speedpop said:
Technically it is compared to every other shareholder. But compare that to Fukushima himself (who nets 21.29%) and it's easy to see why Square Enix supports the market leaders.
Um, actually, Fukushima Planning LTD. is #2 as well, so Fukushima really has control of about 30% of the company's stock.
Sony's holdings in Square were never big enough to have a real influence, post-merger it plays an even smaller role. Square Enix will continue to do what both companies have done for a long time, supporting the market leader in Japan.
This system cycle will probably play out slightly different than previous because handheld gaming has really taken Japan by storm and the DS allows for rich gameplay experiences unlike what the GBA could offer, making it a viable platform for bigger budget titles that SE flagships tend to be. At the same time Sony has presented an interesting alternate format for handheld games that offers even more hardware power with the PSP. While it won't be a primary platform in SE's business model it has a strong foothold in a demographic that historically makes SE a lot of money. Hence why we're seeing some strategically timed FF remakes and FFT rerelease leading up to Crisis Core, the real money maker.
On the console side I don't think there is any way SE gives the Wii as much support as they historically give the lead Japanese platform. The Square end of the company has always been heavily invested in cutting edge graphics technology and they've already made that initial commitment this generation. They need to ride it out and find a way to make those big budget titles profitable. I wouldn't be completely surprised if that includes taking the White Engine, and all the games associated with it, multiplatform across both the PS3 and 360. Last Remnant strikes me as a trial run to see if the 360 fanbase will support traditional JRPGs.
At the same time though SE definitely won't ignore the Wii. I'd expect a lot of their major titles that have yet to go into full production will be looked at through the microscope of "can we shift this to Wii instead?" Kingdom Hearts 3 seems like the most obvious choice. I wouldn't be surprised if SE and Nintendo worked out a revival of the Ogre Battle franchise on Nintendo systems as well (though a DS release might be more likely). SaGa and Mana games on Wii also seems like a good fit, as the system is generally lacking in RPGs.
I'm expecting some big departures from the norm from SE this generation though. Primarily an attempt to branch out into other genres. They've established a variety of RPG IPs across multiple formats while dabbling in other genres as it is. I wouldn't be surprised if we see a big budget action or FPS title come from them in the near future. I'd love to see a revival of Tobal or Bushido Blade, but the sales just aren't there in the fighting genre anymore.