PlayOnline alliance unveiled
Square, Enix and Namco make their collective bed
Square, Enix and Namco have struck up a business agreement that will allow all three to use Square's PlayOnline facility for online gaming. The release can be viewed here, although unless you're fluent in Japanese we suggest you follow our translation, courtesy of the venerable Video-senki. Despite PlayOnline's lacklustre performance to date, it's still in existence and will become more important shortly. The three developers listed; Square, Enix and Namco, intend to create their own company to handle the continued development of PlayOnline and other similar ventures, including expansion of the service to the West (woo!) and parts of Asia that aren't Japan. As a result of the deal, all three companies' online work will be routed through PlayOnline exclusively from now on. A possible spin-off of this agreement is a monstrous possible RPG crossover, Dragon Fantasy, which would combine the talents and intellectual properties of Square and Enix. Another possibility is arcade developments, presumably as Video-Senki puts it, massively connected together. "There'd be little point otherwise." As a result of the PlayOnline deal, Japan is split down the middle, with some users subscribed to SegaNet and others POL. Video-Senki asks, whither Nintendo?