Squeenix: "We Take Too Long" to Make Games

John Funk

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Dec 20, 2005
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Squeenix: "We Take Too Long" to Make Games



Square-Enix boss Yoichi Wada has confessed that he thinks it takes too long for his company to make a game.

In an interview [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/a-fresh-start-part-one?page=1] that GI.biz held with Eidos CEO Phil Rogers and Square-Enix CEO and President Yoichi Wada, Wada was asked about the public perception of Eidos prodcuts: Given that the reception of recent Eidos offerings has been lukewarm at best, was Wada concerned that attaching those games to the Square-Enix brand (known for releasing polished titles, if nothing else) would be damaging?

Wada answered that while he thought the financial support of Square-Enix would allow Eidos to spend more time and money on a game to hopefully restore gamers' faith in the brand, the parent side of the company had their own problem: "(I)t takes too long for us to produce a game..."

"In reality I think the issues we have are basically the same," continued Wada. "On one side you might say that because of the budgetary constraints they released the games without having the games polished to perfection, but on the other side we take too long to release the game."

This news should likely come as no surprise to gamers, as Final Fantasy XIII won't be coming to Western shores until 2010 - almost years after FF12.

On the other hand, while five years is a bit uncomfortably long to be working on a game, it could be worse. After taking five years to release Half-Life 2, Valve spent almost eight years in development of Team Fortress 2, announcing the game back in 1998 and releasing it in 2007. Development on StarCraft II started back in 2003 after the release of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, and Diablo III has been under development in one form or another since Lord of Destruction came out in 2001.

Of course, even notoriously-glacial Valve and Blizzard can't compare to 3D Realms' Duke Nukem Forever - 12 years in development, and counting [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90964-Duke-Nukem-Forever-Hits-Major-Milestone]. So cheer up, Square-Enix. As slow as you guys might be, you're in good company.

(VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2009/04/27/square-we-take-too-long-to-make-games/])

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johnman

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Oct 14, 2008
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I was about to say, they have nothing on valve. How many Final Fantasy games are there? As well all the ohter games Square make?
 

InProgress

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Feb 15, 2008
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Only 5 years? If they could sync with Tool, it would be great as they release a masterpiece every 4-5 years as well.

Note: I wouldn't consider FF games as masterpieces as I have never actually played one.
 

SharedProphet

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Oct 9, 2008
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It should be noted that other than Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games, quite a lot of Squeenix games are not very polished. And also probably don't take nearly as long to make.
 

Brotherofwill

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Jan 25, 2009
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Goldeneye103X2 said:
2011? I thought it was 2010!

Also, NO SHIT!
Me too. I still think it is 2010 actually, unless the XBOX port takes over a year, in which case I won't buy the game anyway.
 

pigeon_of_doom

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Feb 9, 2008
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Sounds a bit like the positive answers you might give to a tricky question at a job interview.

"Whats your greatest weakness?"

"I'm a perfectionist, everything has to be just right before I allow anything I've spent time on out of my sight"

While the amount of time it takes for SE to release games is well known, I think this is just an answer he made to dodge adressing any major concerns there may be.
 

Internet Kraken

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Mar 18, 2009
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Perhaps if they cut out some of the extraneous content then it wouldn't take them so long.
 

scotth266

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Jan 10, 2009
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CantFaketheFunk said:
Goldeneye103X2 said:
2011? I thought it was 2010!

Also, NO SHIT!
Whoops. Typo. It's been fixed.
Too late! *pounces* Mmmmmmmm... Nothing is a tasty as typos...

But putting on my serious face for a moment, here's to hoping that DNF finally sees release, defies all logic by being a huge success, and has a deep and compelling story where you run around, kill everything, and have a woman with a reasonable outfit on.

Wait... maybe that wasn't entirely serious. I never can tell :D
 

Elven_Star

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Apr 26, 2009
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As long as the game has good quality (like FF games), I don't care how much they take to develop it.
 

Furrama

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Jul 24, 2008
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No one says anything when it takes 5 years to make a movie. If the longer time, higher costs, and better quality pays you back in the end then you should take as much time as you can.
 

Onyx Oblivion

Borderlands Addict. Again.
Sep 9, 2008
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Nah. They publish good ones on the side. The Square Enix name means quality 95% of the time.
They can take as long as they want to develop.
 

GonzoGamer

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Internet Kraken said:
Perhaps if they cut out some of the extraneous content then it wouldn't take them so long.
Then it probably wouldn't be as good.
I've never gotten into FF games but my wife has and I've always been impressed by the amount of content they pack in one game.
I can tell you (having already been disappointed by GTA4) that taking out too much content (while speeding up the process) can make the game less interesting at best and a mere shadow of the franchise at worst.
 

Internet Kraken

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Mar 18, 2009
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GonzoGamer said:
Internet Kraken said:
Perhaps if they cut out some of the extraneous content then it wouldn't take them so long.
Then it probably wouldn't be as good.
I've never gotten into FF games but my wife has and I've always been impressed by the amount of content they pack in one game.
I can tell you (having already been disappointed by GTA4) that taking out too much content (while speeding up the process) can make the game less interesting at best and a mere shadow of the franchise at worst.
In my experience a large majority of the content in these games is not needed. There are numerous occasions in which you simply have to go from point A to point B while you chase down the main villain. It just serves to link together numerous combat sequences that get repetitive quickly.

The only point of this content is so you can say your game as X amount of hours of playtime.