A Done Deal - Taito & Square-Enix Will be One

[fitbabits]

Thanks to GameInsudtry.biz (http://www.gameindustry.biz) for the update (http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=13561).

Less than four months after Square-Enix first expressed an interest in acquiring fellow publisher Taito, it has been announced that the deal will complete on March 31st, 2006.

On this date Taito will become a wholly owned unit, although the company will retain its name - which carries with it the heritage of Space Invaders, the game that started it all back in 1978.
I know that Taito are keeping their name, but I propose the new company be called ASIA TENT ROQUE XI, which is an anagram of Square, Enix, and Taito. Sort of reminds me of a soccer team featuring a galaxy of stars!

[Balthasar]

Wow. Pretty soon Japanese gamers everywhere will be wondering why their favorite RPGs are being delayed over a year.

[bean19]

For the rest of you who asked themselves (like I did), "I remember Taito from Space Invaders, but what the hell have they done lately?"

Although Taito has had success with videogame franchises such as Bubble Bobble, Rakugaki Kingdom and of course Space Invaders, today most of the company's revenue is earned through arcades, pachinko and karaoke machines. Year end revenue stood at 84.6 billion Yen

Quote above is also from the article fitbabits found for us.

[critch]

How is that any different from how Square has done things recently? FFXII may never come out, and KH2 is only now being released.

[Heretic Machine]

EA Japan continues to grow larger, and larger...

[Stryfe01]

Wow. Pretty soon Japanese gamers everywhere will be wondering why their favorite RPGs are being delayed over a year.


Wow....you really beat me to posting the same thing. What has Taito put out that's really that good anyway in years ?

[Ailer]

in years i don't know, but one of my favorite games of all time, Lufia, was a Taito game.

[Balthasar]

in years i don't know, but one of my favorite games of all time, Lufia, was a Taito game.

Lufia was my first forey into turn-based role playing games. A painful introduction at first, but like heroin, you learn to love it.

[AbeLincoln]

What has taito done recently? Obviously none of you are big fans or train simulators :) Densha de Go! anybody?

[fitbabits]

Densha de Go! anybody?
Bless you! :rolleyes:

[NELS]

Shit yeah, loved Lufia! Now Lufia 2... that was a different story.

[Rommel]

Square has had some severe developmental problems the past few years. I would point to Final Fantasy VII's success being their downfall. Their genre was now successful worldwide and I do not think they were able to live up to their own hype and demand. The result was a slew of rushed, poorly designed products with noticible flaws.

Their most famous series suffered. Final Fantasy VIII was everything people loved about FFVII done to such an extreme that no one liked it anymore. FFIX was an attempt to move back to simpler times, and instead presented a story so convoluted it turned players away. FFX will probably be remembered as their last great Hurrah, but it had issues people in hindsight have forgotten. FFXI was... yeah.

They also released several stand alone and sequels most considered piss poor. Try Secret of Mana III and it's lackluster world builder, or Brave Fencer, or a spin and see what I mean. Their portable division was the only part of the company producing quality.

Worse, several key developers have parted ways with the company. As with any industry, talented people do not grow on trees. Their mergers and bloated business practices also played a part in their woes. If Shiggy left Nintendo, I would forsee them folding after the internal havoc it would create. Things are not that bad at Square, but the analogy is clear.

From what I can see, the delays of FFXII and KHII are a direct result of Square's restructuring and internal changes. And from what I can gather of the preiews of their future offerings, this new EATaitoSquareEnix is not a developer I want much part of.

[EvilBob46]

The result was a slew of rushed, poorly designed products with noticible flaws.


Final Fantasy VIII was everything people loved about FFVII done to such an extreme that no one liked it anymore.

What are you talking about? FFVIII, for example, has a huge fanbase to this day and a bigger fan-fiction scene than any of the other Final Fantasy games. Don't present your own opinion as fact. Just because you didn't like a game and some other people don't doesn't change the fact that many people and almost all reviewers highly regarded it.

Their portable division was the only part of the company producing quality.

A lot of games Square produced for home consoles, aside from FF, have achieved both critical as well as commercial success (Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest VIII in conjunction with Level 5).

From what I can see, the delays of FFXII and KHII are a direct result of Square's restructuring and internal changes.

Square has had some severe developmental problems the past few years.

Aside from the FFXII director leaving due to health reasons, what are you basing these "developement problems" on? Have you taken a look at KH2 and FFXII lately? Especially the later has absolutely insane art direction with enough detail in environments and especially cutscenes to make it perfectly obvious how much time is needed to create something like this. Both games already had the basic technology in place and their basic gameplay layed out years ago. There is no reason to believe that anything except the graphical detail are to blame for the extended development time.

And from what I can gather of the preiews of their future offerings, this new EATaitoSquareEnix is not a developer I want much part of.

Both Kingdom Hearts 2 and FFXII are *huge* titles and among the most highly anticipated. If you don't care about them, your loss.

[Valkyrist]

I havn't been watching KHII news, but I kinda have on FFXII.

Wasn't the delay in 12 due to restructuring, and the new management basicly said "What you have here is crap, do it over." ??? That's the impression I got.

Rommel, not everyone agrees with your view on the FF series as of late.

FF8 is still my fav in the series next to 6. Great story, music, etc. Only bad thing was that goddamn junction system (aka drawing magic more than actually fighting).

FF9 was also great. Hated the character designs. Music top-notch. Battle-system perfect. Story was great. I don't see how you can say it was convoluted. Maybe you just didn't get it? /shrug

FF10 I actually disliked terribly. Graphicly was stunning. Battle system was kinda nifty. And I loved how Yuna was the "real" main character, but the game was played from Tidus's point of view. That was a really neat twist. But the story itself was almost non-existant (yaya, kill my evil father) and if I ever have to hear Tidus's whiney voice again, it'll be too soon.

FF10-2...let's not even go there.

FF11 I still play. It still does suprisingly well in the shadow of WoW (which I played too, until I got bored with it). But honestly it's not really fair to compare 11 with any of the traditional FF's, they're not the same type of game.

I dunno, I just think you're being extremely harsh. I'm looking at what's on the horizon, and I like what I see. Valkyrie Profile II, FrontMission5 AND Online, Fantasy Earth Online, FF12, Grandia III, FF11's new expansion, Dirge of Cerebus, whatever new CG movie they come up with (cause Advent Children was awesome), and the new Mana game... I mean c'mon...

[player66]

Does this mean I will be able to summon Bub and Bob in FFXII? If so...I'm on the boat.