Square To Merge With Enix

SquareAMP writes "The makers of the 'Final Fantasy' video game series will be merging with the makers of the 'Dragon Quest' series to produce an RPG powerhouse to be re-named Enix Square Co. Reuters has all the details of the planned merger, that includes the dismantling of Square's assets and absorption into Enix. For Square fanboys fearing that this may ruin their favorite RPG company, Square's current CEO Yoichi Wada will be running the combined entity."

Comments

What next?

[Castolari]

"PLAGUE OF LOCUSTS, FIRE AND BRIMSTONE, CATS AND DOGS, LIVING TOGETHER!!!"

I mean, wow. That's my response. Just consider that the last time member from both companies really collaborated, it resulted in Chrono Trigger.

Re:Stick to games, gang!

[MisterFancypants]

Man, that sucks that that was such a big risk for Square. To this day I'm still surprised at just how crappy the Spirits Withins' script was, I mean it was surprising, I think they simply got caught up in the visuals, and were "oohhhhh" and "ahhhhhhhh"-ing themselves......

If Spirits Within were a GAME, even with the same plot, it would probably be considered the most amazing RPG ever, story-wise (oooh!! sweeping epic!).

Which is not to say I thought the plot was good for a movie.. it isn't. All I'm saying is games and movies are very different at a core level as far as what story-telling techniques can and should be used, and Square ignored that difference at their own peril.

The state of the game industry.

[Bethor]

As a game developer myself, I am quite worried about the state of the industry, and this merger further aggravates the problem.

During the 80s and early 90s we had a healthy number of development houses, and lots of them took risks in order to differentiate themselves. The result was of course innovation. Plenty of it.

Nowadays development costs are absolutely HUGE. Only a few hits actually sell enough to cover their costs. Nobody can afford to take risks, and there is very little innovation going on.

Here in Japan, I know Nintendo has been funding small development teams that come up with interesting ideas, but I havent seen any fruits yet.

What else can be done? Is there any hope?
--

Re:The state of the game industry.

[Obsequious]

Yeah, I've been pondering this myself. To be considered a "great game" today you have to have dazzling graphics, great video cut-scenes, detailed in-game models and physics, etc. Oh, and of course you have to have great game-play.

The problem with this is that only the game play can really be done by "one person with a vision." Everything else takes real human blood, sweat, and tears to produce. That is a huge cost, and is a heavy burden to bear.

The gaming industry as it currently exists has been based on a studio model as you point out. That worked fine when a small team could realistically accomplish all the work to make a game. Unfortunately, that model doesn't work as well when you have huge teams, it seems, because the cost outruns the productivity gains. Or something, anyway; maybe I'm talking out of my arse.

But the key insight to me is that people have been saying for years that eventually games and movies will "merge" into some kind of interactive entertainment. Well, maybe, maybe not, but I do think that it is obvious that games are becoming more like movies. Consequently they are sooner or later going to develop movie-like budgets.

Only large organizations can fund that kind of thing (indie film community aside for the moment.) As a result I can't see anything in the future of gaming communities except consolidation to the point where the companies ARE large enough to fund high-end games.

Maybe it'll turn out something like the (primarily European) auto industry (which to a degree it already is:) a number of studios work on concept and prototype contracts, and large corporations productize the prototypes.

Today, the game studios make entire games while the publishers (like EA) handle distribution. I suspect that the balance will shift a bit, so that instead of producing entire completed games, the smaller studios will produce an upgrade game engine, or a new set of character models, or whatever. Compare this with car studios that produce new engine upgrades and tweaks, aggressive new body styles, and so on. The studios then sort of sell this technology and art to the large manufacturers/publishers.

This also sounds somewhat like what Nintendo is trying to do with their small groups: let the groups focus on innovation and new ideas while the large institutional development shops actually make games. I think it's a model that can work, although I don't think it'll be quite the same atmosphere that the industry has enjoyed up until now.

I'm also not sure how I feel about it. The best games I've seen have been really works of art created by a single group. Grand Theft Auto, StarCraft/WarCraft, Final Fantasy, etc., and of course the classic games from years past. There are some mainstream movies that I've enjoyed as much that clearly have the same kind of hand-crafted feel, but they are few and far between. I am afraid that as the game industry "matures," it will go along a similar route.

But, maybe not. Who knows, really? I guess we will have to wait to find out.

Re:The state of the game industry.

[Obsequious]

Hmm, good point. In my hypothetical future world, the GBA would still be a simple enough device to allow small creative teams to build entire games. So maybe the GBA (and similar devices, like cell phones and whatnot) will remain a sort of playground for "indie" game developers.

I still think that the big consoles and PC games will continue to migrate in the direction of movies, with the bigger == better mentality. Heh... maybe we'll find that pound for pound, the GBA has better games that may not be as flashy but are more creative and fun.

For example... Mario Sunshine is quite cool, but I am still hard-pressed to say it's a better game than Super Mario World (aka Super Mario Advance 2 on the GBA.)

Re:And the information for this is where?

[generic-man]

I searched Google, and I found a news story about the merger. Please read it.

A Fiscal Joke

[ParnBR]

April 1st is when the fiscal year in Japan begins. Really! :)

How this affects the industry

[Anonymous Coward]

Without knowing all of the details, this looks like a big win for Nintendo. Sony owns a 19% stake in Square, which suddenly isn't so impressive anymore. If that means Square games will appear on other platforms then the PS2 will certaintly lose some of its appeal. Nintendo had already weaseled around the PS2 exclusive agreement by funding a company that is working with Square to produce Gamecube and GBA games, but this deal is much better from the Nintendo perspective. Enix is the real mystery though. They have a history of only supporting one console, but the target platform of the next Dragon Warrior game has not been announced yet. There are also substantial rumors of an enormous Nintendo announcement coming in December, which many have thought to be Enix related. Time will tell. As for Microsoft, don't expect too much from this for the XBox. It's selling less than the PSX in Japan, so there really isn't a market there for Square Enix to care about.

Re:Stick to games, gang!

[macshit]

Which is not to say I thought the plot was good for a movie.. it isn't. All I'm saying is games and movies are very different at a core level as far as what story-telling techniques can and should be used, and Square ignored that difference at their own peril.

I think it's also the case that standards are simply lower for game (RPG) plots. You often don't notice as much, because the interactivity sort of grabs you and sweeps you along, but really, if you think about them afterwards, the plots are usually very simplistic and overly melodramatic, and the characters crudely drawn (in the story-telling sense, not the art!).

[But -- silly me -- I still seem to play them anyway... :-]

Re:Square fanboys worried?

[Dalroth]

No kidding. Square did Einhander. Now that was a great game, but the Final Fantasy series is like a broken record (and a bad one at that). All pretty graphics, no gameplay.

Hell, the last Final Fantasy (what was it, 10 or 11? I don't even know anymore) was basically a 12 hour animated movie. In fact, the only gameplay I remember at all was that stupid sports game and one REALLY long path through the mountains where you actually got to FIGHT stuff. Too bad the combat hasn't really changed since Final Fantasy 2 and that only served to bore me further.

I hate being a PC bigot, but man, if you want a good RPG Squaresoft isn't the company, Bioware is. I'm scared to see what Squaresoft is going to do with the Enix franchises.

Re:Stick to games, gang!

[Shamashmuddamiq]

Actually, the problem that's haunted the Square movies and games is the stories themselves. Final Fantasy VIII is the only one that has a story that the western hemisphere can easily relate to. The rest have a lot of the "life of the planet" Japanese mysticism that just sounds really stupid to the average American. Of course, to the Japanese, a lot of the more "honorable" American pursuits just seem stupid.

It's a clash of cultures. The poor success of the movie, I think, was due to the fact that they were trying to entertain two vastly different cultures with one story that ended up being somewhat unrenderable in both cultures. If you know both cultures well you can understand and appreciate what they were trying to do. But it just didn't work.

The games, on the other hand, have been quite successful simply because they're fun to play. You can hate the story and still enjoy the game.

Quite a shock

[Stonent1]

I mean.. I haven't heard much from Enix recently and then this... I still thought that Square had some money to kick around. I guess not. Maybe Square can start focusing on what people want again. FF7 and FF9 were excellent games. 8 and 10 were kinda ho-hum.

Don't know what to think about

[leoboiko]

As a longtime console RPG gamer, I don't know what to expect from this merge. Will they make good, fun games like Chrono Trigger? Will they kill competition with big eye-candy 3D RPGs with no plot at all?

Well, I don't have money for a modern console anyway.

What can come of this?

[Maul]

First of all, the "Final Fantasy" movie was a huge mistake. Square should have known that they'd only attract fans of the FF series, who would immediately be disappointed that the movie had nothing to do with any of the games AT ALL, but was just a crappy sci-fi movie titled "Final Fantasy" to get them into the theaters. Besides, the track record for video game based movies should have told Square not to make the film.

Second of all, Square is getting pretty sloppy, IMO. Instead of creating a new game, they are getting lazy and making "FF10 Part 2." While Square might spout some PR garbage that FF10 is so popular that they wanted to give players another chance to play in the FF10 world, the real reason for this FF10 side-story is so they don't have to put cash into developing an all new game.

To top it off they are considering "FF7 Part 2." Hopefully plans for at least the second of these will be canned thanks to this merger, but I doubt it.

I don't have very good impressions of this merger because it seems that the "Square" entity of this merger will have more control. I'd rather see Enix on top, since their most recent games have not been as crappy as FF10 or Kingdom Hearts.

More than likely things will stay the same for the time being. The new company will continue to develop games from their most popular series for the Playstation 2. The focus will continue to fall away from the story and world and will emphasise more and more on pretty graphics.

Remember that Square was still working on some games for Game Cube and GBA. This might open Square games up a little more for release on multiple platforms, but there is probably going to still be a huge emphasis on Playstation 2.

This has nothing to do with the Sony/Nintendo/Square politics, but rather the fact that there are something like 50+ Million PS2s out there and only like 20 Million X-Box and Game Gubes (combined). While it might benefit them to release a version of FF11 for every console, given it has a subscription, it probably wouldn't be worthwhile for them to abandon the PS2.

Re:Stick to games, gang!

[Cryptnotic]

Yes, the plot elements, "collect the seven spirits; foil the evil villain; find love," are all basic components of the Final Fantasy games. The comparison with the later games 7, 8, 9, and 10 is especially true.

The story of FF:TSW is somewhat important in the Final Fantasy universe since it shows how the FF world was created, why there are strange creatures walking around, and how there is a mix of magic, technology, and traditional weapons.

It's still not a great movie. They should have made it a game and called it Final Fantasy Zero. Oh well.

Re:Square Enix on new platforms...

[RyuuzakiTetsuya]

The actual capcity of CDs over cartridges wasn't the issue.

it was the manufacturing costs of CDs over Carts. You needed to make Carts in BULK, plus the cost of actually making them... It adds up. With optical media you just press and go. The actual media costs a fraction of what a similar cart would cost. Like NeoGeo games. a CD version, while having horrible loadtimes, is far cheaper, roughly 30 bucks than a neogeo homecart, roughly 100 bucks.

As far as Xbox support? Not bloody likely. Square and Enix are both companies that highly pander to the Japanese market. And will pander to that market first, and given the Xbox's sales in japan? See above comment, Not Bloody Likely.