Square Enix reconsidering JRPG approach following Bravely Default’s success – will come out with more “heavy JRPGs”
Bravely Default has been a strong success for Square Enix, which may be a bit surprising given that its a brand new kind of JRPG. It sold well not only in Japan, but the west as well.
Thanks to Bravely Default’s reception, it sounds like Square Enix is reconsidering its approach to the genre. Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda said in a recent interview that the company will now be putting its efforts into “heavy JRPGs” so that the company “can better focus on our target, which will also bring better results.”
Masuda told Nikkei Trendy the following when asked if Square Enix have any global titles for smartphones in its upcoming lineup:
“Not just limited to games for smartphone or console, but we do have some global titles lined up. However, 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.
“On the other hand, there are games like the JRPG we made for the Japanese audience with the proper elements, Bravely Default, which ended up selling well all around the world.
“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. There really isn’t much of a gap [in the relay of information].
“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.”
