Square/Enix is the best example of what happens to a developer when they become too comfortable and lazy. They lack any adequate competition or motivation to innovate or aggressively pursue their product's appeal. As a result their main series games have become ever increasingly stagnant and symmetrical. Certainly there is no arguing the sales figures but those are waining as is the popularity of Square in the eyes of many consumers.
While spin-offs are doing well and maintaining a consistant and innovative flavor in the Final Fantasy vein of gaming we've come to know and love, some like the atrocious FF7 side games about ruin the FF7 nostalgia for those originally fell in love with it as what it originally was, not what it has become.
And of course, Square has grown to favor the lower development cost of remakes over new games ever more and have even commented on how they'd rather make remakes than new titles.
Another lazy trend appearing in Square is their "is playing the field", splattering their remakes and spin-offs randomly across the platforms to drive up demand and competition for their product's exclusivity via competition between the consoles and increasing incentives and bonuses for developing for a console. While this is partly par for the course of any developer, Square is intentionally sacrificing the continuity and stability of their product solely to drive up its value.
This has also resulted in cheap cash out schemes like puting games exclusively on Cell phone which basically requires you to sit there with the charger plugged in to play it and paying to play. And in doing so Integral parts of the FF series are being hocked on a sub-standard gaming format simply for the sake of a quick buck.
I have no problem with remakes or spin-offs. I do however have a problem with how Square is handling Final Fantasy as a whole.
