GRIN Alleges Square Enix Forced It Out of Business

[BrailleOperatic]

It seems dubious to think that Squeenix would have shot themselves in the foot like this. As big and impersonal as they are, big businesses aren't stupid. It seems doubly odd that they wouldn't recognize their own products, and would want coding faxed at all.

If I had to wager a guess, maybe, Squeenix impersonators? Or someone at the big SE has an axe to grind and is taking it out on GRIN, with upper management's permission. Maybe even journalistic truth-making, with the folks at Aftonbladet contriving a story with half-truths and hyperbole, and a general disregard for what actually happened. But that's really all just speculation...

 

[Rad Party God]

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.

Don't get any ideas, I want Deus Ex out this year, damn it! :S

OT: I couldn't help but to facepalm at the part of Final Fantasy XII.

 

[Distortionfile]

Seems like more and more stories of companies screwing over or sabotaging themselves (presumably) on accident. The industry really needs to take a step back and identify the factors causing them to fuck up so bad if there's going to be any future for gaming.

Sadly Piracy is one of the biggest things putting the game industry in a pinch. Developers like Valve have found ways to survive and even flourish in the new game economy. Others just aren't fairing so well.
But basically, Piracy drives down revenue, which drives down potential profit, which drives down investment potential, which drives down product quality, which in turn drives piracy further up and revenue further down.
The more they attempt to prevent piracy with DRM the more they alienate those who actually pay for games, (has anyone tried to play a windows live game? Jesus.) and further down the tubes goes the whole shebang.

 

[MrGalactus]

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.

That and Terminator Salvation.
Go them.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

The source is from a tabloid, so that's all you need to know. Though SE is still one of the poorest game developers when it comes to quality nowadays. The only competent team they have is the Tactics team who did the incredible PSP remake of Tactics Ogre recently

 

[BrailleOperatic]

Seems like more and more stories of companies screwing over or sabotaging themselves (presumably) on accident. The industry really needs to take a step back and identify the factors causing them to fuck up so bad if there's going to be any future for gaming.

Sadly Piracy is one of the biggest things putting the game industry in a pinch. Developers like Valve have found ways to survive and even flourish in the new game economy. Others just aren't fairing so well.
But basically, Piracy drives down revenue, which drives down potential profit, which drives down investment potential, which drives down product quality, which in turn drives piracy further up and revenue further down.
The more they attempt to prevent piracy with DRM the more they alienate those who actually pay for games, (has anyone tried to play a windows live game? Jesus.) and further down the tubes goes the whole shebang.

You're right. Piracy is a major problem facing the industry but it's also a problem primarily localised to the PC. Square makes games almost exclusively for consoles (I don't honestly know if they ever made any PC games A quick google got me some fairly high end titles from them on the PC, so admittedly, my point here doesn't hold quite as much water.) and all they're biggest cash cows are for whatever the most up-to-date console is. So while you're not wrong, I'd like to think that the boys at the old SE aren't getting their knickers in a twist over piracy when it simply isn't one of their primary concerns.

-EDIT-
After my aformentioned google, I acknowledge that piracy does effect them more than I initially gave them credit for, but with their PC titles making up such a minority of their stock, it's still a minimal impact.

 

[Kapol]

I'm surprised no one has posted the leaked tech demo video...


Well it looks like Final Fantasy... But how can you say something looks like 'Final Fantasy' when the franchise is always shamelessly jumping from light-hearted fantasy (1 through 6, 9 though 12) to science fiction (7, 8, 13) and back again?

Were the weapon designs not ridiculous enough?

No, it's because the characters weren't angsty teens with spiky hair, and were instead warriors dressed in armor. I'm being serious too. The character design looked nothing like a FF game. The desert environment and the concept art looked better, but the forest environment reminded me of what I've seen of Mount & Blade for some reason. Overall, it didn't look like much of a FF game, instead looking like a fairly generic Fantasy game in line with Oblivion then Final Fantasy. That said, we didn't actually get a look at any actual Player-characters as far as I know, and that knight could have just been a tech dummy, as could the environments (they looked fairly low-res after all), and the video could have just been showing off the mechanics completed for all I know.

That said, it doesn't excuse Square for being dicks about the entire situation. If it's true (with a big IF), then they really need to be punished in some way (and FF14 doesn't count as that's their own fault). But unless we find more information, I don't quite believe this completely. I do think Squareenix did help cause GRIN's problems to some degree though.

 

[Gindil]

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

...

WHAT?!

I'm sorry, no... I can't quite figure that out. What exactly do you mean a game studio has no place to recreate a franchise?

Gearbox made HL: Opposing Forces, and did well with Valve's help. Adrian is a character that people like just as much as Freeman, even though he's a Marine with little in the way of personality.

TF2 has hats.

Nintendo allowed an American company work on Metroid and created a Prime series that went on to spawn some great games.

I don't agree at *all* that a studio has no place to recreate an existing franchise.

 

[Pebkac]

This is really no surprise for Square-Enix. I hope this story goes somewhere.

What a shame, though. That tech demo looked promising. It would have been nice to see a Final Fantasy where the designers weren't on acid.

 

[Mordereth]

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

Even if GRIN has all the proof in the world, Squeenix has all the money to beat the smaller studio in a legal battle.

 

[daemon37]

I would really like to see the FFXII picture that GRIN sent to Square-Enix. If it was just a picture of mountains, or a wall or something I would understand. However, if it was anything like this then that's just kinda sad, because this is what they all look like nowadays... unfortunately.

 

[kebab4you]

Just FYI Tom, Aftonbladet is not a reliable source when it comes to swedish news, they blow everything out of proportion and in general it´s just a gossip newspaper.

Thanks anyway :3

 

[Acting like a FOOL]

the innovative family tree of SE is now inbred and dare I say it...linear

 

[Trolldor]

Interesting claims, have not seen 'proof'. Therefore, will wait to see how this unfolds before judgement calls are made.

 

[Canid117]

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

They could solidify their reputation as being stupid? SE has a history of... odd decisions.

 

[iniudan]

To be honest any company that can think FF XIII and FF IV are games that should ever see the light of day is a bat-shit insane one.

Hope you forgot an X for FF IV else you are the one who is bat-shit insane. =p

 

[Antidrall]

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

By my count it was Final Fantasy Tactics. It was the best Final Fantasy game and it was only a spinoff.