March 28, 2008, Square Haven has ceased updates indefinitely. What you see below is an archived version.

Square Enix ventures Taito acquisition

  • Published at 12:18:26 PT
  • Reported by Matt Berti
  • Read 20,865 times
  • Karma:  -14 
  • Share: link to this page e-mail this page Digg it! Facebook
Square Enix intends to purchase a 67% stake in Taito, notable for Puzzle Bobble, Space Invaders and Bust-a-Move titles. Taito has expressed favor to the acquisition, and will become a Square Enix subsidy if and when the 67% stake is purchased. With this latest acquisition, Square Enix is well on the way to becoming Japan's leading gaming conglomerate, just as well as beloved Final Fantasy characters are surely well on their way to being whored out to Taito franchised games.

Submit a trackback link

Forums / News / Square Enix ventures Taito acquisition

staff
pixel
Dear lord, they're eating everything!
staff
pixel
Well they are 'well on their way', let's see what other companies they absorb into their mighty arms.
staff
pixel
Japan's very own EA!

Either way, they're still no contest up against Nintendo.
staff
pixel
They don't make consoles, instead they make feature length films, publish music and fund manga and anime. What now? Space Invaders. What next? I shudder to think. I suppose they'll get on the right anime train, and do what Nintendo and Konami have done before them with Pokemon and Yugioh respectively. That's the time to run and hide.
vip
pixel
They'd probably try to buy Toyota if anyone would drive a Toyota 4X4 Fenrir....
staff
pixel
Er, they already did that with Fullmetal Alchemist, Nephtis.
staff
pixel
He probably missed the "Brought to you by Square Enix" at the end of every episode.
staff
pixel
Actually Full Metal Alchemist is nowhere near as popular as pokemon was. Think about it on scale. I know Square-Enix had their vice grip on it, hence the manga anime and games. You can't possibly think that they are making as much money as Pokemon did, that's what I mean. Think about how much Pokemon was rammed down your throat, everywhere. And no Ziyad, 'square-enix o kurishimashita' was noted. Their name is also on the copyright notice. Anyway, that's what I meant by the 'right anime train'.
pixel
Better than 'Sailormoon o kurishimashita'. On second thought, maybe that would be a good thing. They would be best off buying older titles and rereleasing them and developing new games. They would be one up on Nintendo, whose last real innovation on Pokemon was Poke'mon Snap.

That is, IF they chose to buy it. Knowing S-E, at least they would be likely to put more effort into the games then Nintendo and Konami. The games they make for their liscences are truely terrible, earning a bad reputation from gamers that aren't otakus or passing fans. Though the Full Metal Alchemist game that came out recently was highly enjoyable, I hear.
vip
pixel
Yeah enjoyable in that "Tedium is preferable to hanging myself" way.
staff
pixel
Anthiena, do you want a job?
staff
pixel
Excuse me, how does Konami put in any less effort into their games? Perhaps you need to read up on the lovely amount of work they put into their main Metal Gear Solid franchise. Square-Enix primarily makes Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games. These games are RPGs, are long and require a lot of stuff in them. A game like Metal Gear Solid 3 requires work in different areas.

I frankly don't think you've played a Konami or Nintendo game. Not saying that all their games are great, but how can you generalise that Square-Enix puts more effort in? I am shocked and appauled. You'd better come up with something good to justify those statements up there.

Oh, and Sailormoon can't sponsor a TV broadcast, companies do that.
pixel
Hah! Have you played a Konami game recently? How about Disney Sports Basketball, or their skull-hammering throng of Ninja Turtles titles? Clearly Konami has a staunchly different game production strategy than Square Enix. Yes they make fantastic games such as the MGS series and Suikoden; but, as aforementioned, they also blow a lot of shit out of their mouths that parents just love to mop up for their kids during the holidays as stocking stuffers.

Regardless, it's my opinion that this Taito acquisition is a genius move. I'm sure we'll see a number of stupid collaborations and endeavors like "Bust-A-Move: Final Fantasy VII" where Cloud and friends blast materia out of Cait Sith's ass to a horrible techno rendition of One-Winged Angel. But the procurement of Taito will increase productivity at SE, secure a team to produce their less momentous titles, and bring in further revenues to spend on bigger budget titles such as FF and DQ, so I don't really blame them for taking the opening after they found it. Are they greedy? Perhaps. But a juggernaut in the same ranks as Electronic Arts? Hardly. SE has nowhere to go but up, and with Radiata Stories and Advent Children just around the corner you can expect big things in the near future (hopefully FFXII and KH2 but I doubt it).
staff
pixel
Wait hold on, have you even played some of Square-Enix's real gems? Surely you've tried out Parasite Eve II, Driving Emotion Type-S? I mean Square-Enix always produces perfect, wonderous and flawless content. Frankly if Driving Emotion Type-S isn't blowing shit out of someone's mouth, I don't know what is. And guess what? These games aren't even for parents to buy for their kids, they are just plain shit. Although The Bouncer has its lame charms.

Oh, and I'm sure Enix made equally shitty games in their past too, but I'm not as familiar with those titles.
pixel
Lol, Nephtis it wasn't my intention to directly disagree with you. Yeah, Square has made some awful games, that's absolutely for certain. Hell, when I heard about the release of Unlimited: SAGA I almost took my life after considering all possible outcomes of the title's launch and finding self-annihilation the most practical solution. Also, The Bouncer was awful, as was Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, that's a given. However, my point was not that Square Enix is the "best most wonderful video game company ever!!@", I'm not that naive. My point was that the ratio of Square's decent games to poor games is far better than Konami's and EA's. Square has a history of putting quality before revenue, and I assume that they decided they should start making some more money, hence the acquisition and unsparing accounts of Polymorphism (TM).
staff
pixel
So in fact they took longer than Konami to realise that such forms of gaming/media makes money. Haha.
pixel
I worded my claim incorrectly...

Of course they didn't come to some "miraculous realization," but it was a decision that Sakaguchi made to produce few quality games over a myriad of awful games to make money. Kitase obviously has a different strategy; sorry for the confusion Nephtis... ^_^
staff
pixel
I don't think Kitase makes decisions as to what games to produce in the overall company strategy. Kitase is a producer who is probably assigned projects (such as "something with Final Fantasy VII") by executives like Wada and the Enix board who desire a certain direction. For instance, it's a decidedly Enix strategy to take a sequel to something and create 5-6 other properties around it (although one could say it's also due to the new polymorphism strategy). But Squaresoft wouldn't have made a Compilation of FFVII, and probably not even an Advent Children.
pixel
Crap, I must have been asleep or high or something, where I've mentioned Kitase's name I completely meant Yoichi Wada. Sometimes I'm an idiot...
>.< d'oh!
staff
pixel
oic it's ok then
staff
pixel
It's all good, as long as Sakaguchi is gone, I don't mind. Not that he was a 'bad man' but I dunno, he seemed to me too traditional for a company like S-E. Or at least too attached to certain ideas like FF:TSW.
vip
pixel
Dude, Gaia exists.

Don't be gay.
pixel
Hah!

Well Sakaguchi found a new little niche for himself in Mistwalker. He can basically do whatever he wants without the restrictions of time or money (cough).
Post a Comment
Please log in to participate in the discussion.
Topic #1245 Invisible to nobody Closed to nobody

Copyright © 1998-2024 Square Haven. This material may not be published or rewritten without crediting Square Haven as the author. Terms of Use

Login here
or cancel
Forgot your password?