Square Enix, a company most well-known for its RPG franchises Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, may be looking to expand its horizons in game development, as it has announced that an agreement has been signed to use Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 for producing future titles aimed at consoles, computer, and online titles.
Square Enix’s Taku Murata said, "The complexity of next-generation game systems featuring HD graphics and multicore parallel processing poses a number of technological challenges to our game development. However, we can expedite our game development process significantly while allowing extra time and resources to be spent on game design and mechanics by establishing an effective technology platform."
While there were no specifics mentioned as to what type of games Square Enix was planning to develop, just a short list of high profile games which have used the Unreal Engine–Unreal Tournament, Deus Ex, Brother In Arms, Splinter Cell, Medal of Honor, Gears of War–may be a clue as to which direction Square Enix may possibly be moving towards: shooters and strategy games.
Last May, Yoichi Wada, President of Square Enix, alluded to the fact that the company’s entrenched line of RPG titles may no longer be the formula for success in the future. In remarks made to Nikkei Net, he said, "We haven’t come up with hit software to follow in the footsteps of Final Fantasy and other major titles, so we will have to alter our strategy. It’s getting hard to maintain a flow of new game titles. We need a more comprehensive software business to develop synergies."
Times are changing and this is especially apparent in next-gen gaming. The success of Square Enix is unprecedented in its production of high quality RPGs, but the narrow scope of game genres offered by Square Enix may also be its Achilles’ heel—the popularity of role playing titles, or at least Square Enix’s, may diminish someday.
