SquareSoft to Develop for Nintendo Again

magicsquid writes: "GameSpot is carrying the news that Square has finally returned to Nintendo systems after a 5 year absence. This brings with it the knowledge that Final Fantasy XI will truly be playable on every console as well as PC to be uniquely massively multi-player." Planet Gamecube has a similar story.

Comments

Complete Surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

For those that don't know the backhistory, Square left Nintendo when the N64 went from a CD-based system to a cartridge-based. This was after Square had pledged their support, which was bad enough. Worse still, Square then went to other developers such as Enix(Dragon Warrior games), and convinced them to switch to the PSX as well.

The feud has finally ended, and it's a complete surprise. Hiroshi Yamauchi, president of Nintendo, is not the type to give in. No one's saying he did, but this announcement at least shows the guy can put business sense ahead of personal feelings. That's a revelation most in the industry would have strongly denied before today.

Re:A sudden change of heart, it seems.

[vitaflo]

Wasn't it Yamauchi himself who said not so long ago, that essentially, after Square left Nintendo for Sony, that Square would be allowed to develop for Nintendo platforms again, over his dead body?

I'm assuming that since Yamauchi is retiring in a few months, that perhaps this is his way of making peace (and leaving a legacy) before his departure.

Re:A sudden change of heart, it seems.

[kwashiorkor]

Last I heard Nintendo is sitting on a big fat pile of cash courtesy of strong franchise characters and the Gameboy. Square is currently in the economic toilet because of the debacle that was the Final Fantasy movie. Not to mention that they've lost a lot of street credit on their last bunch of sorry-ass excuses for games, it's just taking the mainstream (and noisy fanboys) awhile to wake up to the fact.

Square has been floundering for some time now and can use all the help they can get. They're probably thanking their lucky stars that Nintendo is also in serious need of securing software partnerships and was willing to talk with them. This is a compromise on both thier parts. If anything, they'll sink or swim together for the near future.