaster]

Square-Enix always made profit from PS hardware including PSP and PS3.
But they rather focus elsewhere where they're sure they'll meet their demise.

[kreate]

Square left the ps3 for the first half of the generation.

Infinite Undiscovery, star ocean, last remnant sold poorly on the Xbox.

They started to do better once they went back to Sony.

[Godmars290]

I don't think he ever left. Is just waiting in the wings.

[Eyeco]

I don't want to see Square go down anymore than I want Capcom to go down, these companies were my childhood, that and it would suck for people to loose their jobs.

But they are so out of touch with themselves and what gamers want, they're trying to hard to appeal to the "western" audiences, they lose their identity inthe process. F2P, Mobile gaming as a central focus ? What happened, where did it go wrong ? Shame

[SharnOfTheDEAD]

Yeah, during the 90s it was awesome for those companies, now though it's just going downhill :(

[mistertwoturbo]

I agree, I still love FF6 and FF7.

Where they went wrong is the "western" approach to their games. Even go as far as buying Eidos to try and capture the western market.

FFXIII was a disappointment, to this day I still haven't beat it. I have no urge to and probably never will. I still can't shake the feeling that since they went multi-disk for the 360 version they segmented the entire game.

[DVAcme]

Dude, if any company deserves to go down, it's friggin' Capcom. They not only have been screwing fans over with their abusive DLC and downloadable game strategy, they've also apparently gotten a hard-on for taking a crap on beloved franchises of theirs. I'm a Megaman fan, so I've REALLY felt the burn badly. That's not even mentioning their DISGUSTING treatment of their employees. Already Shinji Mikami, Hideki Kamiya and ESPECIALLY Keiji Inafune have left the company for good reason, and I'm betting Yoshinori Ono will not be far behind at the rate Capcom are taking a crap on him now.

[Magicite]

In PS1/2 times SE was my most loved gaming company.

[3-4-5]

So they are doing the 2 thing SE fans don't want the most.

Thanks for the nugget kick Square.

Get your head out of your ace and bring us Dragon Quest 11&7 + DQ8 HD remake + 10

[smashman98]

No, read the PDF and everything looks fine they want to put more focus in mobile and online but article makes it seem like they want to eliminate console development altogether.

[Tctczach]

I hope someone with some talent will buy Deus Ex.

[DEATHxTHExKIDx]

The games on smart phones aren't a lot of Japanese devs doing that. I think even the Tales series is being put on smart phones now.

[UNKLE]

Square enix is dead they lied to us and making bad strategy.
1,FF15 is delayed a whole console generation (PS3)
2,FF15 PS4 version using old graphics engine not luminous engine. whole PS4 is about FF15 trilogy with old engine!?
3.Agnis Philosophy would be great new ip game or FF but its only techdemo they say.
4.I hope Square Enix is go bankrupt...

[Irishguy95]

FF15 is shifting over to luminous as luminous is completed.

Eh no, no it doesn't imply they are cutting anything.

"Games with sequels cut content out of previous games" is what you are saying. Use your head for **** sake.

FFXIII had content cut because of the 360. Not because it was to have a sequel.

FFXV may be very broad story wise. You have your nations fighting over Crystals which is what Nomura wanted this game to focus on...then you have the back round gods like Etro and what will undoubtedly end up the main story in either FFXV or a sequel, about the world ending. Noctis story may not cover the entire story about their world. It could only cover the war of over the crystals

[colonel179]

That's what supposed to happen.. I just don't want FFXV to be a trilogy. That right there implies that they are cutting stuff from XV just like they did with XIII. There is no excuse, they have a much powerful console than the PS3, so they don't have to cut anything. Also, since when FF is supposed to have direct sequels? One thing is to have an expect ion (FFX) another one, is to make it the norm! It does not make sense!

[deadfrag]

I Hope they dont go bankrupt,because them we will see great studios like Cristal Dinamics and Eidos die too.Square Enix made shit games this generation but games like Tr,Sleeping dogs,Deux ex and even the last Hitman are all great games...but on the other hand we see Square invest in a new Ftp Legacy of kain game and we start thinking wtf ..why the hell are Square making this crap game!Frankly the game looks horrible and has nothing to do with the Kain Legacy or Soul Reaver and Free to play model..Dead will soon come if they dont change the way of thinking.

[MadLad]

I don't.
They will take Eidos with them and they are currently on their game at this point.

Square is ruining Edios.

[Roccetarius]

Square already ruined Eidos, so that isn't possible. :)

[Magicite]

I hope you bite your tongue.

[Gore-Content]

They can go all to hell, for all I care. First, they released XIII on xbox that was supposed to be exclusive to the PS3. Not only that, they needed to cut half the content, so the fucking thing won't be on more than 4 discs. Now, they're doing the same thing with XIIIVersus.

Good night, Square Enix. We won't miss you.

[Irishguy95]

1: Ps4 and X1 are more powerful than Ps3
2: X1 and Ps4 both have Blu ray drives
3: FFXIII lost a few hours of gameplay tops. The game would be shit regardless.

XV will be better than Versus XIII ever could have been. You're just still being butthurt over losing an exclusive.

[colonel179]

I hate that FF XV was announced for the Xbox. Not because it will be on that console, but because SE swore and swore countless times that it would be exclusive to PS, or at the very least, the Xbox version would be 100% a port so that the PS version would be completely designed for it, which now we know is not true.

However, it doesn't worry me that the game is going to suffer because it will be on Xbox. This time they are shifting a game from a weaker console to a more powerful one. If the game suffers, it will be because of shady SE decisions (like how they said they wanted it to be a trilogy). The game might have better performance on the PS4, but it won't have to get stuff cut or something like what happened to FF XIII.

[Pozzle]

I hear people blame the 360 for FFXIII's faults all the time, but I don't buy it for a second. Square Enix are game developers, so they should know how to make a good game regardless of what console its released on. If other developers can make good multiplat games, there's no reason why Square shouldn't be able to. Even if content WAS cut from FFXIII, that doesn't excuse the questionable development/design choices that are present in that game.

And hell, about 30% of Soul Reaver was cut before its released and it was still an amazing game. Square has no excuse.

[KingKelloggTheWH]

So I wonder if Sony will end up buying them, you know since they have 10% of their stock.

Seriously though square....think...just think

[colonel179]

It would be awesome if Sony bought them! At least they should buy Kingdom Hearts and bring Nomura. Everything else could go bankrupt with Square Enix. Well, EIdos deserve to live. They just deserve a better place to be.

[MegaRay]

Agree. KH and Nomura-san shall survive

[KingKelloggTheWH]

If they capture Nomura that would be a Huge win for them.

[-Foxtrot]

What they should do if they did buy them out would be to create a new company as a spiritual successor to Square and ask Nomura if he wants to be in charge. (Sony-Soft lol)

Give him two teams one for Final Fantasy the other for Kingdom Hearts (or another franchise) and just let him do whatever he wants. He would have control over the Square part of the company while the Edios side could be a new studio or the IP's could be given to the developers they already have

As for the other franchises who knows

Imagine NaughtyDog doing a Tomb Raider reboot which uses the old backstory of Lara from the original Tomb Raider where her plane goes down in the Himalayas which kills her parents and fiancée then having to find a way to survive long enough to get help. You could make a game out of that, add animal predators, the harsh environments, have ancient tombs in the mountains, human hunters. It could be fantastic.

Even then you still have Hitman, Deus Ex, Chrono Trigger, Dragon Quest and Thief etc

I would mind Sony buying them out to be honest

[pyramidshead]

i really hope free to play and mobile isn't the future :(

[Dfooster]

They actually have three big franchises there but they are only just becoming established. Deus ex was originally PC only but is finding an audience in console after HR, sleeping dogs is one of those games that a lot of people enjoyed but probably picked up pre-owned later on and tomb raider was a really good reboot of a series most young gamers wouldn't remember first time around and is just beginning to re-establish itself. All three of these games were some of my favourites this gen and I'd love all of them to get a sequel.

If they throw in the towel now they are making a big mistake as all three could easily go on and be massive if followed up correctly.

[ELpork]

As much as I dislike square, they gave Eidos some good playroom for their stuff. That being said, you can't expect them to rake in enough money to make up for the loss of funds that a FF Game being pushed back for years creates.

[Unlimax]

Square-Enix lost its way when they didn't revive their old franchises since 2006
Business decisions is the only thing to blame

[urwifeminder]

Eidos is one of my fave devs shame they can not get out of this deal.

[tiffac008]

That strategy is totally disheartening. The fanbase is totally being shoved under the bus.

[Dagobert]

One would think with a new Square Enix CEO things might have gotten better but I think nothing has changed. I mean shit stop focusing on Final Fantasy XIII and it's shitty trilogy.

I wish they would create new IP's like they did in the past during the PS1 era especially. I don't think the argument of the games being too costly is valid either because if they can create 2 sequels to a shitty Final Fantasy game that most people hated, they could have made two new IP's. I mean sure the sequels to XIII probably didn't cost as much because of using older assets and whatnot but if you look back at their past games, not all their games were of the same audio and visual qualities, some were lower but still great. Nier is a great example of this, it's an amazing game but obviously not much was invested in it and you can tell but it's still a great game.

If they can't create new IP's then remake older titles and not just upscale them. Remake Terranigma, remake FFVIII or even VII which I don't care about but I'm sure that will make them a lot of money.

[01animeking]

they need to stop with these super expensive projects no wonder they're failing when your game need to sell a couple million to get a a nice profit your doing something wrong

[Relientk77]

I miss Squaresoft

[tiffac008]

Agreed, I just don't know how a long time fan can be happy with that strategy.

[jagstar44]

this company is destroying itself, get your shit together you hold some of the best franchises in gaming, stop fucking it up.

[sephiroth420]

well only one thing to say to this... ahhhh fuck :(

[310dodo]

Bethesda please buy Dues Ex and Thief.
You and Arkane could change the world lol

wishful thinking

[DVAcme]

I share your wishful thinking, friend, but honestly, I'd rather have Take Two acquire them. They have the best track record for owning critically acclaimed studios that produce quality fare.

[310dodo]

hmmm interesting choice.
Take Two does have the $$ and brains

I would pick Bethesda because I feel they would handle the IPs "right".
Id be worried Take Two would stray to far from what we've grown to love.

[DVAcme]

How so? Take Two acquired the rights to the Civilization franchise and it's been epically good since, and they also acquired X-COM, which(The Bureau notwithstanding) made an amazing comeback with Enemy Unknown. They acquired Irrational Games and let them make their spiritual successor series to System Shock 2, Bioshock. Adding to that, Take Two publish games for Gearbox Software. If anything, no company offers such amazing value in their games and creative freedom for their developers like Take Two does.

[e-p-ayeaH]

SquareEnix better get their sh!t together because if they drop the ball they will probably sell most of their sucessfull IP´s.

[LAWSON72]

Online games is something most games should really try not to focus on because they will never be as popular as something like COD or BF and those Moba games. It is much easier to probably make single player driven game than an addictive multiplayer game where people can't stop playing.

I will be extrmemly disappointed if Square makes all these great titles multiplayer/online focused because they will fail bad.

[worldwidegaming]

People still believe these companies in Japan think like everyone else...sorry but they do not.
They think about their market and how much Yen they can get first. After that comes the other regions.
They really do not hire no fire much (with the exception of Sony)and their expectations are lower than other countries.

It might be the fact that the company as a whole is not looking to become a vile company like EA.
With online and multiplayer games you can keep making money and that's the point...its always the point..
Easiest way to make a buck (or Yen)

[DVAcme]

I wish Square Enix to go the way of THQ and that Eidos/SE Europe is bought by a company that'd give them the props they deserve. Eidos/SE Europe games have "not been selling" because Square Enix is doing ridiculously overblown sales projections unrealistic to today's market, as well as not properly promoting games from who are their BEST DIVISION. Seriously, Eidos/ SE Europe has made/published Just Cause 2, Hitman, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Batman: Arkham Asylum, and it's supposed to release both the new Thief and the return of the Legacy Of Kain series. That's some MAD quality there. If Squeenix can't make a profit out of that, then THEY are the ones doing something wrong, not Eidos/SE Europe.

[AllBlue]

Quickly release FFXV and KH3 before they close

[metalgod88]

Once the developers of their games start reading this, they'll start running for the hills. I would be very worried if I was Square. Remake FF VII and you're set! That will keep the developers there and will bring great happiness to the fans of the series. It's a win-win. Now stop wasting time and get to it Square Enix!

[DJ]

FF7 remake. 'Nuff said.

[NikonSteve]

I was about to put this.....Had they gotten their shit together and just pooled their resources into making FFVII as a PS4 launch title, they wouldn't be in this mess. The fans have been asking for it for years. They made a damn tech demo just to titty tease us. GIVE US AN UPDATE FFVII!!!!!!!