Square-Enix has been falling into obscurity for quite some time. Back in the 1990’s, Square has been making some of the best Role Playing Games in the industry. From Final Fantasy, to Xenogears, to Super Mario RPG, they have been billed as the “king” of RPG’s. As soon as the next generation of consoles rolled around, Square has been slowly turning into a shadow of it’s former self. This was evident towards the end of the PSX lifecycle, when they moved into PS2 game development. They spent millions, if not billions of dollars into making their vision come true with the PS2 technology. By the time it was too late, they scaled back and ended up not releasing enough games. The only games that even remotely caught the eyes of gamers are Kingdom Hearts, Xenosaga, and Final Fantasy X. Even though these games have sold a considerate amount of units. Square has been in the black. Square then had been in the purchasing hunt, until they met the Enix executives. Enix is also revered for their RPG offerings.
During the PS3 vs Xbox 360 era, Square hasn’t released enough to satisfy investors, and shareholders. Square-Enix once again had been on the hunt for acquisitions, they acquired Edios, notoriously known for games like Tomb Raider, and TimeSplitters. Tomb Raider’s re-debut is slated for 2012. TimeSplitters is pending an announcement soon.
Recently Square-Enix nabbed the rights to True Crime: Hong Kong. At this point I’m wondering to myself: “Why didn’t they think of buying Take Two?” Take-Two has been open to acquisitions recently, calling themselves a “great investment.”
My question to you Square Enix: If you’re going to go into sandbox gaming, why aren’t you taking up Take Two’s opportunity? It makes no sense whatsoever to me. While UFG seems to have a big hit in their hands. Building a totally new brand is going to be a very hard thing to do. Especially with competition from GTA, and as ironic as it sounds: True Crime. Even though that Activision has not built a strong fanbase with True Crime, that Rockstar has built with Grand Theft Auto; Activision has billions of dollars in investment capital available at their disposal. So, at this point I’m calling this a risky move unless Square Enix invests more into the product.
What do you say, Square? You ready to take a big investment? If I were you Square Enix, I would take that double risk.
If you want to be back on the map, and be relevant again, I recommend it.
