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Square Enix Now Mainly A Portable Developer

When looking through a list of Square Enix games that have been released or are in development on their official Japanese website, it was actually quite surprising to see how things have changed so dramatically in one generation. Squaresoft, Enix and then Square Enix were all strong supporters of the Playstation 2 and other home consoles such as the NES and SNES. However, this generation has seen a stark change in Square Enix's process and they've gone completely against their strategy for the previous 20 years.

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finalfantasyunion.com
ShawnCollier6221d ago

I wonder how good/badly that's affected their bottom line. Anyone know of the current stats for the revenue from the portable games?

6221d ago
ChefDejon6221d ago

but right now im playing through crisis core and its pretty damn good

Fishy Fingers6221d ago

Doesn't surprise me to much to see them largely focussed on the portable market. The games are cheap to produce in comparison and Japan in general seem to have a love affair with gaming on the move.

hay6220d ago

That's exactly what I wanted to write...

SpoonyRedMage6221d ago

Well I think it was a good move, especially with the longer dev times and larger dev costs associated with HD gaming it was a good move to support the DS and PSP mostly and I don't think they've put a bad game on the portables yet? I mean even Chocobo Tales is enjoyable.

mephman6221d ago (Edited 6221d ago )

That's fair enough, but it's odd that none of the other big Japanese developers are really following suit. Either Square Enix is stealing a march on them, or Square Enix is going in completely the wrong direction.

SpoonyRedMage6221d ago

Good point, it could go either way. With the ever present and growing portable market(150 million units so far) compared to home gaming(100 million) it seems like the portable market is going to be becoming a much more significant market and if Square Enix manage to get to the top of the chain good for them.

If however portable games aren't profitable enough, or the ipod/phones/free games take significant market share it could end very badly.

I think I prefer portable gaming all round though.

N4g_null6221d ago

FF13 takes a lot of people to make! Lots of people! Then on top of that people still have to keep putting out their other games also. The team has to be pretty strained. They recently expanded to CA and yes they are hiring also! If you got the skill CA has the bills.

Seriously all of you guys forgot about this

http://www.n4g.com/wii/News...

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. It seems like it's getting close to being finished also. Now all we would need is a secret of mana also multiplayer!

6221d ago Replies(4)
Selyah6221d ago

Pretty interesting, it comes as no surprise that they are backing the DS considerably in terms of the volume of titles they've put out on it especially in Japan. I imagine we'll probably see a shift in this trend albeit maybe not drastic sometime towards the later half of this year and 2010. Then again I don't really know how much of a line they have on the portable side either for this year and next year.

mephman6221d ago

They have a fair few games coming out still, two Kingdom Heart's games, Agito and the new Parasite Eve.

SpoonyRedMage6221d ago (Edited 6221d ago )

Don't forget Dragon Quest IX. It's set to be epic.

@V: Me too, I think it may be one of the biggest releases for the DS, especially in Japan where they'll be qeueing all night for it.

mephman6221d ago

I'm still eagerly anticipating Dragon Quest IX's sales figures.

Selyah6221d ago

Totally forgot about Parasite Eve I'm actually looking forward to that.

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120°

Final Fantasy and SaGa series veteran Kazuyuki Shindo leaves Square Enix after 27 years

Kazuyuki Shindo, who worked on games including Legend of Mana, Final Fantasy XIII, and SaGa: Emerald Beyond, has left Square Enix.

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automaton-media.com
70°

The 7 Best Final Fantasy Characters: Unveiling the Legends

While FFVII ranks highly, there's more to the series than one game. Here's Chit Hot's picks for the seven best Final Fantasy characters.

220°

The older it gets, the more I respect Final Fantasy XIII

Alex Donaldson: "Hindsight is a hell of a thing, however, and in the years since Final Fantasy XIII, my respect for the decisions its developers made has skyrocketed. In the two Final Fantasy titles since we see both the brilliance and the folly in alternative approaches - and in Final Fantasy VII Remake, we get a more nuanced understanding of what FF13 was trying to accomplish from many of the same development leads."

Einhander1972868d ago

FFXIII is actually one of the best Final Fantasy games.

I also sort of was disappointed at the time, never as much as the bandwagon. But really all the fantastic 3D rendered cutscenes and I actually liked the characters and the story though convoluted was actually fantastic and the ending was extremely emotional. So much budget and time were put into that game Square had such big plans, I actually have always felt kind of bad for how things played out.

I have been thinking for years how great it would be to get all three games on one disk for PS4 or 5.

Nyxus868d ago

I always liked this game, and I agree, a rerelease for current gen would be nice.

Shane Kim866d ago (Edited 866d ago )

Gotta take off the nostalgia glasses. It's the worst FF. Shiva as a bike, I mean come on.

Elda866d ago

Shiva as a bike is strange but saying FFXIII is the worst FF is not at all a fact, that's simply your opinion.

Terry_B866d ago

*One of the 3 equally bad FF's

DivineHand125866d ago (Edited 866d ago )

When I got my series X a year ago, I bought FF13 for nostalgia reasons but ended up being disappointed. When I first played it around the time it launched, I didn't have a lot of experience with final fantasy games, so I enjoyed it. Fast forward to when I played it again, I found that the game had many unnecessary filler moments instead of just giving us meaningful content.

The game is also very linear and a quote on the article said it best. "It is like a sewage pipe that leads to the ocean until it opens up on Grand Pulse."

The story didn't make much sense either and I believe it is my mistake as I played the FF7 remake on PS5 prior which is a night and day difference in terms of pacing, storytelling and likeable characters even though cloud is aloof.

FinalFantasyFanatic866d ago (Edited 866d ago )

Probably was a mistake to play any of the golden era FFs first (e.g. FF6 through FF10), it makes it harder to enjoy some of the FFs that aren't as good. I think FF12 was where major issues with the series started becoming apparent, and it just got worse from there.

FinalFantasyFanatic866d ago (Edited 866d ago )

I didn't really care for it that much, the only saving grace was that it had a better story than 15 (overall it was better than 15) and possibly 12, and even then, you had to read some of it through primers, like reading a book. Plus the battle system was reasonably fun for what it was, even if it was more the spectacle that was exciting for me (e.g. summoning). And to be fair, the 13 trilogy got better with every games, I still don't like Snow though.

Gamingsince1981866d ago

Ff13 is only good if you haven't played a ff before, or any other games that are decent for that matter.

-Foxtrot866d ago

It is in fact no way the best Final Fantasy game, it's one of the worst

Linear corridors, Cutscene, Fight, Cutscene...rinse and repeat

Dialogue and characters are pretty bad, especially Lightning as the main FF hero, they literally said they tried to make a "Female Cloud" and they failed.

Story was pretty awful

I could go on

I think the only alright thing that came from the game was the music.

Elda865d ago

That's not a fact that's your personal opinion. The game sold 11 million copies between its 2009 release up until 2014 including critically reviewed as an 8 out of 10 or an 80 out of 100. The game does have some issues but it's not at all a fact as one of the worst FF games.

-Foxtrot865d ago

Elda

Not just mine mate

A large majority

So….

Traecy865d ago

N4G commenters such as yourself aren't the majority. The game was well received.

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gold_drake868d ago (Edited 868d ago )

i liked the game alot but i didnt like how they handled the terminology.

i dont mind reading data logs but it had soo many.

but i always loved the music and how it looked. the battle system wasnt too bad either.

but i like 13-2 more :)

i still dont understand why we never got a remaster of the trilogy

Eonjay866d ago

Xbox kinda did. Besides the video files of course which are still best on PS3 due to bluray.

Snookies12868d ago

XIII is a pretty solid game, but XIII-2 is WAY better. XIII-2 was one of the few games I decided to go for a Platinum trophy in, early on. Had so much fun the entire way through getting it too!

Eonjay866d ago

Totally agree. FF 13 was okay but 13-2 is my favorite FF game ever.

shinoff2183868d ago (Edited 868d ago )

I hated this to when it released. I haven't much liked a ff game since ff10 as much , aside from ff7remake. I decided to give it another shot on my series x since it's not on a current ps and was liking it quite a bit(just takes me some time to get over things ) until star ocean 2 remake came out I was all over that.

Square should definitely remaster it or something for ps4 ps5

KillerB866d ago

my favorite jrpg trilogy ever

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