Square Enix

Square Enix Company, Limited (株式会社スクウェア・エニックス, Kabushiki-gaisha Sukuwea Enikkusu^?) TYO: 9684 is a video game company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series (known as Dragon Warrior in North America from 1989 until 2005), and the Kingdom Hearts series. Square Enix was formed as the result of a merger between Square Co., Ltd. and the Enix Corporation. On April 1, 2003, Enix officially absorbed Square, with Square stockholders receiving 0.81 shares of stock in the new company compared to Enix stockholders receiving a one-to-one trade. Despite this, many top officials within Square assumed leadership roles in the new corporate hierarchy, including Square president Yoichi Wada, who was appointed president of the new corporation.

Corporate developments

Square Enix has regional operations, including Square Enix, Inc. (for all of North America) and Square Enix Ltd. (for Europe and other areas that use the PAL-television standard). In July 2003, Square Enix relocated their headquarters to Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo. In March 2004, Square Enix acquired UIEvolution, Inc. in order to strengthen its wireless market. On August 22, 2005, Square Enix announced its acquisition of the amusement gaming developer and publisher, Taito Corporation, renowned for their arcade hits, Space Invaders and the Bubble Bobble series. By September 28, 2005, Square Enix had wholly acquired Taito. In January 2005, the company expanded operations to Beijing, China by establishing Square Enix (China) Co., Ltd as a wholly owned subsidiary. The company also has a controlling interest in Community Network Software Engine of Beijing, China which focuses on network middleware for gaming.

Square Enix has just recently acquired an Unreal Engine 3 license, to help in the development of future titles and game development tools.^[1]

Properties

Computer and video games

Main article: List of Square Enix games: Square Enix

By far, Square Enix's video gaming properties are its most valued assets. Square Enix's Dragon Quest franchise is considered the second most popular game series in Japan, after Pokémon, and each new installment of the series routinely reaches the top of Japanese sales records, selling over 40 million units so far, with about 39 million from Japan. Overall, the Final Fantasy franchise can be considered the company's most important asset, with total worldwide sales of over 68 million units[1] (as of 2006). More recently, Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts series (developed in collaboration with Disney's Buena Vista Games) has become massively popular worldwide, adding another valuable asset to the company.

In early 2003, Square Enix's U.S. subsidiary registered the Dragon Quest trademark, retiring the Dragon Warrior moniker, which was necessitated in 1989 due a trademark conflict with the now defunct TSR, Inc. In May 2004 Square Enix announced an agreement with Sony Online Entertainment for the Japanese publishing rights to EverQuest II. As of 2006, Square Enix has produced titles for the Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox 360 video game consoles, as well as for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable handheld game consoles. The company has announced titles for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles, as well as for the Nintendo DS. In addition, they have published games for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers, and for various models of mobile phone. Square Enix mobile phone games are available on the Vodafone network in some European countries, including Ireland, Britain, Spain, and France. Twenty five of Square Enix's video games were included in Famitsu magazine's top 100 games, seven being in the top ten list [2], which are mostly Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. Square Enix's other franchises lag behind many non-Square Enix franchises saleswise.

Before its launch, Michihiro Sasaki, senior vice president of Square Enix, spoke about the PlayStation 3, saying "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them, but we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much."[3] This reiterated Square Enix's commitment to all three next-gen consoles.

Square Enix has revealed that a new seventh generation game engine called the White Engine will power the Playstation 3 exclusive Final Fantasy XIII and other future PS3 games. Originally in development for the PlayStation 2, the White Engine was moved to the PlayStation 3 after developers realized the power of that console.

Square Enix game franchises

• Dragon Quest - from Enix - established on the NES in 1986
• Final Fantasy - from Square - established on the NES in 1987
• Itadaki Street - (Japan-only) - from Enix - established on the Famicom in 1988
• SaGa - from Square - established on the Game Boy in 1989
• Seiken Densetsu (Mana series of games outside Japan) - from Square - franchise name trademarked in 1987 being originally intended to be established on the Famicom Disk System, but the name was revived for franchise establishment on the Game Boy in 1991
• Chrono - from Square - established on the Super Famicom in 1995
• Front Mission - from Square - established on the Super Famicom in 1995
• Star Ocean - from Enix - established on the Super Famicom in 1996
• Valkyrie Profile - from Enix - established on the PlayStation in 2000
• Kingdom Hearts - from Square with Disney - established on the PlayStation 2 in 2002
• Drakengard - in development for Enix, but published under the Square Enix name - established on the PlayStation 2 in 2003
• Radiata Stories - original to Square Enix - established on the PlayStation 2 in 2005

Online Gaming

Square Enix first started its online gaming business phase back in 2000. The first online game Square Enix created was Final Fantasy XI. Final Fantasy XI was first released in Japan on May 16, 2000, for the PlayStation 2. In March 2004, Square Enix released their success game in Japan to the world-wide. With the huge success from Final Fantasy XI, Microsoft had got the game ported into the Xbox 360 in April 2006, which would be the first Final Fantasy game ever to be on the Xbox Franchise. Due to the success of their MMORPG, Square-Enix began a new project called "Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion". Gamepot, a Japanese game portal had got the license to publish Fantasy Earth in Japan. Fantasy Earth was released in Japan as "Fantasy Earth Zero" dropping "The Ring of Dominion" from its name and adding Zero to it.

In November 2006, Square Enix drops the Fantasy Earth Zero project and giving acquisition to GamePot, a Japanese game portal.

Film

• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was produced by now-defunct Squaresoft subsidiary Square Pictures prior to the merger. Its box-office failure was a factor in the Squaresoft financial crunch that created the need for Square to find a partner.
• Final Fantasy VII Advent Children is a CGI-animation movie based on Squaresoft's successful PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII, set two years after the events of the game.

Manga

The company also has a manga publishing division in Japan (from Enix) called Gangan Comics. It publishes manga for the Japanese market only. It also publishes a popular Japanese manga anthology called Monthly Shonen Gangan. Titles published by Gangan Comics include Papuwa, Pani Poni, Spiral and Fullmetal Alchemist. Also contains manga adaptations of diverse Enix, and later Square Enix games, like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and Star Ocean. Some of these titles were also adapted into anime series.

Fullmetal Alchemist so far is the most successful offspring of Square-Enix's manga branch. The anime series obtained great popularity in Japan and even spawned a movie sequel. Both series and movie are licensed to many locations worldwide (in North America by Funimation). The same occurs with its manga series (licensed in North America by Viz Media).

Kingdom Hearts and Spiral were licensed in North America by Tokyopop.

Pani Poni Dash! anime series based on the Pani Poni manga was licensed in North America by ADV Films.

Nintendo DS Support

In the past, Nintendo's president, Hiroshi Yamauchi, expressed views that were anti-RPG and had a general disliking of Square Enix [4]. Therefore, most Square and Enix games at the time ended up on Sony platforms. In modern times, with Satoru Iwata in charge, opinions towards RPGs have changed, and Square Enix is an invaluable partner to Nintendo. Square Enix has more games in development for Nintendo platforms than any other platform, including platforms by Sony & Microsoft.

As it stands, Square Enix is supporting the Nintendo DS handheld system overwhelmingly, though there is still some support for the Sony PSP. The company has 15 games in development/already released for the DS, compared to six games for the PSP. The list for DS is as follows.

Already Released

• Children of Mana
• Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime
• Dragon Quest Monsters Joker (Japan)
• Egg Monster Hero (Japan)
• Final Fantasy III
• Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
• Front Mission 1st (Japan)
• Mario Hoops 3-on-3 (developed in conjunction with Nintendo)

In Development

• Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Sky
• Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings
• Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates
• Final Fantasy Tactics A2 Fūketsu no Grimoire
• Heroes of Mana
• It's a Wonderful World
• Itadaki Street DS

PSP Support

Already Released

• Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable
• Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth

In Development

• Final Fantasy I
• Final Fantasy II

• Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-

• Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War

Wii Virtual Console Support

On February 24, 2007, Square Enix announced that it will start supporting the Virtual Console of the Wii with their games. The first game to be released by Square Enix, in Japan, is the Super NES (Super Famicom) title ActRaiser.

Studios

• Square Enix's internal studios in Beijing, China and Osaka and Tokyo, Japan
• UIEvolution in Bellevue, Washington

Public Opinion

• The company won IGN's award for Best Developer of 2006 for the Playstation 2. [5]
• The Better Business Bureau has assigned the company its lowest grade of "F." [6]

See also

List of Square Enix games

References

• Yahoo! Finance company profile
• GameFAQs release listing
• IGN company profile
• TGS 2005: Square Enix Video Wall Presentation
• Japan Game Software Firms Square, Enix to Merge
• The Bell Tree
• Top 10 Wildest Statements by Industry Veterans

Wikipedia information about Square Enix This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Square Enix". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.