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Square-Enix: Reeling in the Devotees For More, Playing the Console Market With Aplomb

Posted by John Constantine



I’ve got to hand it to Square-Enix. For all of their franchise humping, their shameless genre pandering, re-treads, and fan-baiting, they know their business. Two years ago, during the DS’ meteoric rise in Japan, moving the Dragon Quest series to the handheld was a shrewd, forward-thinking business decision. This summer, more than any other publisher in the world, Square-Enix has shown that they may not be the creative force they once were but their business acumen is as un-indictable as ever. This past weekend’s DKS3713 event, an invitation only preview smorgasbord spotlighting S-E’s upcoming Final Fantasy games (yes, the Kingdom Hearts titles are Final Fantasy games), was all about the PSP. Kingdom Hearts prequel Birth By Sleep and Final Fantasy fighter Dissidia were both playable at DKS3713, but the big announcements were that The 3rd Birthday (a sequel to the all-but forgotten Parasite Eve) and Final Fantasy XIII: Agito, formerly mobile phone games, would now be coming out for the PSP. It would be easy to accuse S-E of coming late to the PSP party now that it’s the best-selling system in Japan and enjoying an upswing in sales in both Europe and North America, but Birth by Sleep and Dissidia betray S-E’s foresight. They’ve put themselves in a position to sell millions of games to their devoted consumers. But when you couple DKS3713 with their E3 reveal that Final Fantasy XIII will be available on Xbox 360, Square-Enix is poised to repeat the crossover success they enjoyed with Final Fantasy VII eleven years ago.

Related links:


Square-Enix's Coup Brings Back Memories

Final Fantasy IV DS: Love, Hope and Betrayal For the Busy Commuter
E3 Day One: Microsoft, Sony, Final Fantasy, and For Whom the Bell Tolls


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John Constantine, our superhero, was raised by birds and then attended Penn State University. He is currently working on a novel about a fictional city that exists only in his mind. John has an astonishingly extensive knowledge of Scientology. Ultimately he would like to learn how to effectively use his brain. He continues to keep Wu-Tang's secret to himself.

Derrick Sanskrit is a self-professed geek in a variety of fields including typography, graphic design, comic books, music and cartoons. As a professional hipster graphic designer, his recent clients have included Hooksexup, Pitchfork and MoCCA, among others.

Amber Ahlborn - artist, writer, gamer and DigiPen survivor, she maintains a day job as a graphic artist. By night Amber moonlights as a professional Metroid Fanatic and keeps a metal suit in the closet just in case. Has lived in the state of Washington and insists that it really doesn't rain as much as everyone says it does.

Nadia Oxford is a housekeeping robot who was refurbished into a warrior when the world's need for justice was great. Now that the galaxy is at peace (give or take a conflict here or there), she works as a freelance writer for various sites and magazines. Based in Toronto, Nadia's prized possession is a certificate from the Ministry of Health declaring her tick and rabies-free.

Bob Mackey is a grad student, writer, and cyborg, who uses the powerful girl-repelling nanomachines mad science grafted onto his body to allocate time towards interests of the nerd persuasion. He believes that complaining about things on the Internet is akin to the fine art of wine tasting, but with more spitting into buckets.

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