Those hoping Square Enix would tone down their excessive focus on smartphone games may be disappointed to know that CEO Yosuke Matsuda intends to expand to the global market, paying greater attention to America and China specifically.
A few highlights from the interview with Yosuke Matsuda:
Interviewer: “Out of the major game companies, I believe you’ve succeeded in the mobile games industry.”
Yosuke Matsuda: “Not to the extent you’re suggesting. [Laughs] Thanks to the fans we’ve been able to put out some hit titles, but looking at the percentages we’re not particularly outstanding either. There are lots of failures as well. One thing to note though is that I believe the mobile game market trend where Japan, China, and North America would make up 80% of the market – including Taiwan and Korea, it would be more than 90% – has not changed since several years ago.
In the future, while it’s not outside the realm of possibility that this trend could shift dramatically, I believe that China and North America are still very important. These are markets where we don’t wield that much influence over, so we must especially put more effort into these markets. One direction to take is to branch out using our IP: for example, I believe we must try new approaches such as with AR technology. Other than that, partnerships are very important as well. Not just partnerships between different groups under our company, but we are also considering finding new partners to do business with.”
Interviewer: “Please tell us your plans for the Asia market.”
Yosuke Matsuda: “Regarding the China market, the fact is that we cannot do enough just by ourselves. That is why I believe it is time to consider a working with a partner, including on game development investment, and game studios as well. This isn’t limited to just Chinese enterprises, as I feel that the timing is right to decide where to invest in East Asia and South Asia as well.”
f♥♥k Squeenix.
No, f♥♥k Konami still.
It’s making them lots of dough and they want to expand. Well f♥♥k it then.
For real. They wouldn’t be doing this if people weren’t buying it in the first place. The fact is there is money in mobile whether we like to admit it or not. Square is one of the few to fortunately deliver a few of these games overseas (dubious quality aside).
I miss when Square Enix made games.
I miss Squaresoft…
I miss Enix before SE joined with and diluted them. When’s the last time we got a great, non-DQ Enix title?
Unless you consider them Tri-Ace (then, DQ are ChunSoft), Star Ocean’s were that bad… Or do you want them to make ActRaiser 3?
lol @Anon 8:15, how old are you? This is some ‘old man yells at cloud’ stuff. 😛
Star Ocean 2 is a damn good game, bro.
f♥♥k ya! Give me a next gen ActRaiser, SoulBlazer, 7th Saga and how about more than 1 goddamn DQ game per decade (handhelds don’t count). Hell, if they bring out another DQ MMO, maybe they could bring it to the west this time?
The largest gamer market segment (as well as the biggest spenders) are on mobile, not console/PC anymore. On top of that, relatively cheap development costs, ads and marketing, and low cost to put games on the platform in comparison to console make mobile gaming appetizing to many development companies. On top of that, it’s pretty low risk if it flops, so there’s no reason a sane company wouldn’t want to push games on mobile.
I, for one, welcome the mobile overlords. I got better s♥♥t to do than sit at home and idly play a 60+ hour CoD clone for $90. I would rather move my gaming experience on the shitter and pay maybe $5 on an f2p if it’s worth it. Even then, Squeenix is still producing and publishing console and PC games, so it’s not a complete loss I don’t think.
boicot square enix for ignoring Europe.