Square Enix 'Fell Behind,' Opens LA Studio
While Square Enix's attempts at Western-targeted game development reach as far back as the SNES and games such as Secret of Evermore and Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, it has redoubled its efforts of late - a publishing deal with Gas Powered Games, for instance, and developing games such as The Last Remnant designed to appeal to both Eastern and Western audiences.
But Square Enix's brand new Los Angeles studio is a bold move, and in an interview with Ars Technica, Square Game Development Manager Fumi Shirashi was unusually direct about the reasons behind the new studio staffed with Western devs:
"It's not a good idea to make a game for people you don't understand,"
And:
"Square Enix as a whole fell behind in multi-platform development,"
"Square Enix isn't necessarily shifting, it's more of a growth," he explained of the company's recent interest in the North American market. "The stuff [games created by Square Enix in Japan] does what it is supposed to do...but the Japanese market isn't growing."
Of course, Square Enix has been making games "or people it "doesn't understand" for decades, which is how it's earned such a treasured place in the hearts of gamers, especially RPG fans. Now, it's hard for even the fannyiest-fanboy to deny that Square's been off its game in recent years - hell, even Square didn't deny it - but one can't help but wonder how the LA studio will design games that both appeal to the Western market deliberately and possess that innate Squeenix vibe. A vibe that, to my mind, may exist precisely because of the way its content and design interact across cultures.
Square isn't unaware of this pitfall, according to Shiraishi:
"We're not trying to make a game with a Western looking main character and with blood and gore," Shiraishi said. Instead, his team is attempting to follow in the footsteps of previous Square Enix games by taking risks and trying to create an experience gamers haven't seen before. "The developers at Square Enix aren't afraid to try new ideas.""There is no point in making another FPS," he explained. "Our task is different."
We look forward to seeing the results of this experiment when Square's LA studio releases the currently undisclosed "Western niche" game it's developing.
Coming to America: Square Enix sets up LA game shop [Ars Technica]
tiny dancer
Posted to Miscellany on 20 March 2009
· Comments (6)
Other stuff like this: fumi shiraishi, la studio, square enix
This sort of stuff makes me really nervous. I buy Japanese RPGs -because- they're Japanese RPGs, not despite of it. Past attempts to make things "more western" mostly meant removal of stuff I like.
I just get the feeling Square-Enix is going to try to please everyone and end up pleasing no one.
I agree with the above.
I'm just hoping they don't pass on the main FF series to the western team once the 13s are done.
I like the fact that they're not very western. (though 13 does look a little more western than previous titles)
My guess is rather then rework existing titles, like FF, they will make new ones that are more Western.
Omg,this totally increases my drive to move to LA. I might actually have a shot at working for Square Enix! Once i get my degree of course
Yeah, clearly Squeenix has no idea what Western gamers really want.
The only reason their more Eastern-aimed games don't sell well in the west is because not a lot of it gets localised to the USA and Europe.
If they had actually bothered to bring over more games during the PS/PS2 years, they'd have seen much bigger sales.
They've been steadily declining since the early PS2 days. The last Squeenix game I truly enjoyed was Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced. Before that it was Final Fantasy X (the last main Final Fantasy I DID enjoy, really).
Add this to most of the original core FF team leaving to form Mistwalker and basically I think I've bought my last Squeenix RPG.