Square Enix: "one-console market is over"

By Robert Purchese Published 20 November, 2008

Japan needs to "recognise" global audience.

Square Enix US boss John Yamamoto has declared the time of the platform exclusives is over.

"Not so long ago the PS2 dominated the market so if we developed an exclusive game for PS2 then we could enjoy a very good profit. But that time is already over," Yamamoto told GamesIndustry.biz.

"To maximise and spread our games to as many users as possible I think we have to go to multiformat - the Xbox 360, PS3 and also the PC as well.

"The Japanese market is very strong and back when we could concentrate on developing games for just one console, business was very good. But the one-console market is over," he said.

Yamamoto was speaking after Square Enix opened a Los Angeles studio to pursue global and particularly western goals.

The first project from the studio will be action-oriented, with XBLA, WiiWare and PSN all "viable platforms" for Yamamoto.

But the opening of the LA studio comes after a string of un-characteristic behaviour for the Japanese RPG specialist. Square Enix has signed as publisher of hardcore RTS Supreme Commander 2, and has also picked up acclaimed WiiWare title Lost Winds for Japan.

Yamamoto argued that global moves like these, as well as offering Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 in Europe and North America, are tricks routinely missed by other Japanese companies.

"I wouldn't make a generalisation about all Japanese developers, clearly, some have had continual success worldwide. However, I do feel that there is a tendency for Japanese developers to focus too heavily on the domestic market," said Yamamoto.

"With increased competition from overseas developers, Japanese companies must recognise the need to appeal to a broader audience."

Yamamoto and Square Enix are also prepared to pick middleware solutions to speed up development, illustrated by role-playing game Last Remnant, which launches in Europe on Xbox 360 today.

Look out for our Last Remnant review soon.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (34) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • PsychoPingu #1 3 years ago

    So... uh... why are ~half of Square's games X360-exclusive then? xD

  • Moonprince #2 3 years ago

    MS money ;)
    Edited by 1 at 20/11/08 @ 14:29

  • youhavenomail #3 3 years ago

    OK, let's change the statement a bit. Square Enix US boss John Yamamoto has declared the time of the platform exclusives is over with the exception of the company's second-tier titles, which it is happy to take a big wad of MS cash for in exchange for temporary exclusivity.
    Edited by 1 at 20/11/08 @ 14:32

  • Steroyd #4 3 years ago

    "I wouldn't make a generalisation about all Japanese developers, clearly, some have had continual success worldwide. However, I do feel that there is a tendency for Japanese developers to focus too heavily on the domestic market," said Yamamoto.

    Says the company that isn't doing a simultaneous WW release of FFXIII.

    My god all their titles are going to have baldy headed space marines from now on.
    Edited by 1 at 20/11/08 @ 14:36

  • ronuds #5 3 years ago

    Is SE good for anything other than its 427 iterations of FF?

  • SeesThroughAll #6 3 years ago

    What a load of bullshit.

    They're obviously going down the "One Microsoft Way" road.

    Fuck them.

  • Steroyd #7 3 years ago

    Is SE good for anything other than its 427 iterations of FF?

    Squaresoft in the 90's were. :(

  • chronom4n #8 3 years ago

    So now they are going to cater for the casual gamer. For me personally I used to take pride in the exclusivity of knowing that my chosen game is not available for any of the other consoles. But I suppose this decision is based on trying to recouping as much money as possible because the cost of making a game nowadays is astronomical.

  • andywilkie35 #9 3 years ago

    about time an influential company told japanese consumers to wake up and realise there are better consoles out there than the ones they are buying now

  • Canyarion #10 3 years ago

    Pff, if they want to reach the biggest crowds, they should develop more for the DS and Wii. It would just be good business for them.

  • Garulon #11 3 years ago

    "Fuck them."

    ANOTHER dev studio for PS3 fans to hate on!

    (chortle)

  • Pastici #12 3 years ago

    So how are the auditions for Captain Cynic coming along?

  • RexRunti #13 3 years ago

    Of course Capcom need to take notice so things like Resident Evil and Devil May Cry go multi platform... oh right what about Namco, Tekken's always exclusive, isn't it? What's that? Oh, OK how about the smaller ones like From, Q, Tecmo etc.? So essentially the Japanese company that isn't further ahead in multi platform releases than Square is Nintendo.

  • chris_ace #14 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 11:55:13 13-12-2011

  • El-Dev #15 3 years ago

    They still could make alot of profit on a PS2 exclusive, there's still about 130m of them knocking about out there. Missing a trick there Square.

  • Steroyd #16 3 years ago

    about time an influential company told japanese consumers to wake up and realise there are better consoles out there than the ones they are buying now

    But they're buying the DS in droves...

  • miiiguel #17 3 years ago

    "They're obviously going down the "One Microsoft Way" road.

    Fuck them."


    Here's a site for ya:
    http://www.petitiononl ine.com (it's a success among "PS2-times do come back, please! please" crowd)

  • SeesThroughAll #18 3 years ago

    Here's a site for ya:
    http://www.petitiononl ine.com (it's a success among "PS2-times do come back, please! please" crowd)

    I never owned a PS2, so I don't think I can miss them.

    Feel free to relive them under a "better" brand though.
    Hypocrite.

  • miiiguel #19 3 years ago

    Hey mate, chill..., I told you before I don't believe in that better brand/worse brand thing.

    You can call me a hipocrite when I'm talking about SCP, not about "brands", I don't do that thing, then again I never had a blue screen back in the 90s (as I always used Linux...), so I don't get that "oooh the evil dudes" mentality. Yet again, Sony-ers (and mainly in PT) are so evangelised that is somewhat funny to pick with. Then again we're all humans (yeah... even the xbots) so keep it cool, I come in peace.

  • TRUTH #20 3 years ago

    With rpg's like Fallout 3, Fable, Oblivion, Mass Effect, etc...Square Enix haven't really moved on. It's the same boring formula recycled over & over again. Final Fantasy was once interesting - but after playing several of them it's just the same thing with a different story & paint job.

    Overrated!!!!

  • miiiguel #21 3 years ago

    Ask SeesThroughAll.

    Then tell me.

  • menage #22 3 years ago

    Just Bring back Vagrant Story, cancel the rest, tnx

  • Cappy #23 3 years ago

    Do they have any plans to release anything on the PS3 any time soon then? Two years gone and we're still waiting...

  • kangarootoo #24 3 years ago

    "They're obviously going down the "One Microsoft Way" road.

    Fuck them."

    Issues.

  • Gaol #25 3 years ago

    TRUTH is correct, Squenix are years behind Western developers, in terms of content and quantity. At one point in the early 90s, with Vagrant Story, Xenogears and FFVII they were cutting edge. Now they just release a constant stream of rehashes.

  • GamesConnoisseur #26 3 years ago

    Yay!

    Petition SE to bring Vagrant Story for PS3, X360, Wii, PSP, DS, PC and Mac!

    Seriously, the era of dominance we seen from Sony and PS2 crumbled with the statement from SE which was seen as being linked to Playstation brand for a long time. We know Square games appeared on Nitendo and other platform previously but SE is a business and they need to sell on as much as possible their products for max profit.

    Playstation will remain important but now just one of the several consoles of choice.

    EDIT: Leaving aside suspect review score from Famitsu, seem so far the comments re SE's Last Remnant are not quite so favourable, so I m holding back on getting it even thought its out today.
    Edited by 1 at 20/11/08 @ 18:16

  • juuken #27 3 years ago

    Bullshit. :)

  • Les #28 3 years ago

    "Squaresoft in the 90's were. :("

    I don't think they're much worse today. I think it's just that the typical JRPG gamer has reached his threshold for doing boring, repetitive actions hours upon hours at a time by now... ;)

    Seriously, I love JRPGs but I have no clue why. The stories are worse than anything that typically occupies the book charts (so basically idiotic dross), the gameplay is practically non-existent and what there is will bore you to death but somehow that "level up" message makes it all OK...
    Edited by 1 at 21/11/08 @ 07:48

  • Les #29 3 years ago

    "We know Square games appeared on Nitendo and other platform previously but SE is a business and they need to sell on as much as possible their products for max profit. "

    Or milk MS for as much as possible on (timed) exclusivity deals and watch their games fail in the homeland. Choices, choices...

  • Steroyd #30 3 years ago

    Les I'm talking about Squaresofts ability to do decent games outside the usual JRPG's, they made a damn awesome Resident Evil clone in Parasite Eve ffs, and nearly any non RPG was really good from them.

    Now I don't trust in their ability to make anything good outside of FF. :(

    And if multiplats weren't a big deal why would anyone give a s**t which console is the lead one, I think multiplats detract something than if a game was tailored to a specific system, is why I prefer exclusive/timed excl. games.

  • Les #31 3 years ago

    "I think multiplats detract something than if a game was tailored to a specific system, is why I prefer exclusive/timed excl. games."

    I agree. The number of multiplat titles I own is very, very small. Can only think of Oblivion (can't even get rid of crap games), Orange Box and CoD4 TBH. It's very rare that a game concept is so good and executed so well that it transcends the diversity of the hardware.

    As for Square making terrible games outside FF, I did enjoy the KH series. Much more than any FF TBH (including VII and VIII). True, it's a spin-off but the gameplay and overall atmosphere are distinct enough from the FF series.

  • Skywise #32 3 years ago

    Square Enix are so cool they always arrive at the party as the last guests ;-)

  • Talyis #33 3 years ago

    The sad thing is all that good quality a PS3 exclusive could have had is now down the drain for years ive waited for the ff7 remake but after hearing this bull crap dont bother making a second rate remake for the 360 then copying it over to the PS3 it will ruin the greatness of the game i hate to say that but i'd rather have it stay the same then be wrecked by your stupid @ss new ideas the last remnant tch! wtf really great new ideas with bad reviews good job! its too bad mistwalkers isnt making any PS3 games as far as I know he was the brains of SE! they should do PS3 exclusives just to piss off SE and there new best friend MS!

  • Jamaicangmr #34 3 years ago

    I always loved square specially their final fantasy series (From FF7 onward really) as they have always push the limits of hardware with it. When you see a Final Fantasy game running you know that this is the best that particular hardware is capable of at that time.

    Now with this new make everything equal mentality i guess those days are gone. Atleast from Square it is. I guess Sony is smart to invest heavily in themselves and their own 1 party devs.

    Rather than have the buy mentality of Microsoft which only ends in the games being made to look equal rather than using each consoles strengths. Sony push their own studios to innovate and push the hardware to the limits. Which is evident for all to see and enjoy.

    I guess Square"Soft" has officially been swallowed by Square "Enix"

    A moment of silence please.