Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

arstechnica.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

241–250 of 264 posts

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#241

Post by astrange »

skinnymuch wrote: post #118
Shadonototra wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SquareSoft was great, when they merged with Enix to form SquareEnix is when things started to go wrong People mix both SquareSoft's success and Enix and their merge

Yeah I’ve looked at the games catalogue before. It doesn’t seem like Enix brings that much to the table. It seems like they got real lucky being there financially for Squaresoft after their massive film losses.

Dragon Quest is more important than any Squaresoft game in Japan and for a while was a better series.

They have a kind of weird approach to releasing it in the West where they give everyone British accents (which are totally real but Americans think are made up) and make it kind of kiddy, but even the new ones have a lot of quality. If you ever wondered what a game made by old people would be like, it’s that.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#242

Post by astrange »

ddingus wrote: post #124

Man, I just want more of tye big world FF 7 through 12 type games. Anyone doing titles like that anymore? My wife and I really enjoy a big one and will play one all the way through. Miss that type of experience. The MMO is completely uninteresting and addictive as hell from what I see can happen to players.

FFXIV is not addictive unless you want it to be (there’s not much need to grind or talk to other people to do the story) and after the so-so ARR has one of the best stories of any of their games.

It is running on an old engine with unimpressive graphics but that’s all.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#243

Post by astrange »

egypturnash wrote: post #109
swarnie wrote: post #10

I'd be interesting to see the full list of IP they've sold. The article only gives three examples, one game I've never heard of, one recycled shooter from the 2000s and then there is Tomb raider - a series with twenty instalments, already milked to dust for pre-sequels, squeals and reboots more times then seems fair. Clearly someone thinks they can squeeze a few more dollars out of people here but personally im not s…

If you are curious, the game you’ve never heard of is definitely in the realm of “cult classic”. The Legacy of Kain series is flawed in many ways; its reach exceeds its grasp in every installment, but there is a lot of solid vampire angst in between the places where the budget ran out. When it comes together it’s great IMHO. Start with Soul Reaver , where you are a vampire who is killed in the opening cinematic, then…

It’s too bad the newer White Wolf/Vampire games are in complete development hell, and the rest of the series can’t figure out how to balance adding current events, being modernly inclusive, and being as edgy as possible.

(Also, it seems like all their series that aren’t Vampire are kinda boring.)

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#244

Post by astrange »

morelisp wrote: post #107
jerf wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for the intention of the purchaser, but in their position I'd be looking to just unlock the teams. My impression of Square-Enix is that they've frankly just never been a company comfortable with being international, and it has shown for a very long time now. Just let the teams go produce something without the Eastern and Western design, management, marketing... heck, nearly all the philosophies clashing…

Specifically, this is Enix. Square had a considerably more international outlook and viewpoint, but even a lot of that seems to have been squeezed out since the merger. You can look at the spun-off/second-party studios to see - from Square Monolith and AlphaDream consistently pushing formal boundaries of the JRPG, vs. from Enix tri-Ace's extremely conservative approach to Star Ocean and... I can't think of any other…

Enix was I think a smaller company which is now notable because their remaining people are still working even though they’re really old.

That can be good (Yuji Horii has a game sensibility nobody younger would) or bad (they were stuck with their composer who was mainly known for being a far-right Japanese nationalist).

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#245

Post by astrange »

johnnyanmac wrote: post #228
swarnie wrote: post #10

I'd be interesting to see the full list of IP they've sold. The article only gives three examples, one game I've never heard of, one recycled shooter from the 2000s and then there is Tomb raider - a series with twenty instalments, already milked to dust for pre-sequels, squeals and reboots more times then seems fair. Clearly someone thinks they can squeeze a few more dollars out of people here but personally im not s…

>I'd be interesting to see the full list of IP they've sold. well, here's a start: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Eidos_Interactive_game... Apparently the only IP's SE definitely kept was Just Cause and Life is Strange

They still have Power Wash Simulator.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#246

Post by inopinatus »

mfost wrote: post #208
inopinatus wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The market and real estate systems in FF14 are indicative that Square Enix's creative units either have no idea whatsoever about how economies work, or no interest in making theirs fit for purpose. Their efforts in this direction are easily derided as painfully limited, crude, naive, and dysfunctional, certainly one of the least well designed aspects of the experience. This stands in stark contrast to the thoughtful,…

Except that the other MMO economies are horrible to play in. FFXIV is a lot more fun than say GW2 economy driven game. Subjective you'd say? Maybe but it does show that maybe they know better about what a game needs than you think.

Subjective perhaps, but I don’t think the soft soap stands up to scrutiny. Case in point, witness the absolute fiasco of this month’s “property lottery”. A shitshow of bad design, disastrous implementation, and consequently failed rollout, which somehow won’t be resolved for weeks. As for the market; anyone who tries to run a shop is in for a world of pain, forced to micromanage their listings using the clunkiest of tools, in an unstable market with limited price signals and irrational competitors. Fun? No sir. It’s a pain in the ass.

I can’t speak to GW2, but cherry-picking something you clearly think is worse sets a very low bar. I don’t accept that meeting a low standard is a reasonable expectation. A long long time ago I used to help run an Eve:Online corporation, and there the sophisticated economy and market systems made for a vastly richer player experience.

The point being, Square Enix can’t be taken seriously when they talk about in-game economic structures. Their track record is one of incompetence and indifference.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#247

Post by saithir »

Longlius wrote: post #170
make3 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For people who don't play MMOs because they're way too addictive, the focus of square on FFXIV has been really disappointing

You can basically engage with the entire story of XIV without touching the MMO part at all. Especially now that they're going back and enabling NPC party members for the story dungeons.

That's only for the 4-man dungeons. You still need to run the Crystal Tower raid, for example.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#248

Post by dainchi »

dleslie wrote: post #213
jameshart wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Anybody could make a near-future cyberpunk conspiracy-oriented immersive sim Pretty sure CD Projekt disproved that theory

The cyberpunk game that covered its expenses, made a profit, and is slated to receive DLC was made by a studio that disproved that theory how, exactly?

While it technically "made a profit" it's sales after launch where massively under expectations.

They where expecting to sell upwards of 30+ Million copies in the first year. They sold 14+ Million before launch, and an additional 4 Million since. For an AAA game of this size that is a crazy dropoff, and it is unlikely to ever reach the original goal, even if the expansions manage to turn the massive PR hit to CD Projekt around.

(And thats ignoring the fact that CD's stock absolutely tanked after launch, and is unlikely to recover until The Witcher 4, if ever.)

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#249

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

Cloudef wrote: post #236
keeganpoppen wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

can't agree about xiv-- i've never been an mmo guy, but have absolutely loved playing xiv. the story, esp. w/ Endwalker (the newest expansion) is fantastic. but to each, his or her own, i suppose. :)

Probably because xiv isn't really a mmo but single player theme park, with some multiplayer features.

That's what a lot of MMOs are right now. Feels like saying that modern CGI movies aren't really movies because they don't feature actors. Unfortunately the age of EQ, where you grind for hours and hours with a group as the primary way to level, has passed.

Re: Square-Enix sells all of its Western game studios and their games to Embracer

#250

Post by elif »

pavlov wrote: post #210
elif wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those seem like obvious areas of research for a next generation game developer. Perhaps you are overreacting because of a culturally normative skepticism toward the word "Blockchain"

Pick a hapless MBA-equipped middle manager at Oracle or IBM or some other washed-up corporate hell, and ask them what are important technology trends. The answer will be some variation of “blockchain, AI, cloud.” It’s not encouraging if high-level leaders at a game studio can’t articulate their vision any better than that.

again, you are making casual comparisons to your existing impression of companies using buzzwords. this reveals a cultural bias, as i am trying to explain.

you are not directly impugning one of the best game development studios in history in any way, despite seemingly thinking so...

what you are revealing is merely your sentiment about these terms

Post reply on HN