Surreal: Square Enix admit they were wrong, will return to JRPG AAA series roots.

Adamantium

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/squ.../1100-6418665/

Square Enix president Matsuda wants company to focus on core gamers and “heavy JRPGs”

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda has expressed his desire to see the company focusing on core gamers and titles moving forward. He has cited the success of Bravely Default as inspiration for the change, and has suggested that attempts to make Hitman: Absolution more globally appealing is what caused developer IO Interactive to struggle.

Speaking with Nikkei Trendy, Matsuda said, “n the past, when we developed console games with a worldwide premise, we lost our focus, and not only did they end up being games that weren’t for the Japanese, but they ended up being incomplete titles that weren’t even fit for a global audience

“On the other hand, there are games like the JRPG we made for the Japanese audience with the proper elements, Bravely Default, which ended up selling well all around the world.”

The success of Silicon Studio’s Bravely Default has inspired Matsuda to look at the core fan base and the appeal of globally-minded releases once more. He went on, “Due to having split [the development mindset] according to regions around the world, we weren’t able to see this clearly up until now, but fans of JRPGs are really spread around the world.

“Through the means of various networks, the latest information that is announced in Japan is instantaneously being spread across fans throughout the world. Whether it’s North America, Europe, or South America. There really isn’t much of a gap [in the relay of information].

“With that in mind, and all of the collective fans, there’s a sense of mass, which loses the image of a niche market. For the new games we’ll be developing from this point on, while this may sound a bit extreme, we’ve been talking about making them as heavy JRPGs. I believe that way, we can better focus on our target, which will also bring better results.”

Matsuda admitted that through 2013, Square Enix released some games that struggled, perhaps as a result of attempts to make them more universally appealing, while turning backs to the core. Hitman: Absolution – he felt – was one of those games.

“The development team for Hitman: Absolution really struggled in this regard,” he recalled. “They implemented a vast amount of ‘elements for the mass’ instead of for the core fans, as a way to try getting as many new players possible. It was a strategy to gain mass appeal. However, what makes the Hitman series good is its appeal to core gamers, and many fans felt the lack of focus in that regard, which ended up making it struggle in sales.”

“So, as for the AAA titles we’re currently developing for series, we basically want to go back to their roots and focus on the core audience, while working hard on content that can have fans say things like ‘this is the Hitman, we know’. I believe that is the best way for our development studios to display their strengths.”






This is the first thing off Square I've heard in years, that didn't make me roll my eyes.

Gamers have been shouting this for YEARS. Square since joining Enix have always come across as a bit thick.
Didn't Bravely Default sell 3 times the amount of all the XIII series titles combined

I wonder if this will change upcoming plans for in the pipe I'm sure, FFXVI?


No reason turn based can't sell nowadays, that's been disproven by the FFX/X2 remasters, BD, and South Park Stick of Truth.

Maybe, NOW the series can recover some ****ing integrity after been pounded to near death?

“If you focus too much on the global aspect, you might lose sight of who you’re actually making the game for,”

First smart thing I've heard SE say in nearly a decade...

YouSavedMyLife

So does this mean future console Final Fantasy titles will stop being ****? Cause he didn't mention the Final Fantasy series at all in the above paragraph.

snausages

XV still looks pretty sweet to be fair, turn-based or not.

Adamantium

YouSavedMyLife wrote: »

So does this mean future console Final Fantasy titles will stop being ****? Cause he didn't mention the Final Fantasy series at all in the above paragraph.

I think so, the reason the games in the 90's, early 2000's were good as was Sakaguchi (the creator of FF) created a buffer between the creative teams and the money men, who he basically protected the direction of the games and the designers from meddling businessman making creative decisions, which were in the interests of money and not artistic merit

And ended up being neither in the end


It was with FFXII, that barrier was all but torn down which resulted in that half baked masterpiece

snausages

I'm sure Spirits Within was a purely creative endeavour as well.

Retr0gamer

Sakaguchi had very little to do with the Final Fantasy series since FFIV. Most of the people that made Final Fantasy what it is are still at Square. The one one problem with FFXIII was poor management that ruined it.

As for Bravely Default, it sold well for a portable game but didn't come close to the numbers FFXIII made.

The whole thing is a PR spin. It's not like Squaresoft have forgotten to make great games. FFXIII was the only misstep while the FFXIII sequels have been pretty great and some of their portable games like the world ends with you have been amazing.

Anyway why wait for Squaresoft to make their next game when you have the Atelier series and the stuff Atlus are bringing out that are far better than anything the final fantasy series has ever done.

Adamantium

He made the company a whole lot money and then he lost it all for them.

I'd imagine this what played in his head when the receipts for Spirits Within rolled into Tokyo HQ in 2001.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj0F2KfCvhg

BTW it was way ahead of its time and had been released years later *with the current resurgenceof sci fi) e.g after AVATAR, would have been a great hit. Its a movie in the style and themes of FFVII and FFIX mixed with Mass Effect, but years too earlier.

And Square would still be Soft.

snausages

Square were merging with Enix anyway. Spirits Within was just a bit ****e.

Retr0gamer

The Spirits Within actually put off the Enix merger a few years.

Zapp Brannigan

Adamantium wrote: »

He made the company a whole lot money and then he lost it all for them.

I'd imagine this what played in his head when the receipts for Spirits Within rolled into Tokyo HQ in 2001.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj0F2KfCvhg

BTW it was way ahead of its time and had been released years later *with the current resurgenceof sci fi) e.g after AVATAR, would have been a great hit. Its a movie in the style and themes of FFVII and FFIX mixed with Mass Effect, but years too earlier.

And Square would still be Soft.

Great now that I've listened to that I want to play FFVII again!