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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Square Enix: "one-console market is over"

Square Enix US boss John Yamamoto has declared the time of the platform exclusives is over.

"Not so long ago the PS2 dominated the market so if we developed an exclusive game for PS2 then we could enjoy a very good profit. But that time is already over," Yamamoto told GamesIndustry.biz.

"To maximise and spread our games to as many users as possible I think we have to go to multiformat - the Xbox 360, PS3 and also the PC as well.

"The Japanese market is very strong and back when we could concentrate on developing games for just one console, business was very good. But the one-console market is over," he said.

Yamamoto was speaking after Square Enix opened a Los Angeles studio to pursue global and particularly western goals.

The first project from the studio will be action-oriented, with XBLA, WiiWare and PSN all "viable platforms" for Yamamoto.

But the opening of the LA studio comes after a string of un-characteristic behaviour for the Japanese RPG specialist. Square Enix has signed as publisher of hardcore RTS Supreme Commander 2, and has also picked up acclaimed WiiWare title Lost Winds for Japan.

Yamamoto argued that global moves like these, as well as offering Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 in Europe and North America, are tricks routinely missed by other Japanese companies.

"I wouldn't make a generalisation about all Japanese developers, clearly, some have had continual success worldwide. However, I do feel that there is a tendency for Japanese developers to focus too heavily on the domestic market," said Yamamoto.

"With increased competition from overseas developers, Japanese companies must recognise the need to appeal to a broader audience."

Yamamoto and Square Enix are also prepared to pick middleware solutions to speed up development, illustrated by role-playing game Last Remnant, which launches in Europe on Xbox 360 today.



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Better tell that to the SO4 devs.



We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers…Also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of beer, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.  The only thing that really worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. –Raoul Duke

It is hard to shed anything but crocodile tears over White House speechwriter Patrick Buchanan's tragic analysis of the Nixon debacle. "It's like Sisyphus," he said. "We rolled the rock all the way up the mountain...and it rolled right back down on us...."  Neither Sisyphus nor the commander of the Light Brigade nor Pat Buchanan had the time or any real inclination to question what they were doing...a martyr, to the bitter end, to a "flawed" cause and a narrow, atavistic concept of conservative politics that has done more damage to itself and the country in less than six years than its liberal enemies could have done in two or three decades. -Hunter S. Thompson

I don't care if their games are multi-plat now, I just hope they make some good games. Which always seems a bit harder to do when games are multi-plat. So maybe I should care.



Or you could just make real games for the Wii ...



Star Ocean 4 (Xbox 360 Exclusive) And Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3 Exclusive) Says HI!



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Seraphic_Sixaxis said:
Star Ocean 4 (Xbox 360 Exclusive) And Final Fantasy Versus XIII (PS3 Exclusive) Says HI!

 

 

Maybe it's a hint to those games going multi.



Those will most likely be the last exclusive from SE on non handheld consoles



 

Unless the console maker pays for the game to be made, if SE publishes, and its console, its multiplatform.



 

What other game besides TLR coming from SE is a multiplat? Heck ever that is a timed exclusive. He must be talking about 2010 or something...




Mr. Domino said:

Unless the console maker pays for the game to be made, if SE publishes, and its console, its multiplatform.

 

@Bolded- IU is published by Square Enix, cant wait for a PS3 port! /S