Where is Square Enix going now?

[NayusDante]

It recently occurred to me just how different Square Enix is today from the Square and Enix I remember from the 90s. Now, they publish anime and other developer's games, which strikes me as a strong departure from their RPG studio roots. Square seemed to be a purely RPG-focused developer from 87 to 2000, but now they're publishing RTS and expressing a strong interest in "western-style" games. Now that we've seen just how much of a departure from the JRPG formula FFXIII was, I can't help but wonder...

Where exactly is SE heading, not just as a developer or a publisher, but as a company? Where do you see them five years from now?

[hbkprm]

theyre mixing up the tastes
and thats a winning formula

[kupomogli]

Most of their income will be coming from the other companies they've acquired. The Square games that they themselves are developing I feel will start dropping off when it comes to sales because of how many fans are dissatisfied at nearly every release of, for example, the next Final Fantasy.

[eskobar]

This is another case of money winning over quality products. Square got so big that it was nearly impossible for the company to have the same quality control over the products like before.

SquareEnix has lost ground and FINAL FANTASY XIII is proof of that, the game is great but it lost the SQUARE feeling that every gamer fell in love with.


I see the company five years from now restructuring the mess, creating smaller studios and focusing on business and not in development.

I hope that SQUARE ENIX gets back soon ...

[TonyTheTiger]

The reason the current games feel different is because the people who made the games back in the 90s aren't at the company anymore. If Squaresoft circa 1996 is what people are looking for then Mistwalker is the company to watch. You can't really blame Square Enix for evolving when the staff has changed.

[mobiusclimber]

They've always published other people's games (Breath of Fire for instance). They've always dabbled in other types of games (Front Mission, FM: Gun Hazard, Ehrgeiz, Einhander, etc etc)... Enix has probably been the more staid company.

I gotta say I've been mostly disappointed w/ them lately, but I'm just glad Square Enix's merger means we're finally getting the Dragon Quest series (even if it means they're effing up the Star Ocean series).

[Nintega Grafx-16]

I gotta say I've been mostly disappointed w/ them lately, but I'm just glad Square Enix's merger means we're finally getting the Dragon Quest series (even if it means they're effing up the Star Ocean series).

Hell yeah Dragon Quest FTW! :D

[Cryomancer]

They'll continue to "experiment" with Final Fantasy, and hopefully continue to keep Draogn Quest in it's traditions. Standard DQs will continue to be million sellers in Japan, every time. If they did a "XIII" on DQ X or something, it could really cause them some problems with brand association and stuff. So hopefully, they'll keep DQ as it should be, they can fuck up FF all they want as long as they do.

edit: And yeah most likely they will be doing more and more "western" style games and/or publish more western games . Just Cause 2 has the S-E name all over it for example.

[Gameguy]

Maybe they'll make a sequel to King's Knight.

[Jehusephat]

I sometimes enjoy their experimentation with Final Fantasy. I thought Crisis Core for the PSP was excellent. I haven't liked any game in the Final Fantasy series since 6, though.

[Aussie2B]

I'm not really keeping up with any news as to what they're doing at the present, but I'd say it's the other way around when you compare their titles of the last several years versus with what they were publishing around 95-00. What happened to them releasing fighters, shooters, racers, and other such games? I'm guessing the diehard nature of their fans backfired on them in that period. Even though stuff like Einhander is great, RPG fanatics are often pretty close-minded about their gaming, and thus not only refused to buy such games but also complained when Squaresoft was releasing something that wasn't an RPG or adventure game.

[Beefy Hits]

Gaming is going western. Proof of this is a friend of mine who used to only buy Japanese games. Now everything that's being published is from western developers. (Although there's still plenty of JRPGs)

[kupomogli]

Maybe they'll make a sequel to King's Knight.

Or Rad Racer.

Then Hollywood strikes a deal to remake The Wizard because they can't come up with any original ideas and everything that comes out now is a remake. Instead of NES games though, it'll be Wii games. Who cares if these games were never in the arcades. Double Dragon NES was being played on an arcade system and I'm pretty sure that one was never put on arcade(the NES version. There's obviously an arcade release.)

Instead of the famous Power Glove line. After Lucas is done playing Rad Racer Remix or whatever they decide to call it. I love the Wiimote. It's so bad.

[JSoup]

Where are they going?

To the bank.