Tag Archives: Square Enix

Square Enix is making headlines this week after selling off a good chunk of its western development studios and valuable IP, like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex. The Japanese publisher isn't pulling out of western games entirely though. From what we know so far, Square Enix will be holding on …

It has been just over a year since we first learned that Square Enix was shopping itself around and looking to sell. As it turns out, Square Enix will be sticking around, but the Japanese publisher is essentially pulling out of western game development for now, selling off its major studios and IP, like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex. 

Yuji Naka is one of the more well known names in gaming, being the lead programmer for the original Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as previously heading up the entire Sonic Team studio. Unfortunately, Mr. Naka’s most recent console release – Balan Wonderworld –  received mixed-to-negative reviews across the board. …

We're expecting Final Fantasy 16 release date news any day now as part of Square Enix's on-going Final Fantasy 35th anniversary celebrations. We should be seeing more of the game within the next few months, as development is in “the final stages”. Currently, Square Enix has a clothing line collaboration …

Square Enix has struggled to maintain an active playerbase for their costly and long-developed live service title ‘Marvel’s Avengers’. In the wake of the announcement that Jane Foster is the next Avenger coming to the game, it was revealed that development on future content for the game is being scaled …

Crypto, NFTs and Blockchain have invaded all aspects of the video games industry, with developers and publishers either announcing their support for or opposition towards the inclusion of such technologies in gaming. Square Enix has previously announced their support of blockchain and are now doubling down on this. In a …

Last week, Square Enix officially announced Kingdom Hearts 4, complete with a teaser trailer that may have revealed more than we initially noticed. Following the trailer's release, eagle-eyed fans have been combing through for easter eggs and so far, it looks like a Star Wars cameo has been uncovered.  Throughout …

PlatinumGames’ big step into the ‘live service’ genre fell flat at release, with the game appearing to flop on PC and garnering negative reviews for its microtransactions. While Platinum has confirmed plans to continue supporting the game, the project is facing an uphill battle, as player counts have dropped even …

Over the weekend as part of the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary celebration, Square Enix announced Kingdom Hearts 4, promising a new adventure with Sora and some returning characters. While the trailer looked good, it was entirely cinematic, as the game is still in the early stages of development.  During the …

In a surprise announcement this weekend, Square Enix has officially revealed Kingdom Hearts 4. The new entry to the mainline series will see Sora return in an “epic new storyline titled the ‘Lost Master Arc'. The announcement was made as part of the grand finale for the Kingdom Hearts 20th …

Despite a positive reception at launch, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy ‘undershot' sales expectations. Things have been improving this year though, thanks to continued sales and more recently, the game's inclusion to the Xbox Game Pass library. Square Enix confirmed that the game didn't meet sales expectations earlier this year, …

Over the course of 2021, there were several indications that Crystal Dynamics has begun pre-production on the next major Tomb Raider game. Today, the studio has officially confirmed this, announcing that a new Tomb Raider game is in development using Unreal Engine 5.  A few studios have revealed plans to …

Six months on from launch, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy came to Xbox Game Pass for PC and console in March. We are often left wondering just how much money Microsoft spends licensing some of these bigger titles. According to one analyst, it seems Microsoft has paid Square Enix somewhere …

Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers has had a tough start, with the late 2020 live-service title struggling to get its promised content out of the door. Things have stabilised somewhat, but even so, it seems as though the next Avenger to come to the game will be an echo character. Industry …

PlatinumGames' big step into the ‘live service' genre fell flat at release, with the game appearing to flop on PC and garnering negative reviews for its microtransactions. Despite this, Platinum intends to see things through, saying there are “no plans” to reduce development on the game or cancel upcoming content …

Square Enix ran into some controversy last year, not just due to the sky-high price of Final Fantasy VII Remake on PC, but also due to the PC version’s quality. The game launched with numerous issues and performance problems. Now, the publisher’s latest PC Final Fantasy release, Stranger of Paradise: …

For months now, we've heard rumours that Square Enix is looking to revive some of its classic JRPG series as part of an on-going partnership with PlayStation. Last night during a State of Play stream, a new Square Enix RPG was announced – Valkyrie Elysium, which is set to be …

The music industry is notorious for having rather harsh copyright laws with a recent example seeing Nintendo forcefully remove over 1000 songs from YouTube. Fortunately not every company takes this approach, as Square Enix has now uploaded over 5000 songs to YouTube for all to enjoy for free. In late …

While Square Enix has insisted that Forspoken is releasing in May this year, rough gameplay previews have shown that the game likely needs more time in development. As it turns out, the development team agrees, and as a result, the game has been delayed until Q4 2022.  Forspoken is being …

After several delays, PlatinumGames and Square Enix officially launched Babylon's Fall today – Platinum's first attempt at a live-service style game. Unfortunately, the game appears to be a flop on PC, with launch player numbers barely scraping past 1,000 concurrents.  There has been some concern for Babylon's Fall for a …

We've officially made it through to March and right on time, Microsoft has revealed the next batch of games coming to Xbox Game Pass for PC, consoles and cloud. In a surprise move, we have a pretty major headliner for this month – Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.  Marvel's Guardians …

NieR: Automata just celebrated its 5th anniversary, and as part of this, Square Enix held a number of NieR-related announcements. Alongside the fact that the upcoming Babylon’s Fall will be getting NieR: Automata content, a whole NieR: Automata anime has now been announced. Though there is very little information available …

Square Enix has a long history of classic JRPGs, going far beyond the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest franchises we continue to play today. In recent years, the publisher has been experimenting with HD-2D titles like Octopath Traveller and Triangle Strategy. Soon, we should see more remakes and remasters from …

Back in December, Final Fantasy XIV soared to new heights with the launch of its Endwalker expansion. The player base grew to unexpectedly high levels, causing Square Enix to temporarily pause sales of the game and lock the game off for new trial accounts. Now a couple of months later, …

Square Enix is an interesting company. Consisting of both Japanese and Western studios, the latter’s games have historically been seen as under-delivering when compared to the expectations of the publisher. Such is the case with Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, which according to Square, “undershot our initial expectations.” Marvel’s Guardians …

PlatinumGames has remained independent for years now, teaming up with several major publishers across the industry in order to release new games. While previously the company has been very keen on staying independent, it is now more open to joining a larger publisher as long as the right offer comes …

For several months now we've been hearing rumours about a Chrono Cross remaster. The game was initially expected to be announced at The Game Awards in December but ultimately ended up being a no-show. Now just a couple of months later, the game has been made official, with Chrono Cross: …

Final Fantasy 7 Remake finally came to life in 2020, but we've only seen part one of the story so far. Fans are eagerly awaiting the reveal of Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part Two, and it looks like we won't have to wait much longer. This week during an event …

Shortly after the launch of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, Square Enix faced a massive influx of new players, putting major stress on servers and forcing the publisher to pause sales of the game. Now after six weeks, the issues appear to have subsided and Final Fantasy 14 is available to …

In recent months, we've seen several major publishers and independent developers pushing forward with plans to implement NFTs in their games. Square Enix appears to have had blinders on during this time though, with the publisher's end of year letter confirming plans to pursue blockchain technology and NFTs in the …