180°

20 Years Ago, Squaresoft And Enix Teamed Up To Create An RPG Powerhouse

20 years ago, two Japanese RPG rivals joined forces, marking one of the biggest acts of video game consolidation at the time.

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gamespot.com
-Foxtrot390d ago

*looks at the state they are in now*

Ooooft. Tough ride.

CrimsonWing69389d ago

It’s crazy to me how much better Squaresoft was before the merger.

dumahim389d ago

Losing it bigtime going after making CGI movies?

CrimsonWing69389d ago

@dumahim

I'll be honest, I don't think their CGI movie venture was bad. The problem was the world wasn't ready for that yet. Games still were considered a nerdy activity. Adult CGI movies weren't really a thing, so that already made it niche, and then the fans wanted a "Final Fantasy movie", not a Sci-Fi "save the spirit of the planet" movie.

I, however, thought the movie was great for what it was and thought their Matrix short was pretty bad-ass. I think if they started the CGI movie studio now and released something like Advent Children it would've done far better.

Hofstaderman389d ago

I agree it has not been exactly a stellar 20 years and I’ve held out hope that they would return to the golden SquareSoft days of taking risks. Games like xenogears, vagrant story, threads of fate…
From time to time they do throw out bangers like FF7 Remake and Dragon Quest XI which reignite my hope lol. Let’s hope FFXVI turns out to be something special because my hopes are at an all time high again.

GoodGuy09390d ago

And it was one of the worst things to have happened in the games industry.

sadraiden389d ago

What are the powerhouse RPGs they've released since then? Night and day compared to before the merger.

Inverno389d ago

A 20 years downward spiral. There are exceptions, but they been crazy mismanaged.

Thundercat77389d ago

More than Xbox? I don't think so.

Inverno389d ago

Two separate companies. I care more for Square than MS since KH is one of my favorite series, so it's hard to not to be disappointed with how so many of their games turn out. Or with the direction they always take when it comes to trends.

z2g389d ago

20 years ago is a long ways from where they are today…

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100°

Outriders Dev's Next Game Has Been Canceled After Publishing Agreement With Take-Two Fell Through

Outriders developer People Can Fly's next game has been canceled after its publishing agreement with Take-Two Interactive fell through.

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twistedvoxel.com
Tacoboto1d 12h ago

"the capital group of PCF Group S.A."

If you're getting funding from a group that needs two different ways of Acronyming itself, things will not go the way you want them to.

banger881d 6h ago

If it was more online-only crap then good riddance.

jjb198116h ago

Outriders was crap. They slapped that game together and threw in a loot system to get players' attention. This game was absolutely jank and the always online nonsense made it stutter like crazy. People Can't Optimize.

thorstein15h ago

I liked Outriders but I could see where the artistic vision was compromised. The way the industry is now, it wouldn't surprise me that upper management would scrap something that didn't pull in money via gaas, mts, or other means.

290°

Microsoft’s Surface and Xbox hardware revenues take a big hit in Q3

Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.

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theverge.com
darthv721d 9h ago

Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.

solideagle20h ago

you should apply in MS PR team buddy, I think you will do a great job in my humble opinion :)

Sonic188118h ago

I thought darthv72 and Obscure_Observer already work for Microsoft 🤔

dveio17h ago

MS: "Xbox services and content without AB up 1%, with AB up 62%. Hardware down 31%. In total a loss of 350 mill."

darthv72: "Seems about right."

MS: "Excuse m ..."

darthv72: "I don't hardly play on my consoles directly."

MS:

Lightning7713h ago

What he said was facts. How he plays games is no concern of you. Don't get too mad about it.

Cacabunga20h ago

I can tell people like you are an absolute minority..

If service is up means their fans and fanboys accepted this model and subscribed to it. The near future you will see a big decline because the service is saturated.

darthv726h ago

to you it may seem like the minority... but your bubble is shrinking because more and more are following suit. convenience is a hell of a drug and its also why physical sales only amount to 30% of overall game sales. times are changing, you either get with them or you get left behind.

neutralgamer19921h ago

Darth

30% physical sales: yet Phil and xbox division are in a rush go give up on that 30%. they don't have any right to give up any piece of the pie since the control such a little of the pie to begin with

also, the market is clearly speaking that the model Xbox is pushing isn't working right now the keyword being right now. you are right about freedom to play anywhere so i hope they put their games on steam

shinoff218319h ago

But that's been ms for years. When things aren't going their way they try to change the way things are said. For instance console sales are down, they stop telling how many sold instead telling us how many hours spent in halo or headshots. So it makes sense console sales down just say people are playing on more devices then previous. What they won't say is how many xbox players jumped ship to ps5.

Cacabunga18h ago

Hardware sales are so bad that Sony and Nintendo are blowing the sales off the water with their hardware.

If Xbox are losers, others aren’t..
Xbox already tried everything with Xbox live then subscriptions went down so much that they had to find something else. Their fans subscribed then reached saturation rather quickly.

Hardware and exclusive games is where it’s at! Keep gamers excited, announce decent software and people will support you

itsmebryan14h ago

@shin
Well keep it simple Sony 's operating income is down 26% and Microsoft's is up 32%. No MS spin there, just facts. 😉
Cheers

S2Killinit7h ago

MS is after diminishing consoles as a medium. They want to destroy this market because they couldnt win. MS’s vision is to dissolve console gaming.

romulus2313h ago

Odd that a company that touts you dont need the hardware to play is already touting another console in the works.

darthv7212h ago

They are not reliant on the HW but still want to maintain a presence (no matter how small) is a good thing. It shows commitment to the craft. It reminds me of SNK and how they made games for their own hardware (Neo Geo) while also making them for others because they knew there was a market to do so. They knew they would sell more to others but also sell to their own niche fan base.

TheEroica6h ago(Edited 6h ago)

Perfectly reasonable post down voted by insecure corporation friendly folk.... But not gamers. Real gamer want accessibility and ease of acquisition for all.... Company shills are the only ones still telling us that hardware locking people from games is good for us.

Chevalier1h ago

@Darth

You should stop parroting metrics like an idiot without context.

"Xbox content and services revenue grew 62% in Q3 from a year earlier, “driven by 61 points of net impact” from the purchase of the third-party video game giant, Microsoft said."

61 of the 62% was from their merger so net increase is ONLY 1%

https://www.mesaonline.org/...

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 1h ago
purple10123h ago

Xbox hardware revenue tanks to lowest point of Xbox Series generation

Profchaos22h ago

I'm not surprised surface is struggling they aren't relevant anymore

DOMination-12h ago

In the last two years they've started exiting the consumer market altogether. All of the newest Surface products are business models only. They can't seem to work out what they want to do with it.

XBManiac21h ago

Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.

SimpleDad21h ago(Edited 21h ago)

"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."

That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.

purple10121h ago

Activision: "we gonna need a bigger rucksack/backpack please"

Microsoft: "why's that"

Activision: "to carry yo' weak ass'

Profchaos20h ago(Edited 20h ago)

Top brass have also wanted to start seeing returns on the 100 billion they have put into various Xbox related moves so seeing more multiplatform games is highly likely especially from abk

It's basically saying that PlayStation is the reason Xbox is afloat right now thinks to Ps5 versions of COD

Kornholic19h ago

So basically PS and PC gamers' money is keeping Xbox on life support.

MrDead12h ago

The only growth MS will get out of the console industry is if it supports it's rivals platforms. Xbox is a pointless machine now. I can see them on a big push for live next, and they won't give up on trying to buy Steam.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 12h ago
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90°

An Update on This Year’s BlizzCon and Blizzard’s 2024 Live Events

Blizzard writes: "After careful consideration over the last year, we at Blizzard have made the decision not to hold BlizzCon in 2024. This decision was not made lightly as BlizzCon remains a very special event for all of us, and we know many of you look forward to it. While we’re approaching this year differently and as we have explored different event formats in the past, rest assured that we are just as excited as ever to bring BlizzCon back in future years."

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blizzcon.com
PRIMORDUS1d 7h ago

How about you not hold Blizzcon anymore period. You fucking POS company. I really hope Blizzard would just die.