With the Eidos Montreal studio revealing release dates for its upcoming first-person adventure game Deus Ex: Human Revolution earlier this month, the Square Enix-owned company may soon be joined by a second Canadian studio.
The publisher is looking to make use of the Canadian tax credits, along with government subsidies from wherever it decides to set up its second studio.
However, apparently other areas are also interested in housing the new development setup, including Raleigh, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, and Orlando, Florida.
A representative from Square Enix said that the decision will be made in May as to which city the new development house will settle down in, with the new studio opening sometime next year.
Earlier this year, Square Enix posted a 77 per cent fall in profits for the first nine months of the 2010 fiscal year. Yoichi Wada, president and representative director at Square Enix, attributed the fall in earnings to "intensifying competition in the console game market."
If Square wants to be more competitive then funneling development funds overseas is not the answer in my opinion. They simply haven't had enough full fledged console releases come this generation. Now that their suit of tools and engine to be used in 7th generation projects is along far enough to allow for FFXIII being made they need to increase the number of concurrent internal projects.
Hopefully they have more than just Versus XIII and XIII-II in development over there, I would hate to see them continuing onwards in the same sluggish home console pace they've maintained since FFX was released ten years ago. You need as steady stream of quality output to stay competitive.
Then again, with the declining games market in Japan and the growing games market in America and Europe, perhaps setting up a North-American development studio to build the next Final Fantasy is exactly what the franchise needs.
I mean, not that FF13 was any great shakes, in the end, but no. Not mainline anyway. However, it would be cool to have a Western team (that actually likes and understands FF, which is not that common in developers I've spoken to) play around with it for a sideline title, however. Would be much cooler than Crystal Chronicles, I imagine.
Well, I'm not opposed to Square Enix opening up another Canadian studio; although I have no idea what kind of logistics are involved. Looking at the past activities of Dalton McGuinty's Ontario government, they'll push hard for it if Square Enix suggested setting up shop in Toronto.
But then again, I'm biased because I live in Toronto and would give my left arm to work on Square Enix's RPGs.
Final fantasy has been on a slow downward trend that started mildly around FF8. It started to accelerate with FFX-2 and FF12, the thing I dislike most is that FF sells so much just based on fandom and inertia, not on game quality. FF12 had the least interactivity of all the FF's and it sold something like 5 million.
I really wonder what has happened to gaming when non-interactive computer rendered b movies can sell 5 million with next to no interactivity. I can't wait until games start coming with bots and advertising how accessible the bots that play for you make the game.
Hopefully they have more than just Versus XIII and XIII-II in development over there, I would hate to see them continuing onwards in the same sluggish home console pace they've maintained since FFX was released ten years ago. You need as steady stream of quality output to stay competitive.
I mean, not that FF13 was any great shakes, in the end, but no. Not mainline anyway. However, it would be cool to have a Western team (that actually likes and understands FF, which is not that common in developers I've spoken to) play around with it for a sideline title, however. Would be much cooler than Crystal Chronicles, I imagine.
But then again, I'm biased because I live in Toronto and would give my left arm to work on Square Enix's RPGs.
Secret of Evermore II.
I really wonder what has happened to gaming when non-interactive computer rendered b movies can sell 5 million with next to no interactivity. I can't wait until games start coming with bots and advertising how accessible the bots that play for you make the game.