Square Enix President Looks To Online Play

Gamespot has a story detailing comments by Square Enix president Youichi Wada. In the article, they touch on the fact that Square is going to be increasingly looking to online play in their future games. From the article: "Wada predicted that online games will be Square Enix's main source of income in the future. 'I think that over half of our income and profit will be based on network content [including games] by 2008 or 2009.'"

Comments

Haven't they already "looked to online play"?

[Pluvius]

Last I checked, World of Warcraft gave them a thorough trouncing.

Rob

A Nail in the Coffin?

[Prien715]

Don't get me wrong, I like(d?) Square, but the creator of the Final Fantasy series recently left (as well as the composer). Moreso, it seems the series has been going downhill with each release past 7 (with respect to acclaim and sales) with the only bright spot being 10. What's more, they're releasing direct sequels now in a Disney-like effort to milk the characters for every cent they're worth (I'll set my copy of the Lion King 2 next to FFX2). The marketing department needs to be shot (FFT2 could have been a wonderful game if they were consistant with their audience; it had the plot simplicity and difficulty of an ages 5-7 game with an ability system that adults could've enjoyed (if the overall difficulty weren't so easy). Their target audience should've been the same people who bought the first one.)

Both Disney and Square have the same fundamental ailment: profit-driven business models in a creative enterprise involving risk. You don't get critical acclaim or sales for repeating the same formula (except if you're Halo 2).