GRIN Alleges Square Enix Forced It Out of Business

[Tom Goldman]

GRIN Alleges Square Enix Forced It Out of Business

A studio that worked on an official Final Fantasy spin-off claims Square Enix made it impossible to succeed.

In a feature written in Swedish publication Aftonbladet, bankrupt videogame developer GRIN blames its demise on the irrational business practices of Square Enix. GRIN was once developing a Final Fantasy [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XIII-Playstation-3/dp/B000FQ2DTA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306711167&sr=8-1] spin-off called Fortress, which wasn't given the chance to succeed according to former GRIN employees.

Ulf and Bo Andersson of GRIN say (through Google Translate) that Square Enix didn't pay any of the $20 million contract it had with the studio to develop Fortress, even though the duo claim they met every required milestone until going bankrupt in August 2009. As if this wasn't bad enough, GRIN became extremely suspicious of Square Enix when odd demands started to pour in.

For example, Square Enix started complaining about Fortress's Nordic style, though it was what Square Enix had asked for. Square Enix also told GRIN it should have been filing its milestone work with its legal department instead of the arm it was filed to, said to be an unusual request.

Further, Square Enix demanded that GRIN fax over Fortress's code, including music files. Bo Andersson said: "It is an impossible requirement, you can not send ASCII or binary codes on the fax. It is backward. Really retarded. It was almost a criminal activity."

GRIN's suspicions were confirmed when Square Enix failed one of the studio's tests. It sent Square Enix an image taken from Final Fantasy XII [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XII-Playstation-2/dp/B000F5IH2I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306711720&sr=8-1], saying it was from Fortress, to see what the company would do. Square Enix replied: "It does not look like Final Fantasy."

GRIN then knew it had no chance of succeeding no matter what it did. "We wanted to come in and revolutionize Final Fantasy, which is exactly what they need," Andersson added. "The latest version sucks of course."

If true, the story is an odd one. Square Enix recently admitted that it became "weaker than expected [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110058-CEO-Square-Enix-Has-Become-Weaker-Than-Expected]," and perhaps dealing with development partners in this manner is the reason why (again, assuming that this story is 100% true). Square Enix hasn't yet responded to GRIN's accusations.

Source: Kotaku [http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/spela/article13094476.ab]


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[Charli]

Not that much of a stretch to believe really. SE really have problems listening to others when told things.

 

[Exort]

One of the weirdest development story I have heard in recent time.
Faxing programing code??
Unreliable source couple with the claims make really hard to believe.

 

[Woodsey]

Just leave them alone until Deus Ex is out please.

 

[MasaVK]

SquareEnix has also had lots of problems lately with their games too,
they have all sucked, last good game was they made was FFX.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Interesting.. Although, what could SE possibly have to gain by being so stupid i wonder?

 

[Reallink]

I think SE has the right to have control over the products they do outsource, because it is going to affect their brand if it does poorly (or well for that matter). But I think saying they were trying to revolutionize FF is a bit over the top. Its not exactly their place to recreate an existing franchise

 

[Strixvaliano]

What have GRIN produced in the past? because I seem to recall rather liking them.

Ballistics (PC)
Bandits: Pheonix Rising (PC)
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2
Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando Rearmed
Wanted

I believe that's all they have worked on.


On topic: That is a really really odd allegation and I was laughing over the fact FF XII didn't look like Final Fantasy to Sqaure.

 

[RvLeshrac]

I think SE has the right to have control over the products they do outsource, because it is going to affect their brand if it does poorly (or well for that matter). But I think saying they were trying to revolutionize FF is a bit over the top. Its not exactly their place to recreate an existing franchise

You mean "unless they were asked to do it," and it sounds like that's what S-E said they wanted.

 

[thisbymaster]

Google translate strikes again!

 

[Reallink]

I think SE has the right to have control over the products they do outsource, because it is going to affect their brand if it does poorly (or well for that matter). But I think saying they were trying to revolutionize FF is a bit over the top. Its not exactly their place to recreate an existing franchise

You mean "unless they were asked to do it," and it sounds like that's what S-E said they wanted.

I think we will need to hear both sides to have this discussion. SE have outsourced some great games, E.G KH:CoM, but if they didn't like it, I think they have the right to pull the plug

 

[Therumancer]

Interesting.. Although, what could SE possibly have to gain by being so stupid i wonder?

That's my thoughts as well. I doubt we'll ever hear the other side of the story, and when we do we'll probbaly find (if ever) that the truth is somewhere in the middle.

I have mixed thoughts here.

My first thought is that Grin might have been trying to dupe Squeenix. See, once you pay a developer a bunch of money it becomes pretty much impossible to get back, as they pretty much pay their workers and live off of it while the game is being made. This is why so much money got pimped into "Duke Nukem" and was never returned, it had all been spent. Due to situations like that a hired developer is usually expected to produce part of a product to give a guarantee that something like what is being contracted is actually going to be made.

Taking the claims with a grain of salt, the bottom line seems to be that Grin was being asked for proof of the work being done, and not receiving it. Comments about the proof being sent to the legal department, isn't unreasonable if you put thing in context of an ongoing dispute on the point of what was actually created. After all if Square Enix is unhappy with the deal, but there is a contract in place, then their legal team looking at the material to see if Grin met it's end of the deal as agreed to becomes an issue. Also having the lawyers involved makes sense if Grin is claiming to constantly been sending all this information, but amazingly Square Enix never seems to actually ever get any of it.

What makes me suspicious of this entire thing is them saying that they were asked for artwork and then send a piece of art from another game published by the company to them. That's.... not a professional move, and that right there could get a contract axed.

As far as the bit about the game being designed around a Nordic theme, well again the deal seems to be that Squeenix was only going to invest that 20 million if they saw a product they liked once they began development, that becomes subjective. Given that to the Japanese "Nordic" means things like oh say "Valkyrie Profile", it's quite probable that the works of a developer from that part of the world didn't quite match the vision of a Japanese company who wants everything viewed through a specific lens of oddness.

As I said, we'd have to hear both sides, I'm merely playing devil's advocate, and making a guess as to what the other side might be, based on what I'm reading here. The guess being based on other industry disputes I've heard about over the years, and the fights developers tend to get into. In the end we probably saw a situation where Grin wanted 20 million dollars to afford being able to do any real work, and thus turned out some very basic promotional materials, Squeenix didn't want to pay until they saw some real work done, and then Grin kept trying to make claims of real work to get the money, which lead to a lot of back and forth until everything just finally collapsed.

 

[Trogdor1138]

I laughed about the FFXII test. That's great.

 

[mjc0961]

GRIN's suspicions were confirmed when Square Enix failed one of the studio's tests. It sent Square Enix an image taken from Final Fantasy XII [http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-XII-Playstation-2/dp/B000F5IH2I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306711720&sr=8-1], saying it was from Fortress, to see what the company would do. Square Enix replied: "It does not look like Final Fantasy."

Hahahahahahaha! I mean, I feel bad that GRIN got fucked over so badly, but still. That is some delightfully hilarious owange. I just hope they can use it to sue the fuck out of Square Enix. I mean really, I didn't think I could feel any less respect for Square Enix, but this news has proven otherwise. Fax some music over... Christ. No wonder everything they've done in recent history is a failure.

 

[Jonny49]

They should have caused a shit-storm when they realised something was wrong. GRIN could still be in business.