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[Diablos]

Square is clearly not the dominant force they were last generation. I don't think they ever will be, either.

And you know what the funny part about it is? Square is being STUBBORN.
IF... and I mean if... Square stopped putting out games like FFX-2 and focused on bigger projects, LIKE:

-Chrono Break
-New FFT or similar game
-FF7 remake
-FF11 much sooner

These are things fans have been wanting for a while now. All Square has to do is give the people what they want. Instead, they put out garbage like FFX-2. I played through FFX for the second time in 2003 and really enjoyed it. So I was tempted to buy FFX-2. I did. After playing the game for about an hour and a half, I promptly went out and bought a Scotch Mailer, put the game on eBay and away it went.

Square is not what they used to be. It's kind of like how some people bitched and moaned about the way they changed from FF6 to FF7, except this is much more drastic. If they don't get their shit together, I don't even know why they should bother making games next generation.

Back in 2000, I would have told you that half the reason why I was going to buy a PS2 was for Square's games and what we were all hoping they'd do. Talk about being let down. I really don't like Final Fantasy anymore, so whatever, but Square could have kept my and so many other people's interest.

 

[Drek]

Of the three games you listed, one was externally developed, one was half externally developed, and the third was an EA game that just happened to be published in Japan by EA Square (a company owned 70% by EA) under the joint venture agreement they had at the time.

Type S was Square made, Bouncer was made by Dream Factory but was property of Square, same with X Squad which was made by Square EA, the U.S. distribution arm of the company formed under the Square/EA partnership that was owned by Square, so was also a Square product, in the same way that Dead to Rights, being a Namco Hometek product, is a Namco game.

Square had some hope for X-Squad (arguably the best of the three actually) and very high aspirations for The Bouncer, much like Sony has relied heavily on the work of Insomniac, Level 5, and Zipper Interactive this generation.

Those three games all completely missing took what they thought was a promising first step into the generation and flushed it down the drain. Then Sakaguchi's movie bombed, leading to an even greater barrier between him and any real game development than already existed, since he took a good chunk of the blame.

So in a short time span Square saw three titles they thought would give them average to strong sales to start of the generation (with the Bouncer viewed as a probable new franchise) go down the drain, along with a but load of cash. At the same time they were busy keeping one of the all time great game designers as far from any real game development as possible.

Imagine if Nintendo followed Luigi's Mansion up with two other big duds, pissed away $30-$50 million dollars (at least), and cut Miyamoto out of any game design decisions. You then basically have what Square did this generation, but Square has a smaller diehard fanbase than Nintendo, and none of Nintendo's advantages of being a 1st party (royalties, GBA, less competition for sales).

Luckily for Square they have Matsuno and are now partnered with Enix. Those two factors alone give me hope for the company turning around the absolute nose dive they've taken this generation. If they can end strong they should be able to build back up some customer loyalty, and will hopefully avoid repeating their mistakes by having a much stronger roster of early generation releases.

Personally I think Square Enix would be well served by significantly expanding their U.S. localization department to the point where they can not only handle their own localizations but be an outsource house for other companies. If they can also finish this generation off strong and build up a good chunk of capital, look to buying a smaller company. Picking up Blizzard would be an absolute dream for them (strong online component, adds several more multi-million seller franchises, worldwide popularity), but with a high price. Level 5 would be a more reasonable target however, and maybe Nippon Ichi, though I'm not sure if they're owned by a larger company or not.

 

[Bizarro Sun Yat-sen]

Type S was Square made, Bouncer was made by Dream Factory but was property of Square, same with X Squad which was made by Square EA, the U.S. distribution arm of the company formed under the Square/EA partnership that was owned by Square, so was also a Square product, in the same way that Dead to Rights, being a Namco Hometek product, is a Namco game.

Did you even read my post? Square EA and EA Square were two different companies. One was owned by Square and the other was owned by EA. X-Squad was published (in Japan) by EA Square, not Square EA, and Square's developers had nothing to do with it. Type S was developed by Escape (an offshoot of Dream Factory) and as a fairly low-budget game, it probably didn't affect Square much.

 

[Blackace]

I guess I should say it again. The word merger is a nice way to say bought....

 

[Red Scarlet]

For those complaining..would you rather Square had died if no one bought them?

 

[MoxManiac]

Fine by me, I like Tri-Ace/Enix's stuff better anyways.

 

[jarrod]

Type S was developed by Escape (an offshoot of Dream Factory) and as a fairly low-budget game, it probably didn't affect Square much.

I thought Escape was related to Square's own Racing Lagoon team? I didn't know there was a Dream Factory connection?

Also, wasn't The Bouncer pretty much responsible for imploding Dream Factory and seeing all the relevant staff move to Anchor/Genki/wherever?

 

[MomoPufflet]

A better question would be what was the last GOOD Square game you played.

 

[Vashu]

A better question would be what was the last GOOD Square game you played.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, Final Fantasy XI, Kingdom Hearts, just to name a few. And I know the camera in KH was pretty bad, but overall the game was good.