Square Enix, the juggernaut Japanese publisher that we all know today, was pretty much birthed on this date 20 whole years ago. As the name suggests, it was a merger between Square and Enix — two prominent gaming companies who, as our friends over at Time Extension point out, were actually rival businesses before they agreed to join hands.
Indeed, Japanese companies love a good merger — as opposed to the acquisitions that we tend to see here in the West — and at the time, the advent of Square Enix was a huge deal. Suddenly, the companies behind Final Fantasy (Square) and Dragon Quest (Enix), had joined forces to create a true powerhouse.
It's crazy to think about it now, but this merger was on shaky ground for a while. Enix was apparently showing a reluctance to seal the deal after Square had made a series of questionable business decisions — which included spending an absolute fortune on infamous CG movie flop Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
But thanks to Square's success with PS2 titles like the fantastic Final Fantasy X, Enix eventually stepped up and agreed to the merger. It was all officially announced on the 25th November, 2002.
Ever since the historic merger, Square Enix has been a mainstay games publisher — one of the biggest in the world. As a business it's certainly had its ups and downs — both commercially and creatively — but with potentially huge hits like Final Fantasy XVI on the horizon, many would argue that the company is enjoying a good run of form right now. And again, it all started 20 years ago today.
[source twitter.com, via timeextension.com]
Comments 28
Square & Enix: "Fuuuuuusion!!! Ha!"
https://thumbs.gfycat.com/TameDenseGelding-max-1mb.gif
Square Enix: "I am as strong as Square and Enix combined, and then some"
But seriously, kudos to them for finding their significant other. May they always aim to deliver quality games.
At the time this felt like Sonic appearing on Nintendo (which has since happened) I remember being so shocked, then worried and eventually happy.
Square was my favourite game maker at the time. From FF IV- IX, Chrono Trigger Secret of Mana, Bahamut Lagoon and many, many more.
Here's to the next 20.
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within obviously didn't age well, but I still have a soft spot in my heart for it. The visuals were absolutely mind blowing at the time (2001. I believe?). Very ahead of its time graphically.
subtitle on this article blew my mind. I honestly thought they came together to form Naughty Dog
Now, just join sony.
@Blackmagehobbit Sony Square Enix
@HotGoomba Sounds great to me.
@Blackmagehobbit I wonder if it would be a case of Bethesda or Bungie?
Become exclusive or remain somewhat independent under PlayStation?
There's been a handful of great games since the merger, but nothing like the golden years of pre-merger Squaresoft when they were consistently putting out banger after banger.
Don't know if that was such a good thing to be honest.
@danlk1ng that was actually when Naughty and Dog merged, years earlier.
I will always cherish my Squaresoft sweater my mother found at a K-Mart lol
@NomNom i feel like they would retain some power specifically in putting the smaller games on nintendo as well, which i would be all for and would make the smaller games ports more viable to make
@Rmg0731 I feel like any ports to Nintendo won't be exclusive anymore, I.E. Triangle Strategy, which launched exclusive to the Switch. I feel like games like those would be published MultiPlat day one.
Be an interesting one re acquisition - Always thought Sony will acquire at some stage, but at this point given most of Square's games are exclusive to Playstation anyway, not sure how much it would be worthwhile
@NomNom I think that it is more important for Sony to secure the release of SE franchises in Playstation platforms. If Xbox enventually purchase SE it will be really harsh for Playstation.
Actually, today was the day the merger was announced, but it didn't actually go into effect until April 1, 2003, when the former Enix absorbed Square and became Square Enix.
Few average games, but let's face it. No game has been as good as the original squaresoft games.
@Milktastrophe but I thought Naughty and Dog merged to form Bandai Namco?
@Blackmagehobbit MS isn't going to purchase Square, so lets stop with this nonsensical take.
The Japanese government will never allow it, simple as that. Not to mention Square will need to be willing to sell (which they aren't), and even if they do, I assure you it won't be to an American company like MS.
Happy 20th Anniversary/Birthday to Square-Enix!!! I look forward to most of their future games, including Forspoken, Final Fantasy XVI, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
@Blackmagehobbit @rpg2000 Does Microsoft/Xbox even currently own any Japan based game development studios?
@KidBoruto I believe not, however, this is the exact reason why they may want one. There is a lot of speculation about Japan regulators forbid these deals but, who knows?
Phill Spencer is often seen with shirts with some japanese text stamped and it is not secret that they need and want more studios. If the EA deal is prohibited xbox will have 70 billion available to purchase other studios. You know, money talks.
SE franchises were always as important as the first part ones for the success playstation. Thus, I just hope these games remain in PS consoles forever since they are among the favorite titles for millions of players, myself included.
@Blackmagehobbit While I do agree with your sentiment a little, I would still feel bad for gamers who only have an Xbox and would be missing out on such exciting games.
Not alot of them can afford to have more than one console, even after getting a job.
@KidBoruto I agree. I have only playstation consoles for this same reason. I mean, I want that SE franchises remain in playstation but not necessarily as exclusives. If Sony buys SE we'll always have these games; however, the Bethesda situation proves that xbox would keep the titles in their environment. I miss the time when these studios were all independent.
@Blackmagehobbit it's really hard for a non-Japanese corporation to purchase a Japanese corporation. They have some type of law that makes it difficult for those kinds of acquisitions to occur.
It's very hard, but it is not impossible re american acqusition of Japanese companies. Sony would find it a ton lot easier than Microsoft would. Anyway, out of the Japanese companies I would have said Sega was more likely MS's target.
Suspect Japan is their next target after ABK so will be very interesting
@KidBoruto They now own Tango Gameworks, admitedly that was part of Bethesda acqusition but none the less
@Blackmagehobbit Yeah, true exclusives just end up limiting the amount of people that can experience them.
In a perfect world we would only have exclusive like games, but still available on the other platforms.
@IAmAshCohen17 Oh right Tango, forgot about them! Thanks for the confirmation.
I still need to play my copies of The Evil Within 1 & 2, and eventually buy Ghostwire Tokyo.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...