If you were in charge of Square Enix

[Ayen]

Say for whatever reason you found yourself in charge of Square Enix, what changes, if any, would you implement?

Note, this is mainly just for fun so how much thought you put behind your answers is up to you. I don't pretend to be an expert in business or anything, I just jump in with the mindset that I can't do any worse.

1.) I would see where the hell XV and KH3 are at in development and how soon we can expect them to be released. Seriously.

2.) I would do whatever I can to make sure that Type-0 English release becomes reality.

3.) Hire new people. Preferably people who know what the smurf they're doing.

4.) Voice acting. I don't know if anyone else agrees, but the voice acting in Final Fantasy games are horrible. I like X, but I can't sit here and pretend the voice acting was great, XIII suffered the same problem. I don't know if it's the voice actors, the directors, or the setback from being an English dub, but seeing that good voice acting can be done (even for games that came from Japan and was dubbed into English) there's no excuse in my mind for a lousy performance.

5.) If there's a high demand for X-3 after the X/X-2 HD release, I'll green light it, but you can bet your sweet ass I'm keeping close tabs on that. FFX is my favorite game, they ain't smurfing it up under my watch. If there's some way to execute it well despite the premise they want to go for, then do it. This is where 3.) and 4.) come in.

6.) See what I can't do about releasing more original titles to provide some much needed variety to Square's library.

7.) Remake Final Fantasy VII.

8.) See what the overall reaction to the VI IOS port is, and if it's bad see if it's not too late to try to rectify it by making the character sprites not stick out like a sore thumb, if not. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

9.) Re-release IX for the PS Vita.

10.) Try to repair that strained relationship between Square and the fans. You're not making everyone happy, but when your fanbase feels like their feedback doesn't matter that's not exactly a good thing. These are the people giving you money.

11.) Close the door on XIII forever. This seems like a moot point given that seems to be the whole point of Lightning Returns, but I feel the need to state the obvious for some reason.

12.) Forge a closer relationship with you guys 'cause you're awesome (cheap pop)

13.) Hook up with Japanese girls.

I'd probably focus more on new games than I would with remakes, sequels, etc. but I wouldn't stop doing them altogether if the demand was high enough and I thought there was a profit to be made (Uh oh, I'm turning into evil businessman!)

Your turn.

[Jiro]

If I were in charge I would cry because I don't know where to start. But look, they do alright with new IPs. The World Ends With You was great. Find the team that did that, give them some money, tell them to make more excellent games.

Don't touch any Final Fantasy games that haven't already been announced. Finish them. Be transparent with their status, but don't release a trailer for every smurfing aspect.

Revisit the Mana series perhaps. Look at other, non-FF IPs for continuations or inspiration.

What happened to the Enix part of Square Enix: I want some Dragon Quest games.

Tell Eidos to keep being smurfing amazing.

Stop putting series on multiple devices; unless you're getting a cut from every 3DS/Vita/console sale, pick one and stick with it. Kingdom Hearts doesn't need to be on every console ever made. Be exclusive to one console stream or don't be exclusive at all.

Relax. Finances seem to be concerning them. If games like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex need to ship 8 million copies to meet expectations not be considered failures then something is seriously wrong.

[Del Murder]

I'd fire everybody. (Disclaimer: I would do this if I was put in charge of any company)

[Pumpkin]

Hire someone who knew what they were doing.

And make a super cool new RPG.

[Skyblade]

If I were in charge, and capable of making and enforcing my own decisions, without having to worry about investors or market pressures. Well, I would do a lot.

1. Pull together a team designed specifically to remaster and refine older titles. I'd also make sure that they had very strict oversight. I would set several projects for them.

A. First, we would remaster Final Fantasy Type-0 for the Playstation IV and Vita.
B. Second, we'd make Crystal Chronicles available on the Wii U, with online multiplayer as well as single screen.
C. Third, I would release a remastered and updated Final Fantasy VII.
D. Fourth, have them remake Mystic Quest. Give them experience in drawing out the good portions of the game, while learning to completely drop or rewrite the bad parts.
E. Finally, after I was sure that this team was doing very well and being incredibly thoughtful, I would see that they sat down and rebuilt Chrono Trigger.

2. Ensure that the sequel to Bravely Default is properly funded and staffed, and move it ahead as the new flagship series of Square-Enix.

3. Put together the teams to plan out ideas for a sequel to Chrono Trigger.

4. Ask Intelligent Systems if they would let us make a Tactical RPG crossover between Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem (that would be the best TRPG ever, unless we can find a way to add Shining Force into the mix).

5. Fire whichever staff member thinks that telling entire stories through Codex entries is a good idea. Don't get me wrong, I love Codex entries in general. But they should be supplementary and backstory material to the main game. They should not contain information critical to understanding the story, nor an entire story of their own that is not even hinted at in the main game.

6. Make a game with Delita as a playable character, and give a contest where the fan who finds the most ingenious and creative ways to kill him gets a complete collection of every Final Fantasy title.

7. Make plushies of my favorite cute characters, including the Organization XIII Moogle, and Final Fantasy Type-0's Tonberry.

[Del Murder]

Before I fire everyone I would make them design a game called 'FF game designer'. It would be like RPG Maker but with FF themes and characters. Then I'd release that game and clean house. Over Twitter I'll ask people to submit their FF creations to me. Based on the best entries I'll just hire those people to make the next one.

[Dr Unne]

Fire everyone, hire Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu, give them a small office building full of money and SNESes, come back in a year.

[Psychotic]

Remake FFVII but do a shoddy and half-assed job after spending half the budget on marketing. Create amazing looking trailers that feature incredible CGI that looks like it's actual gameplay footage but isn't, initiate a review embargo and then roll around in the pre-order money pile that would inevitably be created and giggle myself silly in luxury and decadence at the outraged howls of FF fans everywhere.

[Skyblade]

Remake FFVII but do a shoddy and half-assed job after spending half the budget on marketing. Create amazing looking trailers that feature incredible CGI that looks like it's actual gameplay footage but isn't, initiate a review embargo and then roll around in the pre-order money pile that would inevitably be created and giggle myself silly in luxury and decadence at the outraged howls of FF fans everywhere.

Isn't that what Aliens: Colonial Marines did? C'mon, be original.

[Psychotic]

Alright, how's this for a unique twist: Totally nude DLC skins for Sephiroth, Cloud, Zack, Vincent, Aeris, Tifa, Yuffie and Cait Sith available at $10 a pop. Each sold separately.

It'd be a licence to print money.

[black orb]

>>> Just to start.
Try to lure in Sakaguchi..
Make a new Chrono game and lure Akira Toriyama for that project..
Make a new Threads of Fate game..
FF7 remake..

And fire a lot of people..:luca:

[blackmage_nuke]

Sell my shares and live like a king

If i cant do that then reboot the Chrono Series, make them stop following Disney movie plots in KH, release an uncesored version of FFVI in english with reasonable load times and nonfugly graphics and bring back Geomancers in ff

[Bubba]

I would put a decent vending machine in the office.

[Fynn]

2. Ensure that the sequel to Bravely Default is properly funded and staffed, and move it ahead as the new flagship series of Square-Enix.

This may actually be a thing. A sequel is in the works and the director expressed a desire to produce one BD game a year, if they're popular enough.

As for what I'd do: FFXII Zodiac Job System HD on Vita and PS3, pls.

[DanielCLFFF13]

I would remake every Final Fantasy games for PC gamer. So every PC users could experience every Final Fantasy games. Hopefully it could make any PC users happy :)

[AssassinDX]

I'd rethink company expectations, they labeled the Tomb Raider reboot a failure because they put an outrageous number on how many units they wanted shipped - (http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-26-tomb-raider-has-sold-3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations)15 million effectively between Tomb Raider, Hitman and Sleeping Dogs, and even though Lara sold an impressive 3.4 million physical units to high critical acclaim Fukushima still wasn't happy and made out with his lifesize cut-out of Lightning for the third time that day.

After that I'd concentrate on upcoming games and their release dates as already mentioned, more info on Final Fantasy XV and KH3 for starters, just to keep fans interested.

I'd admit the Final Fantasy XIII saga is a failure and most people don't want Lightning rammed down consumers' throats anymore.

Meanwhile I'd also put together a team to work on some remakes, either a total remake of VII or an HD compilation of VII, VIII and IX as a collectors edition and drag the company from the brink of financial ruin. I don't know about you guys but I would pay some serious money for those games, some artwork and maybe a limited edition figurine for example. Revisiting the Mana universe is also a top notch idea, as is Chrono.

I would then concentrate on new titles, as mentioned they've done well with games like Tomb Raider and The World Ends With You among others.

So yeah, in summary I'd split the company into three divisions - Big Releases (Square BR), Remakes (Square-R) and... erm, another for quality 3DS and Vita games. We'll call them Enix.

[Shauna]

the outraged howls of FF fans everywhere.

This is going to happen in response to an FF7 remake regardless of how great it is. ;)

[Pete for President]

I take the number of call outs for remakes in this thread as a sign of the fans being just as lost as Square Enix is.

[Skyblade]

I take the number of call outs for remakes in this thread as a sign of the fans being just as lost as Square Enix is.

The main company is lost. The teams that are doing well are those in charge of their smaller projects, such as Type-0 and Bravely Default. Which is why, as I said, I would make Bravely Default the new flagship series of the company. I'd also continue work on more Ivalice Alliance tactical games, because they're awesome.

But that would still leave me with a ton of teams with nothing to do. I'd rather give them projects that would let them answer fan demands and make money than just fire them all. We know they can make pretty games. We just need to give them good games to put at the core of the experience.

[Ayen]

I take the number of call outs for remakes in this thread as a sign of the fans being just as lost as Square Enix is.

Gonna have to disagree here, remakes by themselves aren't necessarily a bad thing. Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider being three examples I would use. It's when they're put first and foremost that there begins to be a problem. This is why for me personally I'd put newer games first, but I wouldn't deny a remake when the demand is high and it'd be profitable and I wouldn't expect anyone else to. Even if it's inevitable you're going to hear six words afterwards, "Not as good as the original."

And I agree with Assassin about the expectations thing. I shake my head at Tomb Raider being considered a failure by them.

[Edge7]

I'd start by firing anyone who decides that the most profitable business strategy would be to make every numbered entry in Final Fantasy it's own franchise, regardless of relevance or popularity.

I'd follow Iwata's example and have monthly news videos so fans would be able to keep up to date with all of Square Enix's new projects (this includes coverage of the other two parts of the ill-fated Fabula Novala Crystalis project)

I'd have the company remake sections from classic Square Enix games like Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, etc. so that the game design/atmosphere of those segments can be used in potential sequels (that way, a Parasite Eve sequel would be more like that than say, the 3rd Birthday).

If demand for the Final Fantasy VII remake is really as great as it seems, I'll hold a public Q&A to see what it is people like about the game, contrast all the conflicting views together, and then oversee the project to make sure that the game keeps its lighthearted tone, I wouldn't want the game to be as dull and angst-ridden as Advent Children or Dirge of Cerberus. (Or anything Square's released as of late, now that I think of it).
-Side note: The more I think about it, the less sense it seems to be to remake FFVII without making it too serious. At least, not with the visuals seen in the tech demo. Of course, One could always dial back the comic relief, but why would I want to do that? Some of the wackier moments of NPC dialogue in FFVII has actually made me laugh out loud. Could that even be replicated if the game looked like Advent Children?

[Skyblade]

I'd start by firing anyone who decides that the most profitable business strategy would be to make every numbered entry in Final Fantasy it's own franchise, regardless of relevance or popularity.

I'd follow Iwata's example and have monthly news videos so fans would be able to keep up to date with all of Square Enix's new projects (this includes coverage of the other two parts of the ill-fated Fabula Novala Crystalis project)

I'd have the company remake sections from classic Square Enix games like Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, etc. so that the game design/atmosphere of those segments can be used in potential sequels (that way, a Parasite Eve sequel would be more like that than say, the 3rd Birthday).

If demand for the Final Fantasy VII remake is really as great as it seems, I'll hold a public Q&A to see what it is people like about the game, contrast all the conflicting views together, and then oversee the project to make sure that the game keeps its lighthearted tone, I wouldn't want the game to be as dull and angst-ridden as Advent Children or Dirge of Cerberus. (Or anything Square's released as of late, now that I think of it).
-Side note: The more I think about it, the less sense it seems to be to remake FFVII without making it too serious. At least, not with the visuals seen in the tech demo. Of course, One could always dial back the comic relief, but why would I want to do that? Some of the wackier moments of NPC dialogue in FFVII has actually made me laugh out loud. Could that even be replicated if the game looked like Advent Children?

Which is why I have been consistently arguing that they shouldn't be using Advent Children style graphics. Kingdom Hearts style visuals would be a much better aesthetic choice, and much more in keeping with what the original game had.

[Kalevala]

Fire everyone, hire Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu, give them a small office building full of money and SNESes, come back in a year.

Could not have said it better myself.

[Fynn]

Fire everyone, hire Hironobu Sakaguchi and Nobuo Uematsu, give them a small office building full of money and SNESes, come back in a year.

Could not have said it better myself.

I kinda disagree. The Last Story was a bit disappointing to me, both story/concept-wise and music-wise.

[Kalevala]

I've yet to play The Last Story. But the criticism I've read does echo yours: not bad by any means, but certainly disappointing. Although, I did listen to the soundtrack and enjoyed it. It doesn't live up to Uematsu's work from the 90s, but his work is still very much enjoyable.

I think what Dr Unne was getting at (or at least what I thought) was that, if forced to go "back to basics" (i.e. 16 bit), these men could still produce some stunning work. I think Zeboyd Games has demonstrated that it's still possible to produce quality 8 bit and 16 bit games. It'd be interesting to see Square Enix try something similar, rather than strangely designed cell phone ports/remakes.

[Fynn]

Well then, you should check out Bravely Default. That is definitely a game that has the same feel as the older Final Fantasies, despite being made by a team of completely different people. Honestly, I think Revo's soundtrack sounds more like Uematsu's SNES-era stuff than the Last Story, while the script was written by the author of Steins;gate. If you've seen the anime, you know you can expect brilliance.

I did like the Last Story, but I do think it could have been much better if they made the main characters more interesting. The supporting cast is ridiculously entertaining, which makes me wonder why our main breeding pair turned out so dull.

[Kalevala]

I'm getting a particularly FFIX feel from most of the screenshots. Speaking of art design, I'd like to see Amano do the character designs for another Final Fantasy. He's been sorely missed, if you ask me.

I'll definitely check out Bravely Default. Thanks!

[Mercen-X]

Oh trust me, you don't want me in charge of Square Enix.

Dustpan the current projects under the rug for years to come because I've a slew of stories I need told and games are the format I've most often imagined using to tell them. Of course, FFSW and FF7AC give me hope for producing films and tv series.

[black orb]

-Side note: The more I think about it, the less sense it seems to be to remake FFVII without making it too serious. At least, not with the visuals seen in the tech demo. Of course, One could always dial back the comic relief, but why would I want to do that? Some of the wackier moments of NPC dialogue in FFVII has actually made me laugh out loud. Could that even be replicated if the game looked like Advent Children?
>>> Yes, it can be replicated. The question is if SE can really acomplish that.
If they do a remake im afraid they will put Nomura on charge, he is a good artist and maybe a good action movie director but thats pretty much everything.. The old good FF7 comic relief with him on charge? forget it. I dont know how many of the original FF7 development team still at SE but without Sakaguchi is going to be hard to do a remake that lives up to the original title..:luca:

[Mercen-X]

I would also prioritize the creation of a Battlefront version of Final Fantasy. I would also see about making a Final Fantasy/DC crossover.

[Black Magic Shopkeeper]

I'd...uh...
Remake the entire SaGa series (including Romancing SaGa and the original SaGa 1-3) and localize them for the US for cripe's sake.
And yes... they need Sakaguchi back. Final Fantasy is not entirely right without him. If not that, drop Final Fantasy and start up a new franchise.

Hey, DOD3 is a great game. Let's keep up with stuff like that. Put Yoko Taro in control of the 'depressing arpg' division and see what kind of crazy ideas he might come up with.

More stuff like Bravely Default

Less stuff like Thief. *sigh*

I'm not a fan of Kingdom Hearts at all, but keep stuff like that up for the sake of good sales and keeping revenue flowing in.

...And then I'd kinda force the development of a game based off my webcomic, because I'm petty and self-serving like that. *smacks lips*

[Scotty_ffgamer]

I don't care what happens if I took over, I would just make sure that there is an Easter egg involving myself in every Square made game, whether as an NPC, my image on a poster, or something of that sort.

[Ayen]

I don't care what happens if I took over, I would just make sure that there is an Easter egg involving myself in every Square made game, whether as an NPC, my image on a poster, or something of that sort.

You would become the Stan Lee of video games, eh?

[Quindiana Jones]

I would freak the fuck out because I have no experience or training or knowledge of any aspect a running a massive international business, and would most likely send the entire company into a failure cascade of biblical proportions within the first five minutes of my being there.

:(

[Black Magic Shopkeeper]

I would freak the smurf out because I have no experience or training or knowledge of any aspect a running a massive international business, and would most likely send the entire company into a failure cascade of biblical proportions within the first five minutes of my being there.

:(


stop being realistic you're scaring me.

I take everything back I wouldn't do anything either it's too much pressure oh god *curls up in a ball and rocks back and forth*

[Skyblade]

I would freak the smurf out because I have no experience or training or knowledge of any aspect a running a massive international business, and would most likely send the entire company into a failure cascade of biblical proportions within the first five minutes of my being there.

:(

CEOs generally come in two types. People who are promoted up through the industry, or split off and form their own business. These people, like yourself, have little experience running the business and have to learn on the fly.


The other type is people who have business smarts, and acquire the position through corporate manipulations, mergers, etcetera. These people know the business smarts, but need to know how to apply it to the proper industry.

No one starts with all the knowledge they need, and anyone can fail. As a CEO, your job is broad control. You have the advantage of knowing what Square's fans are looking for. You have to push that agenda through. You have to convince stockholders and shareholders of the validity of the projects you want, and where their market share lies. You'll have stockholders and business investors looking at just the broad numbers of the industry (FPS games and flashy graphics are what people want, sell more!). You need to convince them of the financial merits of the path you want.

Then you need to make sure that the teams actually produce the right type of games, and then market those and make money.

Simple, really.:D

[Mercen-X]

Basically, you're only job is to say, "we need to put out more of this" and leave the complicated stuff to low men on the totem.