The Shrine

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>The first: Square of Japan has posted an official statement on its investor relations Web site that comments on the recently announced agreement between Square and Nintendo. The company said that it's currently preparing to release games for the Game Boy Advance through a new development house tentatively named Game Designers Studio, which will be headed up by Akiyoshi Kawazu. Kawazu previously worked on early games in the Final Fantasy series in addition to the SaGa role-playing series. The new development house will receive capital from Hiroshi Yamauchi's Fund Q to start development on "a new type of game." Square also reaffirmed that this will not affect PlayStation 2 development in any way and that the PlayStation 2 will remain the main platform for both Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XII.

The latest: Square's new subsidiary Game Designer Studios mentioned that they are working on a GameBoy Advance version of Final Fantasy Tactics, the game is scheduled for release in Japan around the Christmas time. Game Designer Studios intends to release 3 to 4 titles for the Nintendo platforms by the end of the 2002 (March 2003). They have also confirmed the development of a new Final Fantasy game title for both GameCube and GameBoy Advance, which allows data synchronization between the two machines.


Nintendo followed up:

Nintendo of America has also reconfirmed the news, stating that Game Designers Studio plans to release one game for a Nintendo system before the end of 2002, and that the game will make use of the connectivity feature between the GameCube and Game Boy Advance. Nintendo of America also said that a Final Fantasy game would be a logical choice, but did not confirm that a Final Fantasy game was in development for either the Game Boy Advance or the GameCube.


EDIT: Actually, the first update is from a few days ago, the follow-up by Nintendo is from Yesterday, and the latest Update is from within the last 24 hours. After doing a bit of research.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>It's also an FF title. I have a link for the article, but at the moment I'm not sure if the source is trustworthy so you could file it under speculation+rumor.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>We'll see, Nintendo and Square have not commented on the game yet other than the Final Fantasy thing, I don't know if the GBA Cable works that way, so it's hard to say. My Guesss is that it's either FFU or FFT2</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.spong.com/detail/news.asp?mo ... id=2996</a>

Here's a link to the article for ya.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Alright, now I am strongly leaning towards Final Fantasy Tactics 2 if that is the case =)</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>No chance. 'Cube will be the system that receives the "lesser" games, stuff like Vagrant Story or Dew Prism, not the big franchises like FF or Chrono. They may get some ports too. GBA will be the port system, a way to rehash the oldies. That's what Square needs to make money again.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Famitsu: What is the background regarding Square’s decision to develop for Nintendo?

Nintendo: Around the end of last year, our discussion with Square began. Square’s Kawazu held a vision of video games that fitted with Yamauchi’s vision. He was really interested and commented, “We want to challenge ourselves in developing a new Final Fantasy that links between the GC and GBA.” Yamauchi agreed to his proposal because not only is Kawazu a talented game creator, but he also shared the same enthusiasm to create a new type of game

F: Is this GC/GBA link game developed with the Fund Q?

N: Yes. Game Designers Studio (editor note: temporary name) is the first company to utilize the fund. This new Final Fantasy is already in development, and we hear that it is scheduled to be release this Christmas.

F: Besides this, will there be other GBA games released?

N: Putting aside the GC/GBA linkage, we also approved requests to develop and sell Final Fantasy Tatics, and one more game. The publisher may be either Square or Game Designers Studio.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>That new company only has one employee, that director from the Saga and FF games. That means all the development is gonna be done in-house. It seems to be a lot of trouble to go through just to port some old games over to the GBA and maybe some lesser games to the 'Cube, as they indicated ("PS2 is still our main system"). This could mean one of a few things:

1) They had an exclusivity deal with Sony regarding their games and this is the only way around it

I'm not too sure of this one myself. Sony is now a stockholder in Square and the company hasn't exactly been raking in the cash. They need Square to go multi to start making money. Of course, they want all the main stuff for themselves since Square is really their ace-in-the-hole (they beat the Saturn in Japan because of them), but Square has indicated that already anyways. Also, Sony sees Microshaft as its REAL competition, so porting stuff over to the 'Cube is the better of two evils. Given that, there's no real reason I can see where they would form a whole new company.

2) They wanted some money from that Fund Q

If you take a look at the newest article from <a href = "http://gamespot.com/gamespot/stories/ne ... amespot</a>, that's not <i>necessarily</i> the case. Also in this article, they've only committed to GBA games, 'Cube games are secondary to them. Remember, the games must be a connectivity game between the GBA and 'Cube for this Fund Q thing. Why the hell would Sony care about Square porting older games to the GBA, it's not like it hurts them in any way, they don't have a handheld system (yet). In fact, this is the best possible scenario for them, the company in which they own stock in woud benefit greatly from this and it doesn't hurt the PS2 in any way. Again, not exactly a reason you'd form a smoke-screen company for

3) Square might do more than initially plan if their stuff is successful

This is a no-brainer, of course they would. If their handheld stuff sells well, they'll keep producing more (and there's no reason they won't do well). If they decide to make Vagrant 2 for 'Cube in 2004 and it does well, they'll make more. But does this plan allow them to simultaneously release Chrono Break for PS2 and 'Cube? Does it allow them to port FFX after a year? Personally, I doubt it. I'm sure Sony would have exclusivity deals with Square (permanent ones), especially since Square has been considering goin' multi for a while. And if they don't, 'Cube gets the good games a year or two after Sony, not exactly a help. So unless Sony dropped the ball on the exclusivity deals on Square's major franchises, I'm not so sure this would be a good reason to create a new company either

4) Sony is gonna enter the handheld market

This one is a possibilty, albiet a small one. Sony has been talking about entering the handheld market for a while now, but they have the whole connectivity with the Wonderswan thing going and that market is really hard to crack 'cause the Gameboy is so damned popular AND profitable at a low price for Nintendo.

5) The director made the deal so Square is rewarding him with his own company (he owns 51%)

This it the most likely scenerio IMO. They've seen a lot of their talented people leave for other companies or subsidiary companies of other big developers (like MonolithSoft with Namco, which has the majority of the Xenogears team, hence XenoSaga, a franchise Square doesn't even seem to own, surprisingly, particularly considering it's the only non-FF RPG to do well on the PSX in Japan). This way, they can keep their people happy and still profit from them instead of losing them entirely as they have been. This will lead to what Sega now has and that is multiple development houses as separate companies under one roof, making them simply a publisher. Each company must make their own way and worry about the bottom line for themselves, but they get greater freedom thanks to this. This is the wave of the future and the best possible way for Square to maximize profits (having separate teams who don't look out for their own bottom line increases inefficiency) while holding on to its talent. EA has been doing this for a while (Orion, EA Sports, etc.) and covering a large scope of genres in the meantime, and they're the most profitable third party out there, so we know it works. THQ, another huge international publisher, also does this. It seems this is the direction the new heads of Square are going.

This also means we should probably expect Square to announce more development with XBox as well, beyond FFXI.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>What makes you say that?</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>1) Sony owns 19% of Square, 2) Sony will be the leader this round and surely has a helluva exclusivity with their main developer</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>1) MS bombed in Japan, the total Xbox unit sales were less than half of the Gamecubes initially, and people said Gamecube's launch was a failure.
Xbox's easily had the stronger line-up, Gamecube had Luigi, Waverace, and Super Monkey Ball, and still sold better than Xbox and the 40 or so games which included Halo shortly after. I don't think Sony is very worried about Microsoft stealing market shares, in fact, I think the only thing they're concerned with is the industry as a whole and getting their product out. Square isn't a major factor in North America where games like Final Fantasy sell 1 million and games like Goldeneye sell 8 million. North America is the only market where MS is being succesful.

2) Strange that this statement comes from their investors relation guy when others from Nintendo and Square have said otherwise, perhaps he is trying to avoid a statement which would impact the stock value to avoid legal issues. The deal isn't finalized yet. I don't know I'm tired, I didn't really comprehend the article.


5) Actually, Xenogears wasn't really that popular in Japan, it sold 700-800K Units total. As opposed to Parasite Eve and Saga Frontier which both broke the million mark. I think Xenogears has a larger fan base in North America than it does in Japan.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Explain Capcoms decision to move the Resident Evil series to Gamecube exclusively, they are in a similar position to Square, minus the desperation because of a movie failure.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>XBox will sell well everywhere else in the world BUT Japan, and that's a big deal to Sony, considering Japan isn't the biggest market anymore. Square is big enough here, not too many developers have multiple million sellers (FF, CC).</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>No. Capcom's RE deal with Nintendo is like Sega's Shenmue deal with Microshaft. "Show me the money!"</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>CC wasn't a million seller in either Japan or North America though =) Namco and Konami are the two most important players for Sony in the North American Market, Tekken and Metal Gear Solid, especially Tekken.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>Poor Hazuki... confined to the Xbox *sniff*</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>You know, I don't think I could find one game on the XBox that isn't a fucking piece of shit.</div>

<div style='font: 11pt "EngraversGothic BT", "Copperplate Gothic Light"; text-align: left; '>Wasn't Shenmue that The Sims clone?</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>Ha.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Check your sales on CC again. It sold about 400,000 in Japan and 930,000 in NA BEFORE it became a Greatest Hits...</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Also, by FAR the most imp't company to any console in NA is EA. EA is necessary for you to even have a chance (look at the N64, which didn't have much EA). All others are secondary.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Halo (don't give me that "split screen sucks" arguement, it's old and proven to be wrong by the vast majority of people), Munch's Odyssey, Wreckless, SH2.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>only EA Sports really makes an impact on console, and the games are still only selling around 1 million copies at the most. Most of the time 8 or9 out of ten of their best selling titles are on PC, and their top 3 games are almost always PC.</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>Why were sales of it so low in Japan?</div>

<div style='font: 11pt ; text-align: left; '>Halo kicks ass, your opinion doesn't matter because it's already been established that........yes Halo kicks ass.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>This has been said a few times now, 40% of all CONSOLE game sales are sport games. Who's by far the biggest sport game publisher? EA. Who does well without EA? No one, ask Sega (yes, Sega Sports did well on DC, but nothing like EA..)</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Gets me. Why do you think all those clocks we got here for the pre-orders had Japanese instructions? They were left over from the Japanese sales, which were very disappointing. The only non-FF Square RPG to sell well there was Xenogears at about 900,000. All others were under 400,000</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>And then there's the fact that Chrono Cross didn't made a whole lot of sense.

People don't like a game that doesn't make a lot of sense no matter how good it is. Same with Xenogears. People don't want to play through a game and still don't know what happened. It worked for Eva, but that's about it.</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>What part of Chrono Cross didn't make sense? I just became Serge again and I've had no problems understanding it. What part of Xenogears didn't make sense? The storylines are complex, not incoherent. That's a good thing, that's what RPGs should be doing. As much as I like old-school RPGs, there needs to be evolution, especially in the presentation, which is so much easier to come by with the newer systems.</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Madden NFL titles are the only EA Sports titles to go platnum</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>The Sequel released 3 weeks ago is falling down on the charts now at about 380K, and Xenogears sold 690K total according to Dengeki, I think you are mixing it up with Parasite Eve which sold 1M+, also, Chrono Trigger on SNES sold 2M+ according to Dengeki</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>So? That doesn't mean 40% of the market isn't made of the 4000 different sport games released every year. Why the hell do you think you see so many copies of so many different ones used?</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '><b>Link:</b> <a href="http://www.geocities.com/chtang.geo/Cha ... ng98">REAL Dengeki chart</a>

Really? I'm not sure what Dengeki chart you were looking at, but this one says that Xenogears sold 891,000+ in 1998. I think it's fair to say that an additional 9,000 were sold in 1999</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>Many other companies have their sports titles, and remember, sports also includes Racing games, Wrestling games, and many others. Sega has more Sports titles being released on Console in North America than EA Sports does, they released 3 titles yesterday for Gamecube, Sega Soccer Slam, Homerun Baseball, and NBA 2K2</div>

<div style='font: 9pt ; text-align: left; '>Sales-wise, EA is by far the best. That's why they're the most important third-party here</div>

<div style='font: 12pt ; text-align: left; '>I don't think EA has ever been a top third party on any console. They're mostly known as a PC gaming company,</div>

<div style='font: 11pt arial; text-align: left; '>That's actually EXACTLY what it was : )</div>

<div style='font: 10pt "arial narrow"; text-align: left; padding: 0% 5% 0% 5%; '>I'd say without hesitation that EA has been a top 3rd party developer on almost every console since, and including, the Genesis (except for Saturn & DC).</div>