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Rumor: Square to sell two franchises

I have to think it's the Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre series. First off, it's fairly desireable to a buyer - the games weren't gigantic sellers compared to Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest in Japan, but had a pretty big following.

Secondly, it's something of a redundant property for Squenix, they have their own fantasy brands and settings, more than they can exploit (and they have been trying hard, lately), including their own Tactics Ogre ripoff series, FFT.
 

Terrell

Member
Segata Sanshiro said:
They should sell Ogre Battle to whoever Matsuno's with now, and sell Chrono to Mistwalker.
Well, Nintendo has deep pockets, and that appears to be the only company that is being rumor-tied to any new Matsuno projects... which makes sense, since he's been one of the most vocal voices about how Wii and DS are kick-ass innovations.

If anyone's going to buy a franchise from Square Enix, Nintendo seems to be the prime contender, especially franchises that Nintendo has been carrying in North America anyways, like the Ogre Battle series.
 

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
i would approve of ogre or vagrant story being sold to matsuno, dq being sold to someone who'd take better care of it, or kingdom hearts being sold to satan, its rightful owner
 

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
I think they will sell the Ergheiz and Rad Racer franchises because those are obviously hot right now and would make Square a lot (alot) of money.
 

ethelred

Member
Terrell said:
Well, Nintendo has deep pockets, and that appears to be the only company that is being rumor-tied to any new Matsuno projects... which makes sense, since he's been one of the most vocal voices about how Wii and DS are kick-ass innovations.

If anyone's going to buy a franchise from Square Enix, Nintendo seems to be the prime contender, especially franchises that Nintendo has been carrying in North America anyways, like the Ogre Battle series.

Nintendo never carried the Ogre Battle series in North America. They funded the development of a number of the games, and published them in Japan, but Ogre Battle Limited Edition, Tactics Ogre, Ogre Battle 64, and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis were all published in the US by Atlus.
 

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
RaijinFY said:
Does Rad Racer exist?


Does anything ever truely exist?
How do I know you arent just some crazy figment of my imagination?

God, sometimes I am so deep.
 

Doctor_No

Member
soco said:
parasite eve and something even lesser known!

Parasite Eve doesn't belong to Square-Enix, I believe it belongs to Kadokawa Shoten & Hideaki Sena the publisher/writer of the novel which the game is based.
 

icecream

Public Health Threat
Busty said:
Perhaps. Though I would have thought Level 5, if anyone,would have earned the right to pick through what's left gathering dust in SE's Ip closet rather than Mistwalker.
Why?
 

SumGamer

Member
I dont see how can an outsider buy whatever titles from SQ-E. They have no need to sell anything. If someone is to buy it, it will be someone that used to be in SQ-E and it will be a currently low profile games. KH rumous is too hard to bite.
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
drohne said:
i would approve of ogre or vagrant story being sold to matsuno, dq being sold to someone who'd take better care of it, or kingdom hearts being sold to satan, its rightful owner

:lol :lol

"admittadly," I haven't played either of them. (vagrant story and kingdom hearts)


edit:
but you're oh-so-wrong about DragonQuest.
 
trancejeremy said:
I have to think it's the Ogre Battle/Tactics Ogre series. First off, it's fairly desireable to a buyer - the games weren't gigantic sellers compared to Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest in Japan, but had a pretty big following.

Secondly, it's something of a redundant property for Squenix, they have their own fantasy brands and settings, more than they can exploit (and they have been trying hard, lately), including their own Tactics Ogre ripoff series, FFT.

Well, Sony and Microsoft do need to have something to compete with Fire Emblem, IMO. Nintendo can't be the only one with a great console SRPG.

Of course, Sony could make it a PSP/PS3 brand just like Nintendo has made Fire Emblem a handheld/console brand.

Microsoft, on the other hand, just needs to scrape up some japanese gamers.
 

ethelred

Member
Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
Well, Sony and Microsoft do need to have something to compete with Fire Emblem, IMO. Nintendo can't be the only one with a great console SRPG.

Of course, Sony could make it a PSP/PS3 brand just like Nintendo has made Fire Emblem a handheld/console brand.

Microsoft, on the other hand, just needs to scrape up some japanese gamers.

Er, why would Sony buy the Ogre Battle franchise? The only reason anyone would buy that is if they're going to have Yasumi Matsuno develop new games for it... and Nintendo's published many of the Ogre Battle games in the past, so it's at least conceivable that they'd have an interest in acquiring it again.
 

Pellham

Banned
drohne said:
i would approve of ogre or vagrant story being sold to matsuno, dq being sold to someone who'd take better care of it, or kingdom hearts being sold to satan, its rightful owner


wow wtf, i hope you're kidding, otherwise that is easily the most retarded thing suggested on neoGAF ever.
 
ethelred said:
Er, why would Sony buy the Ogre Battle franchise? The only reason anyone would buy that is if they're going to have Yasumi Matsuno develop new games for it... and Nintendo's published many of the Ogre Battle games in the past, so it's at least conceivable that they'd have an interest in acquiring it again.


I just don't see why Nintendo would need two SRPG franchises to pimp.
 

ethelred

Member
Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
I just don't see why Nintendo would need two SRPG franchises to pimp.

Well, like I said, they used to publish the Ogre Battle Saga games anyway, and they were very profitable for them at the time. They're also publishing Sakaguchi's ASH for the DS, so it seems like they don't mind having more SRPG franchises in general.

No one is going to buy it, btw; the series is dead. But if anyone were to acquire the rights, it's only because they have Yasumi Matsuno and want him to develop games for an established franchise. It definitely wouldn't be Sony, and I don't see Microsoft (or Mistwalker, as is more popularly theorized) as being likely.
 

Branduil

Member
Pellham said:
wow wtf, i hope you're kidding, otherwise that is easily the most retarded thing suggested on neoGAF ever.

What do you mean, it's so obvious that Dragon Quest would be better of in the hands of someone else instead of Horii. Obviously the maker of the series knows less about it than message board posters.
 
ethelred said:
Well, like I said, they used to publish the Ogre Battle Saga games anyway, and they were very profitable for them at the time. They're also publishing Sakaguchi's ASH for the DS, so it seems like they don't mind having more SRPG franchises in general.

No one is going to buy it, btw; the series is dead. But if anyone were to acquire the rights, it's only because they have Yasumi Matsuno and want him to develop games for an established franchise. It definitely wouldn't be Sony, and I don't see Microsoft (or Mistwalker, as is more popularly theorized) as being likely.



Right, the series is dead but the one company that already has a main SRPG franchise would be the most likely buyer? I'm not buying it. I see a third party as being more likely if it were being sold, but of the three console makers I think it makes way more sense if it wasn't Nintendo. The Matsuno factor means nothing to me. I'm looking more at the needs of each.
 

ethelred

Member
Dr. Kitty Muffins said:
Right, the series is dead but the one company that already has a main SRPG franchise would be the most likely buyer? I'm not buying it. I see a third party as being more likely if it were being sold, but of the three console makers I think it makes way more sense if it wasn't Nintendo. The Matsuno factor means nothing to me. I'm looking more at the needs of each.


The Matsuno thing isn't a factor? Er... seriously, it's been a popular series, but the only reason anyone would buy it would be for Matsuno. Any other third party would just be better off creating (and marketing) their own SRPG series rather than buying the rights to an old one that not too many people care about anymore.

Saying someone would just randomly buy it without factoring in Matsuno is just silly.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
We don't actually KNOW Matsuno is at Nintendo, do we though?

The rumor was that he's at Cavia.
 

Pellham

Banned
ethelred said:
Well, like I said, they used to publish the Ogre Battle Saga games anyway, and they were very profitable for them at the time. They're also publishing Sakaguchi's ASH for the DS, so it seems like they don't mind having more SRPG franchises in general.

No one is going to buy it, btw; the series is dead. But if anyone were to acquire the rights, it's only because they have Yasumi Matsuno and want him to develop games for an established franchise. It definitely wouldn't be Sony, and I don't see Microsoft (or Mistwalker, as is more popularly theorized) as being likely.

Nintendo only published two Ogre Battle games, and the only reason they did was because those two games were on Nintendo platforms. If you recall, SNK published Ogre Battle Gaiden for NGPC.

There's absolutely no reason to believe Nintendo would buy the rights to the series. That would mean that they would actually create a dev team to specifically take over the series. I just don't see it happening, especially when the series doesn't sell that well.

I really doubt Ogre Battle is one of the series for sale (assuming the rumor is true). I'd think that if Matsuno had gotten hired by a major game company and was a producer or executive producer from the getgo (giving him the ability to even make such decisions), we'd have known about it by now. I also don't think Matsuno would bother to make another Ogre game without help from Yoshida, Minagawa, Iwata, and Sakimoto.
 

icecream

Public Health Threat
Y2Kevbug11 said:
We don't actually KNOW Matsuno is at Nintendo, do we though?

The rumor was that he's at Cavia.
One of these is slightly more believable than the other. :p

duckroll said:
I just heard from a realiable source that Square was selling Enix.
Sonyenix confirmed.
 

ethelred

Member
I already said the series is dead and that no one's buying it and making new games for it. But if someone did, it'd be for Matsuno, not just because some company randomly decides they'd like an SRPG and "oh, hey, why don't I buy this one that hasn't had a new game in seven years instead of just making my own."

No one's going to buy it, but if any of the big three were to do so, Nintendo would be the likeliest candidate considering, A) rumors of Matsuno making a game for them, and B) their history of publishing OB games in the past.

Microsoft wouldn't make any sense, considering the only studio they could feasibly give it to would be Mistwalker... and Mistwalker has already shown a decidedly strong inclination to create new identifiable franchises on its own, not run with Square Enix secondhand castoffs.

Nintendo only published two Ogre Battle games, and the only reason they did was because those two games were on Nintendo platforms. If you recall, SNK published Ogre Battle Gaiden for NGPC.

Er, yeah, and if Nintendo did get the rights, I expect future games in the series would be on a Nintendo platform, too. You're acting like I said "NINTENDO BUYS OGRE BATTLE, TO PUBLISH OGRE BATTLE 360."

Which is actually true, btw -- I just read it on 2ch.
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
icecream said:
One of these is slightly more believable than the other. :p


.

?? Is there any reason to believe he's working AT Nintendo? I mean, he was in that Wii video, but so were other developers.

We have no idea where he is, but he could be at Nintendo. He could also be at Cavia or Mistwalker or he could be working on the next Tony Hawk game.
 

Pellham

Banned
ethelred said:
Er, yeah, and if Nintendo did get the rights, I expect future games in the series would be on a Nintendo platform, too. You're acting like I said "NINTENDO BUYS OGRE BATTLE, TO PUBLISH OGRE BATTLE 360."

I was just pointing out that it was irrelevant to even mention that Nintendo published some of the Ogre games in the past. :p

Anyway these rumors are probably bullshit.
 

KTallguy

Banned
ethelred said:
I already said the series is dead and that no one's buying it and making new games for it. But if someone did, it'd be for Matsuno, not just because some company randomly decides they'd like an SRPG and "oh, hey, why don't I buy this one that hasn't had a new game in seven years instead of just making my own."

It's called brand recognition.

Original IP have a high failure rate.
 

PhatSaqs

Banned
Watch out folks...

w347.JPG
 

Tarazet

Member
The general consensus from this thread is that S-E should sell everything except Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. (And then there are a few outspoken people who think they should sell those too..)
 

plank

Member
ethelred said:
Well, like I said, they used to publish the Ogre Battle Saga games anyway, and they were very profitable for them at the time. They're also publishing Sakaguchi's ASH for the DS, so it seems like they don't mind having more SRPG franchises in general.

No one is going to buy it, btw; the series is dead. But if anyone were to acquire the rights, it's only because they have Yasumi Matsuno and want him to develop games for an established franchise. It definitely wouldn't be Sony, and I don't see Microsoft (or Mistwalker, as is more popularly theorized) as being likely.

We seriously need more info on Archaic Sealed Heat.
 

ethelred

Member
KTallguy said:
It's called brand recognition.

Original IP have a high failure rate.

Okay, hotshot, which third party is going to spend the money to outright buy the rights to a moderately popular but mostly forgotten series (without the motivation of having the guy who created it and pushed for the last company who bought it to do so) instead of just creating their own?

Namco Bandai? They'd just create the Troll Battle Saga and set it in the Holy Empire of Ludis. "HEY NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT HERE, BACK THE **** OFF SQUARE ENIX."

Konami? Konami couldn't even be bothered to revive its own moderately successful SRPG series (Vandal-Hearts), but you think they'll buy OBS?

Atlus? They've got Growlanser already, and if they wish to, they can just revive some of the stuff from their back catalogue like Maijin Tensei and tie it into the popularity of their broader SMT universe.

Please, elaborate.
 
sonarrat said:
The general consensus from this thread is that S-E should sell everything except Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. (And then there are a few outspoken people who think they should sell those too..)

Well, Squeenix doesn't seem like they should keep any franchises other than FF and DQ either, judging by their recent output. Seriously, who lets Chrono sit idle?
 

duckroll

Member
ethelred said:
Okay, hotshot, which third party is going to spend the money to outright buy the rights to a moderately popular but mostly forgotten series (without the motivation of having the guy who created it and pushed for the last company who bought it to do so) instead of just creating their own?

Namco Bandai? They'd just create the Troll Battle Saga and set it in the Holy Empire of Ludis. "HEY NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT HERE, BACK THE **** OFF SQUARE ENIX."

Konami? Konami couldn't even be bothered to revive its own moderately successful SRPG series (Vandal-Hearts), but you think they'll buy OBS?

Atlus? They've got Growlanser already, and if they wish to, they can just revive some of the stuff from their back catalogue like Maijin Tensei and tie it into the popularity of their broader SMT universe.

Please, elaborate.

Cavia clearly. I doubt Bulletwitch Tactics would sell all that well! :lol
 

KTallguy

Banned
ethelred said:
Okay, hotshot, which third party is going to spend the money to outright buy the rights to a moderately popular but mostly forgotten series (without the motivation of having the guy who created it and pushed for the last company who bought it to do so) instead of just creating their own?

You'd be surprised what "forgotten licenses" are snapped up by companies. Even without the original creators. It's not that the games are going to be any good, even with the original creators on board (can you say "Xenosaga"). It's just that there is brand recognition, which is always helpful in gaining mindshare and selling units. It's a much more attractive proposition for most companies, because original IPs usually fail. That's a fact. Why do we see remakes of games and movies? For that specific reason.
 

ccbfan

Member
When did the ogre series even become a moderately popular franchise. Ogre series has always been majorly niche and low key. Disgaea/Wild Arms/Suikoden would be what you considered moderately popular and the ogre series is way below that.

The ogre series is great and is one of my favorite series but to believe a company would buy it for the sake of "a named franchise" is ridicules.

There's probably over 50 rpg franchises that have more name power than the series. You might as well make a new one.

The only reason someone would buy the ogre franchise is because of matsuno. Plain and simple.
 

ethelred

Member
ccbfan said:
When did the ogre series even become a moderately popular franchise. Ogre series has always been majorly cliche and low key. Disgaea/Wild Arms/Suikoden would be what you considered moderately popular and the ogre series is way below that.

This would be the same Disgaea that was drastically outsold by both Ogre Battle 64 and TO: KOL, right? Those same two games outsold pretty much every Wild ARMs and Suikoden game, too, actually...

I'm just checking, here.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
ethelred said:
This would be the same Disgaea that was drastically outsold by both Ogre Battle 64 and TO: KOL, right? Those same two games outsold pretty much every Wild ARMs and Suikoden game, too, actually...

I'm just checking, here.
^.

Seriously. The only SRPG series that really sell better than Ogre Battle on consoles are SMT, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy Tactics, probably. and Final Fantasy Tactics' popularity basically is entirely attributed to the Final Fantasy name (You could probably also argue that Fire Emblem's popularity is due to the Nintendo brand, I guess).
 

Jiggy

Member
GaimeGuy said:
^.

Seriously. The only SRPG series that really sell better than Ogre Battle on consoles are SMT, Fire Emblem, and Final Fantasy Tactics, probably. and Final Fantasy Tactics' popularity basically is entirely attributed to the Final Fantasy name (You could probably also argue that Fire Emblem's popularity is due to the Nintendo brand, I guess).
More like due to Smash Bros--if that's any different kind of argument at all, which it might not be.


Edit: I should provide some kind of backup for what I think, I suppose. In this case, it's that various Nintendo-made games haven't done Fire Emblem's numbers in spite of the Nintendo pedigree--just to think of a couple, Chibi Robo, Custom Robo, and, sad as it is, probably Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents. I don't think the Nintendo name alone sells games, but rather it's the familiarity with their characters. Though this is anecdotal, most people I've known had no clue who Ness, Captain Falcon, or Marth/Roy were before playing SSB/SSBM, but a few at least took passing interest afterward. Just the idea of franchise awareness stemming from a different game, basically.
 

GaimeGuy

Volunteer Deputy Campaign Director, Obama for America '16
Jiggy37 said:
More like due to Smash Bros--if that's any different kind of argument at all, which it might not be.


Edit: I should provide some kind of backup for what I think, I suppose. In this case, it's that various Nintendo-made games haven't done Fire Emblem's numbers in spite of the Nintendo pedigree--just to think of a couple, Chibi Robo, Custom Robo, and, sad as it is, probably Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents. I don't think the Nintendo name alone sells games, but rather it's the familiarity with their characters. Though this is anecdotal, most people I've known had no clue who Ness, Captain Falcon, or Marth/Roy were before playing SSB/SSBM, but a few at least took passing interest afterward. Just the idea of franchise awareness stemming from a different game, basically.
that's true, as well. Then again, Fire Emblem was always pretty hyped up by the press as well. Smash definitely contributed, though.
 

TreIII

Member
GaimeGuy said:
that's true, as well. Then again, Fire Emblem was always pretty hyped up by the press as well. Smash definitely contributed, though.

Of course, this would mainly hold true in areas outside of Japan. In Japan, the only thing that Smash really ended up doing was pimping Roy, so that the Japanese would know to look out for the game starring him some time later.

Again, in the end, I think that whatever company ends up snapping up the OB saga (if this is true) will just end up utilizing in the best way possible. And in Japan, where RPGs still are king, it would probably be just enough to know that OB is coming back that may garner some old heads back.

plank said:
We seriously need more info on Archaic Sealed Heat.

Definitely. I mean, c'mon! This game had to be in development at LEAST as long as Blue Dragon, if not possibly longer. Blue Dragon's out now, so where is ASH? We should have at LEAST gotten a new news break with some new pictures by now...
 

Terrell

Member
Y2Kevbug11 said:
We don't actually KNOW Matsuno is at Nintendo, do we though?

The rumor was that he's at Cavia.
Which makes no sense. Matsuno has spent the last 6-12 months thanking the heavens for the Wiimote, then signs on with a developer who's currently riding Microsoft's bologne-pony? Unlikely.
 

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
matsuno has "spent the last 6-12 months thanking heaven for the wiimote?" wasn't it just one appearance in a nintendo promotional video, or did i miss something?
 

ethelred

Member
Terrell said:
Which makes no sense. Matsuno has spent the last 6-12 months thanking the heavens for the Wiimote, then signs on with a developer who's currently riding Microsoft's bologne-pony? Unlikely.

That one five minute appearance at the Nintendo conference lasted 6-12 months? There must be some kind of time warp...

rockyhorrorpictureshowod0.jpg
 

drohne

hyperbolically metafictive
maybe terrell has gotten 'yasumi matsuno' confused with 'lapsed'

it's an easy mistake to make
 
If there ever is another Ogre Battle, they damn well better start using Queen subtitles again. Ogre Battle: Tie Your Mother Down has a nice roll to it.
 
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