Square Enix Considering Next-Gen Xbox Development?

Thanks to GamesIndustry.biz for its article discussing an interview with Square Enix president Yoichi Wada, as he discusses a perceived "evolution in the thinking" at Microsoft, and "said that his company... would consider working on Xbox 2." The analysis, which uses as its base a GameSpot interview conducted during E3, has Wada mentioning of Microsoft's Xbox Live service: "The attempt was to create a closed network in a closed environment. That is completely contrary to our concept of networked business", and ends by suggesting: "Reading between the lines of Wada's comments, it seems likely that [more 'open' online] concessions could be integrated into the standard terms of the online service on Xbox 2... making the Xbox into a much more attractive platform for companies such as EA and Square Enix."

Comments

Who wins here?

[hords]

Seems to me that Microsoft would benefit from this more than Square/Enix. Especially if they made a game exclusive to the X-Box 2. It would be a great foot in the door to those Japanese gamers. But at the same time it would be a risk for Square/Enix compared to releasing it on a console made in Japan. If I were Microsoft I would pay Square to make a Final Fantasy exclusive (at least on launch) for the X-Box. Any way it goes, I'll be interested.

Re:Who wins here?

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree, but I think the origin of Microsoft's products has nothing to do with Squeenix not supporting them. No, I think you attribute to xenophobia that which can be better proven by common sense: No matter what the future holds, GBA and PS2 are the current platforms that leapfrog all others many times over, so development for those systems above all others makes the most sense.

BTW, any concept of "risk" when it comes to developers and publishers weighing domestic- vs. foreign-developed platforms is nonsensical and sensationalist. After all, American devs don't say the same thing about GameCube, GBA, and PS2 development, nor do Japanese pundits try to attribute such words to them.

Re:Who wins here?

[MMaestro]

But at the same time it would be a risk for Square/Enix compared to releasing it on a console made in Japan.

This isn't exactly an entirely accurate analogy but, a few years back Square (yes, just Square) released remakes for Final Fantasy 1-4 (1-3 NES and 4 SNES) on... the Wonderswan Color. Haven't heard of it? Well thats because it was made in Japan, it was for Japan, and it stayed in Japan. A flop? Considering a game for it was released just last November (a Dragon Ball game, but a game nonetheless), the words 'cult hit' probably describe it the best.

For a more accurate analogy (though still not on target), you could compare this sort of action with the time Square announced that its next game was going to be on a system by a company completely unknown in the gaming industry. The game was Final Fantasy VII, the system was the Playstation, the rest is history.

Re:Who wins here?

[KDR_11k]

Actually it's FF1, 2 and 4 and those ports are scheduled for a GBA release soon.

Linux

[vijaya_chandra]

concessions could be integrated into the standard terms of the online service on Xbox 2

Does it suggest anything, at all, that one can still play online after getting linux installed on it?!!?

"evolution in the thinking" at Microsoft

[rice_web]

Yeah, right, uh-uh.

Missing the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we all know Square is a mercenary developer and will go to whereever they will make money (good old Yamauchi has words for those kinds of people). As far as Xbox 2 having a more open network, who knows? I don't think Microsoft is anywhere near thinking about that because "Live2" will probably run on the same infrastructure as Live and right now Live is completely closed. That's a feature, not a bug.

What's unsaid is that the next gen consoles are all based on technologies from almost the same companies and will all be released almost at the same time. There will be very little difference in the installed user base and the hardware performance initially. Therefore, Square Enix might be justified in putting a game on the Xbox2 if the market demographic is more receptive to it. Hell, because they will be so similar they may develop a standard in-house middleware for all three systems and release cross platform. They have said that they are targeting an online audience and need to "transcend hardware."

There will not be much incentive to pick one platform over another in the next console wars and unless something is done it will be very bloody. Sony and Microsoft will bleed a lot of cash to buy up strong 2nd party developers and exclusive agreements. Nintendo may be at an automatic advantage because it has primarily relied on exclusive titles all along.

There is the possibility some in-box hardware features could give someone an advantage but typically Nintendo's perhiperals have been unsuccessfull while Sony and Microsoft have already decided they will react to whatever the other does.

Re:Missing the point?

[TechniMyoko]

and we all know how intelligent mr "gamers dont want graphics, plot, or controls that use more than one button" is

Re:Missing the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think we all know Square is a mercenary developer and will go to whereever they will make money Uh... Which explains why they make games for the Wonderswan? Or not.

Re:Missing the point?

[Anonymous Coward]

Square wanted to be in the portable market - it was an untapped resource for them, and they were looking to profit there, of course. Nintendo wasn't having any of that back then, so they went with Japan's highest-selling non-Nintendo system at the time.

Don't you think they would have loved to do GBC and GBA instead of WSC? Sony and Bandai had a cross-promotional agreement for the Playstation and WonderSwan lines, so the choice of WonderSwan Color wasn't that hard for Square to make, given the [lack of] ready alternatives.

Re:Missing the point?

[Ayaress]

Yes, but it still goes against their portrayal as mercenary developers. The wonderswan has never really held water. The companies that develop for it are almost entirely peripheral to the industry, or fading oldies. They wanted to get into the handheld market, and they went so far as to release games that had no hope of turning a profit to do so. The only thing the Wonderswan really had going for it sales-wise were the Digimon games, and those were just riding on the coat-tails of the Pokemon franchise, which is well past its prime.

A couple of things we've learned/not learned

[Anonymous Coward]

First, according to the interview, clearly there will be no Squeenix games for the current Xbox. That might have been up in the air before, but that's been settled.

Secondly, unlike the current Xbox, Squeenix will probably take the Xbox 2 into consideration, assuming Microsoft makes certain changes. But is that really news? I'd think that any time a new console is released (which is not the most common of occurrences), there's at least a few people at every developer or publisher that takes that system into consideration when it comes to their business. It's like saying that Konami might make games for the Playstation 3 _if it makes sense_, or that Capcom might support the GameCube Next _if it makes sense_. Oh, what a scoop! Or maybe it's just to be expected.

Re:A couple of things we've learned/not learned

[briankeith]

It is when sony owns a significant amount of SquareEnix. Google cost 40 seconds. Keeping your foot out your mouth afterwards... that's free.

Re:A couple of things we've learned/not learned

[Anonymous Coward]

A fool equipped with google is still a fool, fool. Your pithy dismissal doesn't explain Squeenix's existing non-Sony support. They will follow the money, like another AC posted above. But I think they will also consider the qualities of the network (RTFA) that will allow them to retain control.

PS2? Numbers.
GBA? Numbers.
GCN? Fund Q. Also see GBA (they are allowed to develop for GBA contingent on their GCN support by way of Fund Q).
Xbox? No numbers, no funding, no support.

Xbox 2? This is what we're talking about, Brian. If the numbers are there and the network is adequate, it becomes a viable option for consideration. But let's pretend that you RTFA and already knew that.

BTW, surely you are aware, with your strong google-fu, that Sony once controlled 19% of Square, but now only holds 8% of Square Enix, and that even in the Square days, both Sony and Square reps denied that the investment obligated Square to any sort of platform exclusivity agreement in favor of Sony's platforms. 25 seconds for that one, Brian, and I haven't even had any caffeine in MINUTES.

Interesting speculation but...

[metroid composite]

Playstation is just a really strong brand-name. I've already seen people asking about the PS3, yet very little interest in the other two systems. Even with identical graphics and games it seems reasonably clear that the PS3 would dominate, and while the hardware will be close, I doubt it'll be so close that everybody goes multiplatform.

Exclusive games also get free press from the so-called "system fanboys"; would Monkey Ball get as much attention if it were multiplatform? What about Ninja Gaiden?

So...I doubt exclusivity will be phased out, and while I'd love to see a nice close fight next round, I'm pesimistic that PS3 dominance is a foregone conclusion.

Re:Interesting speculation but...

[Anonymous Coward]

I've already seen people asking about the PS3, yet very little interest in the other two systems.

Like who? Two, three people you know? That would be called a fallacy unless you back it up with some sort of credible statistical report.

While it's undoubtable Playstation has a recognizable name, I would argue it has very little brand LOYALTY. There just aren't very many games that are exclusively Playstation anymore and very little reason to be a rabid fanboy if your favorite games started appearing on another system (GTA Double Pack on Xbox for example).

Re:Interesting speculation but...

[metroid composite]

Like who?

GMR magazine (yeah trashy I know) had an article about what PS3 games might look like, including a few screenshots.

Randomly overheard some conversations in an Electronics Boutique.

I know people online who work in a game store, and claimed casual customers asked about the PS3, but basically never about the N5/XB2/DS/PSP. This is when I thought back to my own experiences, and noticed a correspondence. Of course I have to trust he's telling the truth--don't know him *that* well.

There's my data. None of it was based of people I know personally. I myself have a PS1, but no PS2 yet, so could be accused of being marginally anti-Sony if anything. Judge how you will.

EA and XBox Live

[Anonymous Coward]

You might want to read through some of the EA/Microsoft announcements that have been floating around. I am pretty sure I read in one of the announcements that EA talked Microsoft into letting EA run their own servers for the EA Sports titles on XBox. So it would seem that XBox Live isn't quite so closed anymore, at least with reguards to EA. That was one of EA's main complaints about XBox Live is that they didn't want to give control of the game servers over to Microsoft but rather handle it in house like they do for the PS2 games.

EA Sports and XBox Live

[protektor]

You might want to read through some of the EA/Microsoft announcements that have been floating around. I am pretty sure I read one of the announcements that EA talked Microsoft into letting EA run their own servers for the EA Sports titles on XBox. So it would seem that XBox Live isn't quite so closed anymore, at least with reguards to EA. That was one of EA's main complaints about XBox Live is that they didn't want to give control of the game servers over to Microsoft but rather handle it in house like they do for the PS2 games.

Closed network is contrary to their concept?

[drinkypoo]

"The attempt was to create a closed network in a closed environment. That is completely contrary to our concept of networked business"

Oh, so we can expect to see source code for the network servers for the assorted online Final Fantasy games released soon?

This is pure bullshit. It's not that Square/Enix wants Microsoft to have less control, it's that THEY want control - just like EA running servers for EA games.

Don't get me wrong, I love SquareEnix or Squeenix or [Enix] or whatever you want to call them today(tm Microsoft). I've been playing more FFTA than is probably good for my schedule, and FFVII is my favorite RPG of all time. (You call FFI classic, I call it a game with a crappy interface.) But this is bull pucky.

Interestingly, the interview contains an assertion by the interviewer that Wada said something really dumb: "In your words, network is the game." Why is this dumb? Because it was stupid when Sun said "The network is the computer" and it's stupid now if Yoichi Wada is saying "[The] network is [the] game". The computer is the computer, the game is the game, black is not white and up is not down. But I bring it up not to diss on Yoichi (though it's fun) but to point out that those days were the beginning of the end for Sun. I wouldn't want to jinx myself by uttering similar syllables :)

Unbelievably out of context

[Anonymous Coward]

Ok... what Square is saying, stay with me now, is that they want all of their games across all platforms to interface with each other. Final Fantasy XI players on PC and PS2 together. Nintendo DS wireless players online with Xbox2 players. They don't want some exclusive, Xbox2-only network.

Pull your head out of your ass.

Push/Pull factors

[Thedalek]

In all honesty, the only things keeping me from getting an xBox were A) Total lack of Japanese developer support, and B) Clunky form factor. I would not be surprised in the slightest if B was a major cause of A.

This leads me to think that xBox Next (or whatever combination of capital and lower case letters they're using, possibly even some numbers) probably has a sleeker design and is likely a bit smaller, if prominant Japanese developers are considering developing for it.

Ahh yes.

[buffer-overflowed]

Perhaps Square-Enix just knows that Live is so good that less than 20% of all XBox owners use it.

Hence they don't want to get suckered into a closed low-penetration service on a low-penetration 4th place console from an infamous and hated company that produces a garbage OS and loves to lock people in.

Re:Ahh yes.

[ChibiLZ]

Then why did they release FFXI on the PS2? I believe that there are about 70 million PS2s sold worldwide. I snagged that info from a news.com story from the beginning of this year. There is a story on 1up.com that details worldwide PS2 network adaptor sales. Worldwide, only 3.5 million network adaptors have been sold. So, the Xbox Live 20% attach rate sounds pretty good to me, considering only 5% of PS2 owners have the ability to play online. Take these figures with a grain of salt as the PS2 allows both broadband and dial-up users to connect, while for Live broadband is required, which could cause quite a swing in numbers.

Square tests every console.

[bludstone]

This is not news.

Squaresoft tests every single console that gets released. Its how they do business.

Didnt anyone else see that battle from ff5 demo, for the n64?

Re:Square tests every console.

[Cap-America]

That Demo was created because Square was going to support the N64 before the feud started between the two companies. It wasn't until Nintendo's former president Hiroshi Yamauchi resigned that Square started supporting Nintendo again.

As for this statement, I think it Square just being nice, I see a snowball chances in hell that Square will ever support the Xbox, they don't like they system at all and this is just their nice way in saying it. I think Xbox fans are just reading to much into it in hopes to see a Square title on the Xbox.

If you want to play Square games get a PS2 or a GameCube. and Truth be told I see Square moving more over to Nintendo next gen, they are very happy to be back working with them. Look at how Square is all over making games for the DS (they all ready have 3 in development) yet they don't have a signal PSP game in the works. And it should be noted that FFVII:AC has NOT been announced for the PSP.