Home Gaming Square Enix wants to focus on core gamers and “heavy JRPGs” again

Square Enix wants to focus on core gamers and “heavy JRPGs” again

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Over the last couple of years there’s been an idea in the gaming development industry, amongst the bigger players, that a game needs to hit as many checkpoints as possible in order to appeal to the widest audience. Sometimes that works. Most times, it fails. And that’s something that Square Enix has realised, as they shift focus in their gaming department.

“In the past, when we developed console games with a worldwide premise, we lost our focus, and not only did they end up being games that weren’t for the Japanese, but they ended up being incomplete titles that weren’t even fit for a global audience,” Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said to Nikkei Trendy (Via Siliconera).

On the other hand, there are games like the JRPG we made for the Japanese audience with the proper elements, Bravely Default, which ended up selling well all around the world.

Due to having split [the development mindset] according to regions around the world, we weren’t able to see this clearly up until now, but fans of JRPGs are really spread around the world.

Through the means of various networks, the latest information that is announced in Japan is instantaneously being spread across fans throughout the world. Whether it’s North America, Europe, or South America. There really isn’t much of a gap [in the relay of information].

With that in mind, and all of the collective fans, there’s a sense of mass, which loses the image of a niche market. For the new games we’ll be developing from this point on, while this may sound a bit extreme, we’ve been talking about making them as heavy JRPGs. I believe that way, we can better focus on our target, which will also bring better results.

Matsuda felt that 2013 was a year where Square Enix really dropped the ball, as they attempted to make several games appealing for as wide an audience as possible, ala the Resident Evil 6 effect as I like to think of it. One game that highlighted this problematic approach? Hitman: Absolution.

“The development team for Hitman: Absolution really struggled in this regard,” Matsuda explained.

They implemented a vast amount of ‘elements for the mass’ instead of for the core fans, as a way to try getting as many new players possible. It was a strategy to gain mass appeal. However, what makes the Hitman series good is its appeal to core gamers, and many fans felt the lack of focus in that regard, which ended up making it struggle in sales.

So, as for the AAA titles we’re currently developing for series, we basically want to go back to their roots and focus on the core audience, while working hard on content that can have fans say things like ‘this is the Hitman, we know’. I believe that is the best way for our development studios to display their strengths.

As much as I enjoyed Hitman: Absolution, it was a different game, something that core fans did not appreciate. But that’s a solid business strategy from Matsuda. Games don’t need to have GTA V budgets and a sales target in the millions of millions.

As long as you can create something which will stay true to what made a game so popular in the first place, but update it, you’ll build something much better than an endless supply of quick cash in the gaming market. A reputation.

And in today’s turbulent economy, that’s what will keep your company alive.

Last Updated: April 1, 2014

32 Comments

  1. This is the way to go…..I can’t believe it took him this long to realize that Jrpgs still has a huge following….

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      April 1, 2014 at 12:07

      Especially oh I don’t know? The nation of Japan for one.

      Reply

      • Rince

        April 1, 2014 at 12:46

        Please, get the wombles of wimbledon, give them all pink wigs and they’ll go fucking nuts for them 😉

        Reply

  2. Gerhard Davids

    April 1, 2014 at 12:02

    I call April’s fool on this….

    Reply

    • Umar Leonhart

      April 1, 2014 at 12:06

      Lol was announced yesterday. I think it’s real. But I feel you, burned one too many times

      Reply

      • Gerhard Davids

        April 1, 2014 at 12:13

        Indeed man.
        I was the biggest FF junkie but square has completely killed JRPG’s for me now.

        Reply

        • Umar Leonhart

          April 1, 2014 at 12:13

          Lol same here. Fanboi through and through. It’s sad. PLaying FF X HD now and Man Square used to be king hey….

          Reply

          • Gerhard Davids

            April 1, 2014 at 12:15

            I’m still hoping it comes to digital on PS4 cause I gave me PS3 to my nephew 🙁

  3. Admiral Chief Railjack

    April 1, 2014 at 12:07

    Just gimme moar Deus Ex.

    Because I’m asking for this

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      April 1, 2014 at 12:11

      Yes!

      Reply

    • Jedi JJ

      April 1, 2014 at 12:23

      I’d love a remake of the first. Still a great story and had that darkness factor that HR just didn’t have at all. Something that actually showed that HR had a bit of Invisible War in it.

      Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    April 1, 2014 at 12:07

    Talk is cheap, games aren’t. Guess we will wait and see

    Reply

  5. Tarisma

    April 1, 2014 at 12:20

    If this is an April Fools its bad form.

    Reply

  6. Rince

    April 1, 2014 at 12:22

    Lol. It’s taken them HOW long to figure that out? Next they’ll announce ‘Final Fantasy 56 3/4 Lightening goes for Therapy under the guise of ‘we know what we are doing’…

    Reply

    • oVg deprived

      April 1, 2014 at 12:33

      5 years to make XIII and 2.5 for the super fantastic XIII Trio to figure that bollocks out.

      But hay, they did cater towards the 13 year old cosplayers. Cant please everybody.

      Reply

  7. oVg deprived

    April 1, 2014 at 12:22

    Final Fantasy needs a Mature Rating like the Tomb Raider reboot. The fans have grown up now.

    Hell, even Final Fantasy 7 had darker more mature undertones than the Tokyo pink pop XIII.

    Reply

    • Rince

      April 1, 2014 at 12:27

      HAHAHAHA! And… Wait for it… WAIT FOR IT!

      Reply

      • oVg deprived

        April 1, 2014 at 12:32

        Imagine if they dressed up Squall like this. You would have left the franchise back in 1996 I take it?

        Reply

        • Rince

          April 1, 2014 at 12:43

          Oh man, I cannot stop laughing! How did you know what @umarbastra:disqus dressed in on Thursday evenings?!

          Reply

  8. Sk3tz0

    April 1, 2014 at 12:23

    I say Fucking Bring Back the Turn based RPG of Old.. Fuck these action button bashing kak they have now..

    Reply

    • oVg deprived

      April 1, 2014 at 12:23

      ATB NEEDS TO DIE!!!

      Reply

    • Rince

      April 1, 2014 at 12:24

      X X X X X X X X X I just did a super, ultra, guardian force KILL EM ALL combo right there

      Reply

      • oVg deprived

        April 1, 2014 at 12:29

        While cooking and washing. You just got the 6 month old baby from next door to bang the X button and taped the direction stick in the up position did you not?

        Reply

        • Rince

          April 1, 2014 at 12:40

          How did you know that!?

          Reply

          • Alien Emperor Trevor

            April 1, 2014 at 13:01

            How do you not remember?

  9. Rock789

    April 1, 2014 at 12:26

    Here here Square Enix – well said.

    Just PLEASE don’t mess with the new Tomb Raider formula – it was seriously one of the best games I’ve played recently! Cannot wait for the next one.

    Reply

  10. oVg deprived

    April 1, 2014 at 12:34

    final fantasy versus? Tooooo Sooooon lol

    Reply

  11. boondocksaint87

    April 1, 2014 at 13:06

  12. Brenz

    April 1, 2014 at 13:40

    This is the news that ive been hoping for, but I wont get all giddy just yet.
    Prove it with FF15, then we can look at mending our destroyed relationship.

    Reply

    • Sk3tz0

      April 1, 2014 at 13:49

      Destroyed relationship u cause by playing Yu gi Ho games..

      Reply

  13. Ottokie

    April 1, 2014 at 13:56

    Very good news indeed… Finally got my Final Fantasy X/X2 HD this weekend and was in nostalgia overload mode, loved every second of its HD glory.

    PS. I really hope this is not an April Fools joke. Been hiding away from the interwebs today after the first site I opened was upside down this morning…

    Reply

  14. Michael Matusowsky

    April 1, 2014 at 14:47

    Shut up AND JUST REMAKE FINAL FANTASY 7 OKAY?

    Reply

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