This is incorrect, the merger was being talked about before Spirits Within had been released. Though as I stated earlier, the film flopping allowed Enix to have the upper hand in the merger. You are correct that Wada's solution was creating sequels and exploiting IPs though, so we can blame the film for that.Originally Posted by Bolivar
This is correct, the Spirits Within caused Square to be bought by Enix and immediately implement a strategy of exploiting only 2-3 IPs in not just spinoffs, but entire spinoff series'. Most mergers are in fact acquisitions, and this was certainly the case when you look at share conversion and board control.
I honestly don't understand why Horii doesn't just join Level-5 at this point. I'm sure it would make the companies legal departments happy to say the least.
I'm also more for the company just breaking up into smaller companies though I would prefer if Ito formed his own company with Matsuno or got swooped up by Mistwalker, Atlus, or Level-5. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing Nomura go into manga. I just feel like his art style and his stories would work better that way. I could see Kitase joing Mistwalker as well, or going independent consultant designer, I couldn't imagine him joining a company and not be expecting to be in charge so those two options would give him the best leverage.
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