Square Enix Should Have Made Deus Ex, Hitman, and FFVII Remake Sooner

JI writes: "The abomination that was Square Enix's shooter MindJack met very unfavorable reviews earlier this year while the reviews were mixed on shooter series Kane & Lynch for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 throughout its short history. The recent and ongoing disasters in Japan are effecting companies like Square Enix to a severe degree. And the budgets of leading class modern video game entertainment projects are not cheap.

Square Enix has recently announced that there will be "cancellations" in their scheduled release lineup due to financial trouble they partly attribute to the Japan disasters which are costing ongoing emergency and damage repair capital for many companies right now. How many of the heavily ancitipated titles, that S.E. has gamers on a string for, will suffer? Square Enix Should Have Made Deus Ex, Hitman, and FFVII Remake Sooner to position themselves for the long-term before taking risks on New IPs and sequels to unproven franchises."

[Clance]

Can't help but feel these have been a little too long and without the same buzz as Duke Nukem, who can leave it as long as he wants. So to speak.

[Hitman0769]

This is something I agree with in a way. Gamers have been waiting so long for another Hitman, Deus Ex, and apparently Final Fantasy VII Remake and instead we were sent projects that didn't satisfy the respective fanbase(s) of S.E. and its development entities.

I just hope they can turn it all around with these titles and not go bankrupt.

[THILLREBORN]

I think they can they just need to get their heads out of their as**s. FFvsXIII is going to kill...just wait.

[soundslike]

I think its because they can sit on those IP's and get 'em hyped and shiny that they feel they can experiment.

IP's worth isn't just in the product but as an asset that when shit hits the fan, can be sold to the highest bidder.

How many studios would kill for the rights to Final Fantasy or Deus EX?

Also consider that they are making perpetual bank with handhelds and now iPad/iPod games.

They are probably much cozier than you think.

[akiraburn]

I believe another thing they could have done to tide over fans that were awaiting sequels or full remakes, and to prepare new potential fans for the next games, is to provide simple "HD remasters" of these in the meantime, and make them readily available on the different digital distribution networks.

I've often discussed the merits of making the original Deus Ex available with a bit of touch-up, like upping the models and textures to make it similar to, or even better than, the HD mod, offering higher visual resolutions with remastered audio and more audio options, as well as trophy/achievement support, and making it available for $15 to $20 on PSN/XBLA/Steam. The same premise could easily be said about Hitman. These games were all great, they're still a lot of fun, and getting them ready with a fresh coat of paint for this gen wouldn't be overwhelmingly hard, and could yield great profit.

FFVII would be a bit tougher to make this idea happen, since it visually isn't something that could quickly be enhanced or polished to make any real difference, and it probably would just make more sense to go straight into developing a remake. However, one idea is that they could have made a version of FFVII Crisis Core available as a PSN title instead of solely being a PSP game. That's just one possible thought though.

In any case, I do agree with this article. Square has known with overwhelming response that a FFVII remake would be a massive financial boon for them (as well as a couple other FF's). Just the same, a proper Deus Ex sequel or remake has been on everyone's minds since DX:IW turned out not so great. And a new Hitman game really should have been plotted since this generation of consoles began, and at least should have been released prior to the second K&L (although my thoughts on DX and Hitman are more a comment towards Eidos, since up until a couple years ago they weren't owned by Square).

I wish I could understand the logic that some of these publishers have behind these choices, given that the sales are there, the ideas are there, and the interest is there. Above all else, in most cases these projects will prove to be less costly or risk related than others, due to the fact that the script and many of the assets are already made and established, or at the very least they are easily made due to there being so much content already to work off of from the original titles.

[X-DominusRebellis-X]

^^^ Right on!

[BubbleSniper]

I can't help but feel, Deus Ex wasn't even a SE IP, but an Eidos IP... this title holds the fail down with kung-fu grip.

Deus Ex was being developed before SE took over.

So, with regards to that... how can SE have made Deus Ex "sooner"? When it was never their IP to begin with.

[2v1]

u are right.Deus Ex was Eidos work... now people want a fun/good Final Fantasy game , the likes of ff10,9,8,7,6,and so on, we want a master pice FF game after all this years waiting.

[DeadlyFire]

I wanna point something out.

Hitman 5. Not Square-Enix's decision!
Dues Ex: Human Revolution. Not Square-Enix's decision!

Both in development before bought out.

[movements]

I couldn't agree more.

[SuperStrokey1123]

Should it be FF7 remake at all?

[sealion88]

the way square enix develope games now, i hope there isn't a ff7 remake...

[Perjoss]

when it was released FF7 was amazing, I recently went back to it and it just isn't that good anymore, the overall story is still ok but the dialog, either it was crap to begin with or the translation was borked. I honestly think Lost Odyssey is a better game.

[kratos123]

that trully is a great joke dude.....wait your not kidding .
please get out sir, nobody remembers LO but every body played FF7

[BubbleSniper]

I disagree with you. It's not my favourite, but it is one of my all-time best games.

Final Fantasy VII is one the greatest games ever made. The hundreds of talented people who were involved with it's creation is a testament to how games, even back then, can be more demanding than movies.

[stealth500k]

theyve done a great job with portable games hitting the fanbases.............cant say the same for the console games

only nier, star ocean 4, ff 13 would fit the bill on consoles so far

ff 13-2, versus 2, and dq X on consoles will fix that

[Alos88]

"with Square Enix dropping a Final Fantasy title which only half of the people who bought it liked"
Judging from the message boards I've been to that may be a rather generous estimation.

[nickjkl]

beecause the internet is the voice of everyones oppinion

[Alos88]

A bit late to the party, aren't we?

[nickjkl]

Dx

[Squatch83]

Does that mean theres a FF7 remake on the way??

[GREYFOXXXXXX]

is eidos bought out by these now or something ? havent heard of this in time...

[manman6]

Don't forget they should of made Kingdom Hearts 3 years ago

[Buff1044]

True...it's taken them a long time to count to 3...similar to Capcom and Street Fighter 2 in the 90s.

[just_sayin]

Agreed tired of all the damn side stories Bring Out KH3

[stealth500k]

its not as bad as capcom because although we dont have 3 we have gotten brand new games in the same series

[Simco876]

They shouldn't make any remakes, and my god, not a FFVII remake.

My favorite RPG is FFVII, and I do not want a remake. It would just kill the game's history!

They need to make a good FF, because FFXIII is horrible. Once they do that, they will be in the black again.

Square had one more attempt before they went bankrupt and that was Final Fantasy I on the NES. Maybe history needs to repeat itself.

[Godmars290]

Um, if Hitman and Deus ex had been released sooner, Edios wold have put them out. Not Square. I still consider them to be Edios titles since the buyout is fairly recent.

Likewise given Square's overall recent performance, repeated failures and disappointments, I have serious doubts about their ability to deliver a good remake of FFVII.

Its almost like expecting Rare to make a good Killer Instinct without taking their current state into account.

[knifefight]

Well, this thread is over. Godmars won it.

[Killzone3___]

i just want to see more videos of final fantasy versus , i want a demo and a release date ....

never liked final fantasy games but this one looks sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooo good , no one can denie that , the graphics looks amazing and the gameplay is good , i hate press a word to attack or defend , more freedom will make the game laot better ... open world and im sold ..

[despair]

I do not want a FFVII remake, I mean why the hell would I want to play the same damn game again for the 7th time just with better graphics and VO. Its stupid, I mean I'd rather brand new games than remakes any day. I love FFVII as much as most people but why the stupid request from the fanboys, its a done game move on.

You don't hear me asking for a remake of Ocarina of time(hate that they are making the 3ds version) or Chrono Trigger and they are my favorite games of all time...ever.

[2v1]

ff7 experience for me at 14 years of age was epic!!!!!!!!! and always play from the same game save, no need for a new save.what i meant to say fell in love whit the game just didnt do multiple plays

[Pozzle]

Many people said the same about the Resident Evil remake. And it ended up being one of the best, most faithful remakes ever created.

[Omega Zues]

lol, I'm still waiting on versus. At this rate next-gen consoles will be out before it releases...

[epicdestroy]

Woulda, coulda, shoulda...

[Lulabarbie]

I hope they aren't on their way to bankruptcy..