För länge sedan var Square Enix helt och fullt synonyma med fantastiska, japanska rollspel såsom Chrono Trigger och Final Fantasy. Idag gör företaget bredare spel med influenser från västvärlden, såsom Hitman: Absolution och Deus Ex: Human Revolution, men Yosuke Matsuda berättade nyligen för Nikkei Trendy att han, stärkt av den globala succén med Bravely Default, är sugen på att ta tillbaka företagets fokus till tunga, japanska rollspel igen.
"In the past, when we developed console games with a worldwide premise, we lost our focus, and not only did they end up being games that weren't for the Japanese, but they ended up being incomplete titles that weren't even fit for a global audience."
"On the other hand, there are games like the JRPG we made for the Japanese audience with the proper elements, Bravely Default, which ended up selling well all around the world."
Matsuda fortsätter och berättar att Square Enix kommer att sluta försöka tillfredsställa den globala marknaden för att istället göra det man gör bäst; japanska rollspel.
"For the new games we'll be developing from this point on, while this may sound a bit extreme, we've been talking about making them as heavy JRPGs. I believe that way, we can better focus on our target, which will also bring better results."
"The development team for Hitman: Absolution really struggled in this regard. They implemented a vast amount of ‘elements for the mass' instead of for the core fans, as a way to try getting as many new players possible. It was a strategy to gain mass appeal. However, what makes the Hitman series good is its appeal to core gamers, and many fans felt the lack of focus in that regard, which ended up making it struggle in sales."
"So, as for the AAA titles we're currently developing for series, we basically want to go back to their roots and focus on the core audience, while working hard on content that can have fans say things like ‘this is the Hitman, we know'. I believe that is the best way for our development studios to display their strengths."
Mer av varan Bravely Default i framtiden, med andra ord.
Tack, Siliconera.