Square Enix Announces "Shinra" Cloud-Based Game Service

[BlameTheWizards]

Square Enix Announces "Shinra" Cloud-Based Game Service

Square Enix believes streaming services are the "new ecosystem" of games, and has a beta for the service planned for early 2015.

Square Enix announced at this week's Tokyo Game Show a new cloud-based streaming service designed to provide "a new ecosystem for the games industry," according to <a href=http://www.polygon.com/2014/9/18/6456117/square-enix-shinra-technologies-cloud-gaming-yoichi-wada>Polygon. The company, Shinra Technologies, named after the mega-corporation from Square Enix's Final Fantasy VII, has partnered with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios to develop games and technology for the new streaming service.

The company will be led by Yoichi Wada, former president of Square Enix, with headquarters in New York City and offices in Tokyo and Montreal.

The AAA games industry requires huge investments, and has outgrown its former business model of relying on dedicated consoles and devices, Wada said at TGS. "The industry will only continue its expansion, but in due time a correction to this path is necessary," Polygon reported Wada as saying. Wada's goal for Shinra Technologies is to have it host AAA games via cloud-based architecture. He predicted 2016 to be a key year for cloud technology and expects the streaming-based tech to power new types of games.

The upcoming Japanese beta for the Shinra service will include a version of Agni's next-gen game engine tech demo, Philosophy, as well as a new game called Space Sweeper. Also included will be several Square Enix games, including Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman: Absolution, Tomb Raider and, of course, Final Fantasy VII.

The <a href=https://shinra.com/us/blog/establishment-of-shinra-technologies>official website for Shinra states betas for both Japan and America are expected to start in early 2015. "Firm content lineup" as well as service requirements will be unveiled at a later time. The official site also notes that Shinra has already begun talks with "best-in-class developers worldwide," and even includes a quote from Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot. "Ubisoft has long believed that the cloud will play an important part in gaming's future," he said. "We are intrigued by the direction Shinra Technologies, Inc. is taking and look forward to seeing what their architecture and technologies can deliver."

What do you think of Square Enix's latest venture? Are you willing to give up consoles if it means getting access to the library of Square Enix and its partners?


Source: <a href=https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/18/6456117/square-enix-shinra-technologies-cloud-gaming-yoichi-wada>Polygon, <a href=https://shinra.com/us/blog/establishment-of-shinra-technologies>Shinra Technologies

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[Sanunes]

My concern with any cloud based gaming is that my internet isn't always reliable and its why I really don't pay for multiplayer only style games such as Titanfall, Destiny, or a MMO. Until they can get better broadband in areas I just can't see something like this taking off, now if they wanted to make their own version of Steam/Uplay/Origin I would be a lot more optimistic then for that then this.

 

[ElMinotoro]

Can't I just buy a game and play it?

 

[lassiie]

That could be a pretty awesome service...depending on how it's maintained. I feel like it would make more sense to pay a monthly fee to have access to the service, and just be able to download them and play them on your computer, instead of them actively being streamed.

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

Yes, name your new company after what BP would be if it became a world dominating military power. Just don't send your high level employee with long silver hair anywhere near a place that might have dark secrets about his past hidden away from him.

I can understand cloud gaming has potential (possibly to screw us all over), and investing in new things before they become popular means you will have at better chance at success with them. But, isn't it a little too early for another streaming service to pop into existence, when the internet infrastructure just isn't there (or ISPs throttle them and pretend it isn't there) for most of the world. The one good thing is Squenix's large catalog of old RPGs might work great for streaming most of the time, instead of the QTE happy, twitchy action games PSnow has to offer.

 

[gigastar]

I doubt its going to make me give up Steam. My internet isnt exactly stable but i can still download 16GB of game in less than an hour.

 

[Charli]

...Knew they were fucking super-villains.

Just watch, soon you'll be looking outside and seeing luminescent green reactors outside.

 

[Rad Party God]

Well, Squeenix is already an evil, life stealing, unscrupolous, megalomaniac corporation*, they should have their own theme as well.


[small]*Can I has FFVI and IX on Steam, plz!?? [/small]

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

they might be getting ahead of themselves, cloud gaming does seem to be anywhere near it needs to be in terms of performance and cost


captcha: move mountains

whats that captcha? should i have more faith in square enix?

 

[Something Amyss]

Well, Squeenix is already an evil, life stealing, unscrupolous, megalomaniac corporation*, they should have their own theme as well.


[small]*Can I has FFVI and IX on Steam, plz!?? [/small]

This is more or less what I thought when I saw they named their service "Shinra."

 

[Fox12]

So the future of gaming is every single publisher having its own streaming service? This isn't television, it's gaming. Stop trying to make gaming television. I know it worked out really well for Microsoft, but I think it should be avoided.

"It will be headed by Wada, former head of square Enix."

Ah hell, what's HE still doing here? I thought we got rid of him after he single handedly sunk one of the largest and most proffesional gaming companies in the world. As if I needed any more reason to avoid this like the plague. Thank you Square Enix, you just reaffirmed my lack of faith in you. In other news, through the magic of necromancy, BP has brought back the captain of the Titanic and given him full control over their fleet of oil tankers. BP hopes he will usher in a new era for the company.

Edit: So, does this mean that Square is massive corporation bent on draining the life out of gaming? I guess that explains why Wada is in charge. Does this mean that Atlus can be the puckish group of rogues trying to restore order despite limited resources?

 

[Therumancer]

Can't I just buy a game and play it?

Pretty much my thoughts. It's bad enough everything went online only, but now it seems every game company wants to have it's own distribution platform, soon I'm going to probably have as many clients for distribution hubs as games, which is just plain ridiculous. Everyone is so eager to try and slice off a bit of STEAM's business that they just do not give a crap about the consumer and how ridiculous this gets. Even if every service becomes "easy to use and intuitive" it's still a bunch of different services I have to juggle... and no, I am not going to confine myself to games only made by one company or publisher.

 

[Saltyk]

Well, I'm pretty certain that such services will be common in ten to twenty years. So Square maybe making a smart move to be trying to be one of the ones to start sooner rather than later. Imagine twenty years from now, this service could be what Steam is today.

Time will tell.

And personally, I like that they named it Shinra. But I'm an unapologetic fan of FFVII.
[sub]Could they be hinting at a FFVII remake...? Probably not.[/sub]

 

[thanatos388]

Will we being seeing this disaster as well before you release Final Fantasy XV? Is there a japanese word for priorities? They to have a business meeting with PRIORITIES written boldly all over the white board.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

service requirements will be unveiled at a later time.

I will bet real money that only the top 5 ISP rated countries will have speeds high enough for this service, and that Square Enix will still charge full price for the games.

 

[Valkrex]

Shinra, a Cloud based gaming service partnered with Avalanche... Oh my god this is just fucking hilarious!


OT: I really don't think most of the world is at the point where we can stream games yet. The infrastructure in the USA as it stands is just terrible, and will be until things like Google Fiber really take off.

 

[Rufus Shinra]

I will not comment on the policies of the Shinra Inc. company.

 

[Avalanche91]

I honestly thought this was a PsychicTaco report......

 

[Ticklefist]

I'm still not really clear on what Shinra is supposed to be. If it loosens the choke hold Valve has on PC gaming by even a tiny margin then I'll be glad to have it on my computer.

 

[Gatx]

I love it when companies have something in real life that ties into the games. Like .hack// and CC Corp.