After the massive success of 3DS exclusive JRPG Bravely Default, Square Enix has decided that it lost its focus and will be making new games “as heavy JRPGs”.

 

In an interview with Nikkei Trendy and translated by Siliconera, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda stated, “regardless of whether they’re for smartphone or console, there’s a difficult element to developing global titles, so we’ll be making them without focusing too much on the ‘global’ aspect.

 

“For example, in the past, when we developed console games with a worldwide premise, we lost our focus, and not only did they end up being games that weren’t for the Japanese, but they ended up being incomplete titles that weren’t even fit for a global audience.”

 

However, the popular success of the JRPG Bravely Default changed that opinion. Bravely Default did well in Japan and also sold over 200,000 copies over the span of three weeks in North America alone.

 

Matsuda stated, “Due to having split [the development mindset] according to regions around the world, we weren’t able to see this clearly up until now, but fans of JRPGs are really spread around the world.

 

“Through the means of various networks, the latest information that is announced in Japan is instantaneously being spread across fans throughout the world. Whether it’s North America, Europe, or South America.

 

“With that in mind, and all of the collective fans, there’s a sense of mass, which loses the image of a niche market. For the new games we’ll be developing from this point on, while this may sound a bit extreme, we’ve been talking about making them as heavy JRPGs. I believe that way, we can better focus on our target, which will also bring better results.”

 

Using Hitman: Absolution as an example, Matsuda said that the implementation of new elements in the game in order to try to rope in newcomers hurt the series overall, as core fans were not pleased with the direction the series was heading.

 

Matsuda said, “If you focus too much on the global aspect, you might lose sight of who you’re actually making the game for….So, as for the AAA titles we’re currently developing for series, we basically want to go back to their roots and focus on the core audience, while working hard on content that can have fans say things like ‘this is the Hitman, we know’. I believe that is the best way for our development studios to display their strengths.”

 

My Opinion

My God. Is this… is this a sign of a major company… getting it? Could it be that Square Enix understands the game industry? I can’t believe it. Someone pinch me because I must be dreaming. If they decide to do this and put a narrower focus on their audience in games like Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 as well as their other titles, this could lead to a whole new revolution of games. I may be exaggerating all of this, but after games like the Final Fantasy XIII series, maybe this is just the push that the game industry needs. Thank you, Bravely Default, for making this possible.

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Shawn Richards studies games to understand how they work. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.