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In their most recent financial results report, Square Enix have indicated that they intend to collaborate with more external companies to develop games.
Square Enix mentioned three main policies that they are following in order to remain competitive in today’s videogame marketplace:
- Strengthen and reboot existing IPs
- Create new IPs
- Collaboration with partner companies
In the case of that third point, Square Enix cite Dragon Quest Heroes—developed in collaboration with Koei Tecmo’s OmegaForce studio—as an example of a collaborative effort.
“With so much changes going on in the market, we will suffer a big opportunity loss if we try to do everything all by ourselves,” says Square Enix Chief Financial Officer Kazuharu Watanabe. “Through collaboration, we will utilize the strengths of other companies which we ourselves lack, and grow the size of the business.”
“A good example is Dragon Quest Heroes. So far, we had not worked on a full-scale action RPG. However, we were able to create a new style for Dragon Quest through collaboration with Koei Tecmo Games. Based on this success, we want to collaborate more with partner companies, both in and out of Japan.”
Coincidentally, just this morning, we reported that Orca, a new Japanese studio founded by Takuya Iwasaki, a former employee of Cavia, is working on a new Dragon Quest project for Square Enix. It also bears mentioning that Square Enix are collaborating with Hexadrive on development of Final Fantasy XV.
Meanwhile, in the West, Square Enix have partnered with Dontnod Entertainment for Life is Strange, which is another project that has been received rather well.
