Once upon a time, there were two companies in the Japanese game industry that helped lead the way for practically all others: Square and Enix. Their output in the 8, 16, and 32 bit days was unquestionably groundbreaking and successful. Then, in 2003, they decided to merge; it was a marriage made in heaven.
Yet since then, all has not been well. The output that followed has been largely unimpressive, especially to Hisashi Suzuki, who used to run Square during it glory days. Yesterday, he decided to voice his options on Twitter.
According to Kotaku, he noted how the stock trades lower now when compared to pre-merger days, plus how development costs are too heavy. Though most biting of all is opinion that "The merger was a complete failure. There's no vision for the future." Or is it an opinion or simply fact?
Easily the biggest, most revered franchise that Square gave birth too, Final Fantasy, has lost much of its luster in recent years. It's almost hard to believe that the same company that produced Final Fantasy 6 would be responsible for Final Fantasy 13. The differenced between the two are night and day.
It's worth noting how Suzuki was the president from 2000 to 2003. From 2003 to 2005 he played the role of Director, before moving onto Sega with the same title. Point being, he didn't play quite the role in Square's early successes as one might be inclined to believe initially. Still, the man has a point.