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Report: Square Enix seeking US publishing partner

By Tor Thorsen, GameSpotPosted Sep 24, 2007 10:19 pm PT

"Worried" by lagging PS3 sales, the Final Fantasy publisher looking for help to raise non-Japanese revenues by 50 percent, says the Financial Times.

Square Enix is an institution in Japan, where new entries into its Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series draw crowds akin to a new console launch. The Tokyo-based publisher also has a big following in North America--but not big enough, according to a recent Financial Times report.

Over the weekend at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, the Times spoke with Square Enix senior vice president Michihiro Sasaki. The executive explained that in the coming months, the publisher wants to strike a deal with an American partner to help market its games stateside.

"We need to seek cooperation with a US publisher," Sasaki said. "Our strength is in role-playing games and fantasy titles, so it is a bit difficult to appeal to the US market." He went on to bemoan the fact that the US and Canadian markets are dominated by action games, such as the preordained blockbuster Halo 3.

A deal with a US partner would be part of Square Enix's new initiative to boost revenue from overseas markets. Sasaki told the Times that executives at the company feel it is "imperative" to "raise overseas sales to 50 percent of overall revenues within three years." The company is also looking to expand its presence in casual games and in massively multiplayer online role playing games, which generate ongoing revenue via subscriptions.

Sasaki also told the Times that Square Enix executives are "worried" about sales of the PlayStation 3, which continues to trail the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii in global sales. The publisher has invested heavily in several upcoming PS3 exclusives, including Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Square Enix's sole next-generation role-playing game to date, Final Fantasy XI for the Xbox 360, sold nearly 174,000 copies in the US, according to the NPD Group. An expansion, Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess, is slated to arrive in November.

289 Comments

  • Spryt

    Posted Jul 22, 2008 10:15 am PT

    The 360 is only cheaper because it is cheaply made & terribly manufactured - just like everything American. Take your cars for example.
    The 360 is only seeing so much games go to it's console is to reduce development costs which is ultimatlly the reason behind & the result of short games due to the dismal storage space & processing power.

    Calling for this game to the 360 to "make more money" is... ridiculous. The PS3 rules supreme in Japan and has the fastest sales growth (behind the Wii & the DS) in europe. So microsoft sales of this game are no were near as high as you think they will be. If the release of the XIII series was to make more money the franchise would go to the Wii first!

  • _full_metal_

    Posted Jun 22, 2008 12:52 pm PT

    what is SQ worried abt there are more than 11 million ppl tht own a ps3 world wide and im sure more than half of them want FF and im sure by 2009 the number will b double tht and double the number of ppl who want it

  • Ravage27

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 9:56 pm PT

    lol MS is the new king...dream on

  • APOLLOCJD

    Posted Feb 22, 2008 6:43 am PT

    Square I am sure MS Studios would be interested in a partnership lol.....like that would ever happen

  • DJOHSHIT

    Posted Feb 11, 2008 11:38 pm PT

    PLZ BRING IT 2 THE 360 IT WILL MAKE SQUARE MORE MONEY THEN SONY WOULD SO STOP BEING BLIND I OWN A 360 NOT A PS3 FOR GOOD REASONS EXPENSIVE!!!! MICROSOFT IS THE NEW KING JUST BOW 2 THE NEW KING OF CONSOLES AND GAMERS.

  • Blindfeld

    Posted Jan 1, 2008 4:53 pm PT

    I'm waiting for a few more games that I want to come out-- then I'll buy the PS3

  • Deyyhayederaned

    Posted Dec 18, 2007 3:56 am PT

    I think that even though their are still many PS3 titles yet to be released that would certainly boost console sales, its more on the lines that things are drawn between quality and qauntity. Most games for the PS3 are just as visually appealing as X-360 games, the key difference being that PS3 is really expensive and until absolutely ground breaking new games are released the console sales will likely stay low. I think that the new Final Fantasy Titles will almost certainly boost sales, though at the moment they look like they are going to be in development for a long time yet. Overall I stick by it being over-priced and most people will not spend £425 on a PS3 when they could get an X-360 for about £100 less, I am not cheap but I'm also not stupid with money. I also agree that they should remake the masterpiece that is FF7, unfortunately I was never really engrossed by it when it was new as I lived in dark box until 4 years ago. However it has to be said that more over game-play I like a good plot and mega graphics.

  • Persaiyez

    Posted Dec 10, 2007 6:24 pm PT

    IF SE wants to boost their sales for N.A then they should release most of their games internationally,Tht would boost their sales up exponentially.The games for next year would make the PS3 more popular..G.O.W 3 M.G.S.4 etc.They should stop making remakes for games they already made like ff-x2..which noone wants to play...N.A is mostly FPS games..draw people's attention like FFVXIII.The sales for PS3 wouldn't boost most likely till next year when the games for the PS3 come out.Then they'll see increase in sales...its still early they shouldn't necessarily worry about anything till next year sept,oct!

  • mikedarkness

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 6:58 am PT

    they want to boost sales release ff7 for PS3...plain and simple

  • crlake

    Posted Nov 9, 2007 12:53 am PT

    Start selling your freaking "International" games -- internationally. Duh. Start selling your Mobile Phone games ON-LINE, screw the phone companies. I hate FPS. I like using my brain -- not just button mash. Many, many people feel the same way.

  • solaris1979

    Posted Nov 5, 2007 11:28 am PT

    I felt dumber just reading Digital_XTC's comment. I mean.. seriously? World wants Final fantasy to end? RPG just same game with different graphic and story? Do you read books? I guess if you have a dictionary, you can stop there, rest of the books are just differently titles with words in different order. And honestly, since you play a lot of FPS, tell me how any of them differs? How about Godfather and GTA? Did you even think?

  • ukillwegrill

    Posted Nov 2, 2007 4:53 am PT

    microsoft will publish it .........

  • juan99692k6

    Posted Oct 20, 2007 8:19 pm PT

    Final Fantasy is like an oasis in this desert of FPS (First Person Shooters) that is called america

  • bakasora

    Posted Oct 12, 2007 10:57 am PT

    lots of shallow people

  • KingBahamut

    Posted Oct 9, 2007 10:41 pm PT

    What KH final mix isn't out here nooooooooooo!! we also never got FF10-2 last mission why can't we get them

  • cloud1980

    Posted Oct 5, 2007 7:54 am PT

    If square enix wants to boost their NA sales, then they should, oh I don't know, release all their games in NA. The KH Final mix's would make them a profit over here, I don't know what the hell they're concerns are. Plus Crisis core shouldn't take that long to localize.

  • Rocket1988

    Posted Oct 3, 2007 11:18 pm PT

    I dont know what SQ is Bi**** about. The games their making aren't coming out till 2009, if that, by then sony will be back on top due to MGS4 and some other notable titles. Maybe if they quit giving interviews for magazines stationed in New York and do their work in Japan they could get done. FF is huge here and everyone will notice it with the graphics that are coming out. Let the game do the talking. AND QUIT MAKING REMAKES, i don't want to play FF 2 for the third time, it was so-so the first and it sucked the last.

  • hot_dao

    Posted Oct 1, 2007 6:27 pm PT

    HAHAHA!!!
    Square-enix is getting stupid!!!
    I mean if fans want the game then they MUST get the PS3...
    Making PS3 Sales more higher and it'll go higher if Sony will lower the price even more...
    But the PS3 is a must for enterament perposes anyway... Cheapest Blue-Ray Player...
    Anyways why the hell are you going to make a moblie game!!!
    STUPID!!!

  • robdaman111

    Posted Oct 1, 2007 1:19 pm PT

    i honestly dont know what the executives are worried about one the fall line ups over and the ps3 has generated some money which it will with its line up 2008 will b the ps3's best year so far, all in all fall of 07 is a great line up no matter what console (or pc user) u own

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