As we all know, The Japanese gaming industry has been struggling this gen to keep up and it affecting their sales and financial situation  (It a personal opinion just HOW MUCH the Japanese gaming industry is in trouble and how it affecting the games but I think we can all agree that they are in no way in a good position)

Square Enix seems like their in deep shit right now - Square Enix Reduces Earnings Forecasts by 91%

My question is - Is it time for Sony to make a move? We all know Sony has saved them in the past and they own some small stake in Square Enix right now

SCEJ is in way in better position than Square Enix - They have been absolutely terrible this gen.

Their two most valuable studios - Polyphony Digital and Team Ico take ages to finish their games. Their only other  successful project this gen, Demon's Souls, was treated like horse shit by SCEA and SCEE and got picked up by Atlus which provided them with the best financial results in many years and Namco, which announced they are working on a "Spiritual successor" at Sony's TGS press conference, no less.

Their PSP games have been decent at best. They failed to capitalize on their own platform, or even have a decent success with one of their games, something which a ton of Japanese companies are doing in Japan.

My point is - They need to do something to fix this. Logically, we would think they buying a few small developers would be a good start, but the Japanese industry is not suit for that.

Buying Square Enix would be a brilliant thing to do, in my opinion. It will benefit both the western and Japanese side.

Final Fantasy is still big in the west and Square now owns Eidos, which still holds some valuable IP's like Tomb Raider and Hitman. We all know PSP2 is about to launch next year. It needs something BIG in Japan. It need Dragon Quest. Could you imagine Dragon Quest being a launch title for PSP2? Can you imagine how massive that would be?

The only thing that doesn't fit it is the fact that Square Enix is a huge company that holds another huge company - Eidos.

Sony only bought small developers they've been working on for years with. Buying a huge company like Square Enix and trying to integrate it in to SCE would result in CHAOS. Many people could possibly leave.

I think it just too hard to imagine a reality where Sony buys Square Enix but... is it possible still?

Sony already made the Move.

When your speaking about the PSP games do you mean SCEJ or SE? Because Squares portables games have been fantastic this gen and have all sold pretty well.

i.e. Dissidia, Crisis Core, KH BBS.

It doesn't seem worth it for how much it would cost

Square-Enix market value is too big I believe because of the IP's they have. But Final Fantasy XIV is their Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within of this decade, but it won't make them bankrupt as their games lineup next year should get them money. 

If Sony does buy them we could see great games. Square has a lot of talent in it, what it lacks is correct development processes and correct leadership.

It is time for they to start making some crappy casual cash-in games to maintain funds.

i think square screwed themselfs. were 4 years in and all they have released is final fantasy 13 and last remnant.

the rest are just games published by square.

no way sony is their own big entity they are doing fine companys take loses but that doesnt mean they should be bought out because of it all the time. Square is still one of the top gaming companies in the world and one bad year aint finna kill them. Besides if sony bought them which would probabl cost a hell of alot they might not publish for other consoles anymore which would suck.

I honestly doubt Sony will buy out Square Enix. The cost isn't justified.

Yoichi Wada needs to be canned. He's driving the company's business into the ground. Serves him right for trying to Westernize the company, when most Western publishers are pissing money away (seriously, Activision would be bleeding away so much cash right now if it weren't for Blizzard) while Japanese companies generally are making healthy profits.

Imagine  what gonna happened if Microsoft is the one who buy SE.  I know , this is an extraordinary possibility because gaming is one of the major economic factors in Japan, so the goverment not gonna let american interests to take over a great player in the gaming industry.