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The vision, which Nintendo fans everywhere have for years been
enthused about has finally become a reality. In an agreement with
Nintendo, Square Co. has vowed to support the Nintendo GameCube and
Game Boy Advance game platforms. Game Designers' Studio, a new Square
subsidiary lead by
director Akitoshi Kawazu, will facilitate development of Square
titles on Nintendo platforms. Kawazu will have 51% ownership of the
firm while Square will assume 49%.
News of the agreement first broke earlier this evening when the
Japanese news publication, Nikkei Net reported, "Nintendo has agreed
to resume procuring the popular "Final Fantasy" video game
software for its game consoles from Square Co. after a five-year
hiatus."
Last November it was reported that Hiroshi Yamauchi, President of
Nintendo, had sold a portion of his stock in Nintendo to create Fund
Q, a
¥20b ($160m) fund that would offer financial support to start-up
video game developers. Apparently, this very fund was involved in
encouraging Square's return to Nintendo.
Squaresoft's franchises include The Bouncer, Chrono Trigger, Ehrgeiz,
Final Fantasy, Parasite Eve, and Secret of Mana, among others. In
the immediate future, the firm will likely port older games from the 8 and
16-bit era of the Final Fantasy franchise to the Game Boy Advance.
Square anticipates the release of 3 or 4 GBA games within 2002 - one
of which is now known to be Final Fantasy Tactics. A new Final
Fantasy that supports the GC/GBA link is scheduled for a Q4 release.
Much additional information will be revealed at E3.
Reuters article on this development...
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Square to Release 'Final Fantasy' for Nintendo
(Reuters) Japan's Square Co. Ltd, after a six-year absence, will
return the legendary "Final Fantasy" video game series to
Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s consoles, Nintendo said on Friday.
Confirming earlier reports in Japan, a Nintendo of America
spokeswoman told Reuters that Square will set up a subsidiary to
develop new versions of the series for Nintendo's GameCube console
and Game Boy Advance handheld unit.
The development will be backed by Fund Q, a video game development
fund started in January by Hiroshi Yamauchi, the long-time president
of Nintendo.
Nintendo expects "Final Fantasy" titles for its consoles
to be released by the end of the year, the spokeswoman said.
Jeetil Patel, an analyst at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown who follows
the game industry, said having "Final Fantasy" would
probably help GameCube sales more in Japan than in the United
States. "At the margin it probably helps modestly," he
said.
"Final Fantasy X," released last year for Sony Corp's
PlayStation 2, was one of the 20 best-selling video games in the
United States in 2001, according to NPDFunworld, even though it was
released in early December.
Even before "Final Fantasy X," the Final Fantasy series
had sold 30 million copies worldwide since its inception.
Square had long developed "Final Fantasy" titles for
Nintendo, going back to Nintendo's original Super Famicom and NES in
the early 1980s, but in 1996 Square abandoned Nintendo to develop
games for Sony's PlayStation platform.
At that time, some Japanese analysts said the defection of Square
and other local publishers was a primary factor in PlayStation
surpassing Nintendo's N64 console, which was more advanced than the
PlayStation but also harder to develop for.
"Final Fantasy XI," the next title in the series, is
expected to take advantage of the online multi-player features of
the PS2 Sony unveiled on Thursday, and the Nintendo deal is not
expected to stop further PS2 production.
A spokeswoman for Electronic Arts Inc. , which co-published the game
in the United States with Square under a joint venture, was not
immediately available for comment on the Nintendo deal.
Sony in October invested $116 million in Square, making it the
company's second-largest shareholder. The infusion came after Square
posted its worst-ever loss, caused by the production of a movie
version of "Final Fantasy" that was a major commercial
flop.
Nintendo's $199 GameCube was launched in the U.S. in November of
last year. It competes with both the $299 PS2, which debuted in
November 2000, and Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox, which was released three
days before GameCube.
The $79 Game Boy Advance, a handheld system with as much power under
the hood as Nintendo's early 1990s SNES console, dominates the
handheld market globally, with almost no competition.
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March
8, 2002 |
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Rick - Editor in
Chief, GameCubicle |
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