Square-Enix wants more western expansion
- Posted January 8th, 2008 at 22:58 EDT by
- 4,350 views
- 26 Comments
Something that has been brought up a great number of times from the Japanese, is the importance of the western consumer to the videogame industry. More importantly, Europe is highlighted as the chief factor for this generation and possibly future generations of videogames.
Out of all the Japanese videogame makers, Square-Enix is the most vocal of them all.
"Each country in Europe can be different in two things. Firstly, cultural background: for example in France, Japanese animation and manga are very popular, therefore they have a cultural background where overtly Japanese character design is highly appreciated," Yoichi Wada, Square Enix president comments.
"Secondly, we have to consider their views on technology in general: how the people of a particular country regard networked systems, and if they're prepared to look at it as a means of fun."
Furthermore, he comments about the competition that they will have to face from other Japanese companies to secure a solid stronghold in the west [Europe].
"We would like to develop a strategy to equal the moves made by Sega and Capcom, or maybe exceed them," he said.
"Mergers and acquisitions is not necessarily our main method, but obviously it has to be deemed as one of the main strategy options. If we were to look for a place in the top three in the global games industry, obviously we would have to consider it seriously."
Now, while Japan may see this as a huge benefit for them, how would this translate over for the Europeans, or even North Americans because it does work both ways. If Square-Enix pursues this, it could possibly mean that a few RPGs will be released with a more of a western taste besides the anime style presentation that people know from Japanese RPGs. Who knows, companies such as Sega, Square-Enix, and Capcom could try to indulge the western audience by creating a sandbox shooter to compete with the Rockstar heavy hitter, Grand Theft Auto franchise.
The possibilities are endless; let us just see where this goes.
Comments
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Honorabled0
- 11:03pm GMT - January 8th, 2008
- 1
not a good idea its just japans deal just keep to what you know best square
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Mattchewie |
Mattchewie- 11:48pm GMT - January 8th, 2008
- 3
I can see this working but I wouldn't drop other regions influences in other regions. I for one LIKE being exposed to this different ideals.
I do think seeing a square driven sandbox game etc would be the kittens mittens
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Sniperwithacause |
Sniperwithacause- 11:57pm GMT - January 8th, 2008
- 5
I didnt read the article. Not very big on FF games. They look nice, just hate the game play.
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Dave-The-Rave |
Dave-The-Rave- 12:24am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 6
J-RPGS are way better than western one..they had better not change them !!
@Sniperwithacause: Why comment if you don't like the games !!
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GhostVIII |
GhostVIII- 1:24am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 8
To succeed in the west all they have to do is focus on making the game fun. Master FUN and it doesn't matter what type of game they make fps, rts, MMOrpg, rpg or a sports related something it will sale because the game will be fun. That's the true secret of success in any territory.
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InfernoReaper |
GrimDarkling- 3:23am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 10
Just focus on FF XIII and Versus. I'll be happy with that.
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Untildeath89 |
willmakenewonesoon- 3:41am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 11
for gods sake, everyone is starting to watch anime and read manga over here, plus i have had enough of this "western" shooter,shooter,shooter games, for once i would like atleast 5% of the market to return creating rpg or epic games. are they gonna start dressing their characters up like in dmc, or just gonna drop all the style? the friggin reason they are here is b/c of yes their rpgs, and no need to change it.
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Undying_Darkness
- 4:02am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 12
i think square enix could make a awesome FPS if they tried, i like the idea of them expanding. there story telling is awesome and would work with any genre i believe.
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Muzikguy |
Muzikguy- 8:33am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 14
Another sandbox shooter? Aren't there enough GTA clones? Also, I read this story waaaaay back. And I mean waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back. @ Dave-the-Rave I agree. Western RPGs suck IMO. Oblivion couldn't keep my attention very long. I only played it because I had that game and Resistance for a year before I bought a 3rd game.
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gingo |
gingo- 8:46am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 15
psn id: gingo... well Europe is where all the consoles have to make an impact becasue Japanease favour Nintendo and Sony and AMerica favour Microsoft but Europe is neutral and will pick what they think is best, so it is smart for japanease companies to make an impact here
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Clarky_psu |
clarky-132- 9:18am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 16
I'm sick of these stupid Japanese RPG's!!!
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PS3-The Ultimate Machine
- 9:59am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 17
I'm with Lithgow on this one,what ever sort of 'expansion' SE wants to do,they better not mess up FFXIII or VS XIII,or for that matter ANY JRPG.
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Organic_Shadow |
OrganicShadow- 10:14am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 18
I think SquareEnix has the prestige, the class, the funding, and the overall professional talent at their disposal to do the Japan-gone-west business concept RIGHT. They're not stupid though, they're not going to stop releasing major Japanese franchises over here that do well here. FF is fine, as is Dragon Quest and everything else. They will still release all those on both fronts, but will keep the extremely niche Japanese titles over there, while branching off by giving us westerners new franchises.
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Untildeath89 |
willmakenewonesoon- 10:46am GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 20
we do have1 shooter/rpg i read way back and thats enough.
Clarky, if u really hate it why do u keep buying it and if u have not bought it then u have really no say, what do u mean with i hate jrpg, do u mean their art and design? if u like any ff game then u cant say u hate jrpg if u hate all ff then im guessing u dont like rpg at all and that takes us back to the first thing i told u. there are like 6 or so big rpgs coming 3 are jrpgs and 3 are western i remember valkyre or something. btw if u want western rpgs 360 has lots of them 3 i can come up with now and one upcoming but that one is more og jrpg u might not want it
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Naucious23 |
Naucious- 1:37pm GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 21
I say if it isnt broke dont fix it stick with wha tyou know best and Square enix would be doomed if they were to merge with EA. I say merge with Guerrila games or Konami in my opinion.
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yoboyrob9041226 |
BIGROB904- 2:19pm GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 22
i love everything jappanese there language everything so when the bring quality games here i dont complain i just buy
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The Cleaner
- 6:03pm GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 24
Square Enix quality could really be compromised if they got purchased by a western company.
The best thing to happen is Square buys into a western business - but that is quite unlikely as there are few with distribution chanels thats within their buying range. Dont laugh, but maybe Atari is not a bad idea. They could purchase EU & Australian distribution business which is solid, and the money losing US business might be salvagable by doing a reverse takeover. (IE lift Atari's sub $15 million market value by shifting some of Square Enix assets into its NASDAQ listing). They need to compete with BluBay but it could be done. The downside is the deal is too small and Square Enix would need to build on it quickly. In an industry fast consolidating Square Enix doesnt have the cashflow to be on the buying end for long.
The next best thing that could happen is Activision/Vivendi teams up with Square Enix as its Asian leg. Its a good idea too as Square would have a great image and be part of a very prestigous & profitable entity. Downside is management would not have much control which is why SE might not want to go for it.
My fear (and unfortunately its quite possible) Square Enix will end up at Microsoft via EA. The reality is EA is the logical partner. They have done it before with Square in 1998 with EA Square, they have the muscle in distribution chanels and EA does not compete with Square Enix at all. EA has the funding and can offer an attractive script & cash deal. Best of all EA would leave the existing management in place as they have dobe with other businesses. They even maintain a passive 14% investment in Ubisoft - no complaints from Ubisoft. It fits EA nicely and my guess it would also fit with a possible Atlus Co acquisition EA is rumored to be persuing. Square benefits greatly financially and in influence & prestige as it becomes the largest software company in the world and effectively EA Japan. When Microsoft buys EA (its almost inevidable) there might be some considerations... but Microsoft has the means & the motive to cover those.
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vonzar
- 9:27pm GMT - January 9th, 2008
- 25
I would be really disappointed if this lowered the quality of the final fantasy series. Those are my favorite games and I really don't see adding western influence benifitting the series. If they came out with a new series of games, I wouldn't care, but leave final fantasy alone! It's perfect the way it is!
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Richmond |
richmond-reaperx- 5:11am GMT - January 10th, 2008
- 26
@The Cleaner
How on earth is Microsoft buying EA 'inevitable'? EA has far too much money to consider being bought out, they're one of those companies that buys OTHER companies out. Also, I very much doubt EA will ever be bought out my Microsoft, because they prefer releasing their games on as many platforms as possible. If they were owned by Microsoft, they'd have to leave the handheld market completely (unless MS puts out a handheld, which doesn't seem likely at this stage), and also, they couldn't put any games on any other platform but Microsoft's. It'd be a train wreck for the games industry, because MS would no longer have competition (owning EA = automatic win in console war), and could do whatever they wanted.
Never going to happen, dude. >_>
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