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Square-Enix USA slowing down with localizing mobile games?

S

Shizuka

Member
I mention this because of two cases.

First, Final Fantasy Record Keeper seems to be doing great outside Japan, judging from the reception, except it's a DeNA title, it's even listed under their games on the App Store. Did Square-Enix just license the "Final Fantasy" name out to DeNA? Did Square-Enix allow DeNA to handle overseas release?

The other is the Chaos Rings games. We've had Chaos Rings, Chaos Ring Omega and Chaos Rings II. All three games got simultaneous worldwide release, it was impressive to have such a release from Square-Enix. Now, Chaos Rings III seems to have the biggest budget from the series, being a sight to see, but six months after the japanese release and we still have no word on a western release.

Which brings me the question: is Square-Enix USA focusing on western studios (Eidos) and localizing console games (Type-0 HD, Dragon Quest Heroes) while distancing itself from localizing Square JP mobile titles?
 
Yeah, more globally I'm puzzled by the big Japanese publishers decisions this days. I mean, it's not a mystery, must be the economical crisis, declining sales etc. But I don't know, I get the feeling that Square, Capcom, Konami (lol), are shelves of their former glory. For fuck's sake, Square won't even localize certain titles if console manufacturers don't lend a hand, that hilariously sad.
 
Li Kao said:
Yeah, more globally I'm puzzled by the big Japanese publishers decisions this days. I mean, it's not a mystery, must be the economical crisis, declining sales etc. But I don't know, I get the feeling that Square, Capcom, Konami (lol), are shelves of their former glory. For fuck's sake, Square won't even localize certain titles if console manufacturers don't lend a hand, that hilariously sad.
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Obviously. All of the genuinely talented people that made all the games we loved from those companies no longer work there. Those companies now exist only to milk the IPs from their glory days.

Unfortunately most gamers still don't understand that games are made by people, not companies, so those companies can continue to get away with it.
 
Well I mean they released Heavenstrike Rivals basically simultaneously worldwide (to little fanfare but that's a different story).

I believe with Record Keeper, even the Japanese version was 'released' by DeNA so I don't really see how the global version being the same released by is a cause for alarm.
 
antibolo said:
Obviously. All of the genuinely talented people that made all the games we loved from those companies no longer work there. Those companies now exist only to milk the IPs from their glory days.

Unfortunately most gamers still don't understand that games are made by people, not companies, so those companies can continue to get away with it.
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While totally true, that's not really what I was trying to say. I mean, I realize that things change and that today's output quality is sometimes debatable, but... asking for the help of console manufacturers to localize titles or develop new games ? This is just sad.
 
antibolo said:
Obviously. All of the genuinely talented people that made all the games we loved from those companies no longer work there. Those companies now exist only to milk the IPs from their glory days.

Unfortunately most gamers still don't understand that games are made by people, not companies, so those companies can continue to get away with it.
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Maybe that's true for Konami...
 
Takao said:
I wasn't talking about just the Vita, but the game in general. IIRC they announced a localization for the iOS/Android versions back at E3.
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I thought Agito Plus was a rerelease of Agito for the Vita and mobile as well. Maybe they're waiting for the Plus version before localizing the game.
 
Generally there's two factors:

1.) They want the games to be successfully monetized before bringing them over.

2.) The ones that are successfully monetizing are very difficult to bring over culturally, since they're about dating high school girls and similar concepts.
 
Kyari said:
Still no sign of FFVII G-Bike either!
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What ? Square didn't even localize this ? I mean, it's not like it would be assured to be a big seller, but I swear sometimes they give the feeling they decide on localization with a dice roll.
How pricey can be the localization of a mobile action game, god...
 
Li Kao said:
Yeah, more globally I'm puzzled by the big Japanese publishers decisions this days. I mean, it's not a mystery, must be the economical crisis, declining sales etc. But I don't know, I get the feeling that Square, Capcom, Konami (lol), are shelves of their former glory. For fuck's sake, Square won't even localize certain titles if console manufacturers don't lend a hand, that hilariously sad.
Click to expand...

bamboo-floating-shelves.jpg
 
Nirolak said:
Generally there's two factors:

1.) They want the games to be successfully monetized before bringing them over.

2.) The ones that are successfully monetizing are very difficult to bring over culturally, since they're about dating high school girls and similar concepts.
Click to expand...

I wonder what changed during the Chaos Rings games, that we got simultaneous release for the first three games, each one every year, to waiting six months without even a confirmation of localization for Chaos Rings III. That was a sudden move for the series.
 
Takao said:
i want to play rise of mana
i'd prefer it on vita (port was announced)
but i'd play it on phone too
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Dat 30% more free memory may actually enable to port the rise of Mana..
(I've read that update really saved some project from being buried in oblivion. Not saying RoM is the one though).
 
They literally just localized another mobile game (Heavenstrike Rivals) in December, and they've been localizing all of the Dragon Quest games. So no, they're not distancing themselves from anything.

DeNA developed FFRK, so they might have volunteered or gotten dibs to do it here in the west. Saves Square from having to maintain it, and they still get a cut of the pie.

In the case of Chaos Rings, I don't know how successful the most recent games were or how successful III was in Japan. As previously mentioned, a game usually has to be successful there first. Even if it was, the first three games might not have done as well as they wanted in the west.
 
This is specially interesting, considering there are rumors of a new mobile Kingdom Hearts. If Square-Enix skipped Mana and Agito, why would they localize that instead?
 
Shizuka said:
This is specially interesting, considering there are rumors of a new mobile Kingdom Hearts. If Square-Enix skipped Mana and Agito, why would they localize that instead?
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Did you do any research before posting this thread? They're working on Agito. It was announced concurrently with Type-0, and is a follow up to that game. It makes sense that they would wait for a bit after Type-0 to release that game.

As for Mana, the first might not have been as successful on mobile. KH is far more popular, and more likely to get a localization. Even then, we don't have confirmation they've skipped it.

I know you really want to believe that Square Enix is moving away from mobile games, but there's nothing to support that theory.
 
lazyproblems said:
Did you do any research before posting this thread? They're working on Agito. It was announced concurrently with Type-0, and is a follow up to that game. It makes sense that they would wait for a bit after Type-0 to release that game.

As for Mana, the first might not have been as successful on mobile. KH is far more popular, and more likely to get a localization. Even then, we don't have confirmation they've skipped it.

I know you really want to believe that Square Enix is moving away from mobile games, but there's nothing to support that theory.
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Yes, I have. Agito was announced for the West and was supposed to be released before Type-0 HD, so that it could be a bridge for players to tackle on the console game, that much was confirmed on USGamer. Yet, Type-0 HD was released and we haven't heard anything from Agito after the announcement almost a year ago.

I don't want to believe that Square-Enix is moving away from mobile games, I want for them to support their japanese output which would me, for myself, to play them on my iPad or my Vita. I want to play Chaos Rings III and Mana already, but it's looking more and more unlikely at this point.
 
Shizuka said:
Yes, I have. Agito was announced for the West and was supposed to be released before Type-0 HD, so that it could be a bridge for players to tackle on the console game, that much was confirmed on USGamer. Yet, Type-0 HD was released and we haven't heard anything from Agito after the announcement almost a year ago.

I don't want to believe that Square-Enix is moving away from mobile games, I want for them to support their japanese output which would me, for myself, to play them on my iPad or my Vita. I want to play Chaos Rings III and Mana already, but it's looking more and more unlikely at this point.
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USGamer trumps Square Enix? Also, could you post a link to that article, because I just looked over several of their articles and can't find anything that says what you posted. Everything I've read would point to Agito coming after type-0, as it's a follow-up to that game.

If you want to make a case for 2 games, that's fine, but there's nothing that supports any claim that Square is distancing itself from Japanese mobile games. If you want to be worried, the only 2 titles anyone could be worried about are Mana and Chaos Rings III, and as it's been discussed, those might not come out because the previous games might not have done well. It sucks, but it happens.
 
lazyproblems said:
USGamer trumps Square Enix? Also, could you post a link to that article, because I just looked over several of their articles and can't find anything that says what you posted. Everything I've read would point to Agito coming after type-0, as it's a follow-up to that game.

If you want to make a case for 2 games, that's fine, but there's nothing that supports any claim that Square is distancing itself from Japanese mobile games. If you want to be worried, the only 2 titles anyone could be worried about are Mana and Chaos Rings III, and as it's been discussed, those might not come out because the previous games didn't do well. It sucks, but it happens.
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I'm not saying two games makes my case, or else I wouldn't have made the title a question. I'm saying that it's pointing to a trend, regarding the western branch. I'll look it up and share with you soon, but I'll continue this conversation in private, I don't want any possible hostility from either of us locking this topic.
 
Shizuka said:
I'm not saying two games makes my case, or else I wouldn't have made the title a question. I'm saying that it's pointing to a trend, regarding the western branch. I'll look it up and share with you soon, but I'll continue this conversation in private, I don't want any possible hostility from either of us locking this topic.
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2 games don't make a trend. We've gotten the vast majority of their iOS and Android games. I want Mana and Chaos Rings III as well (especially on the vita for the latter), but there's nothing to support they're moving away from mobile.
 
Locke09 said:
Naoki Yoshida, the FFXIV director, for starters.
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Well, XIV is plenty solid enough as an overall product and I always recommend it to Final Fantasy fans but I still feel like it owes most of it's fame to staff members other than Yoshida. He rallied the project together well but in the end the the general direction of the game, especially the end game has been pretty questionable even by lower end MMO standards.

Hoping Heavensward cleans it up and offers more than a month or so of content tourism. The game treats the image of classical Final Fantasy with incredible respect, all without the cheap veneer of Square's usual efforts, so I'd like to enjoy it on a more hobbyist basis... just kind of hard to want to stick around with how poorly structured, paced and tuned the back end of the game is. The dungeon & raid game is exceptionally awful, possibly the worst I've seen and the casual content is engaging in structure but the execution is really insulting...the hunting and the relics especially, good lord.

It's frustrating because there's so many ways to solve some very immediate issues that caused so many players to drop. I've never went through guilds that fast before due to such silly reasons.

Anyway, as for mobile, I'm just happy the Dragon Quest ports seem to make it over cleanly enough. This might ignite some ire, but I'd be plenty happy to have VII hit mobile if we can't have it for 3DS, it's my favorite in the series and I'm a little annoyed the remake didn't make the leap. Would like to dabble with it again.
 
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