Square Enix sticks to its strengths

LOS ANGELES--Square Enix fired the opening salvo at E3 2005, holding one of this year's earliest preshow press conferences. At the event, held at Paramount Studios' lush Hollywood headquarters, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada and corporate executive Hashimoto Shinji spoke briefly before yielding the floor to a long stream of trailers for upcoming releases.

Wada opened the press conference with some remarks on Square Enix's ideas for next-generation consoles. After noting that all three console makers are readying next-generation hardware, he said, "Based on our information, they're all very powerful and will push us as developers." But he then commented that even more than processor specs, the network environment for the machines is a key area of interest for the company.

An increased focus on online play will mark a sharp change from Square Enix's projects in the current generation: The lineup Wada showed today included just one game with an online component, Front Mission Online.

After his opening remarks, Wada segued into an explanation of Square Enix's strategy of "polymorphic content." As Wada explained, one of the most common models for game development is using a property originally developed for a novel or film. An idea that's successful in one media is repurposed for other media, one after the other. In contrast, Square Enix's roadmap for the future calls for taking original concepts and developing them simultaneously across multiple media, including novelizations, film, games, and "others"--a category that presumably includes manga.

Square Enix's efforts with the upcoming Compilation of Final Fantasy VII project give a taste of how this strategy might play out. This project will include the movie Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which will be released on both DVD and UMD, as well as three games: the North American release of the mobile game Before Crisis - Final Fantasy VII, the action RPG Crisis Core - Final Fantasy VII that's currently in development for the PSP, and Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, an action game due on the PS2.

The company also introduced its next polymorphic content property: Code Age. This franchise will launch with three properties: Code Age Archives, a manga series; Code Age Brawls, a game for the North American mobile market; and Code Age Commanders, a PS2 game.

Following Wada, Square Enix corporate executive Hashimoto Shinji also spoke briefly about Square Enix's future business plans. He explained that due to demand from North American gamers, the company was expanding its merchandising in the region. New products--including action figures from Final Fantasy VII and Dragon Quest 8--will be available on the company's Web site, as well as at specialty shops.

After these brief remarks, the executives ceded the stage to the real stars: the game trailers. Most of the trailers included extensive use of animation and CGI as well as gameplay footage, and games previewed included Dragon Quest 8, Full Metal Alchemist 2, Radiata Stories, Romancing SaGa, Code Age Brawls, Code Age Commanders, Front Mission Online, FF XII (trailer only, no gameplay footage), the movie and games in Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, and Kingdom Hearts II.

Interestingly enough, it was a new franchise that garnered the biggest crowd reaction. Kingdom Hearts II features Johnny Depp reprising his Pirates of the Caribbean role, and his appearance as a swashbuckling skeleton earned a laugh from everyone in the room--the crowd was obviously excitied to see some new faces included with the company's old standards.