Single Japanese publisher seeks friendly American partner to explore fantasy together

Square Enix is looking to build its overseas numbers

September 25, 2007

Square Enix has put out its personal ad, so to speak. The company is looking for a North American publisher that can help drive its sales and bring new, local content to English-speaking gamers.

The popular publisher of the Final Fantasy series currently earns only 10% of its revenue from outside of Japan. Square Enix has been paying even closer attention to the U.S. lately, though, with its recent interest in the Xbox 360 and effort to launch games worldwide simultaneously. The company hopes to bring its overseas revenue up to 50% of its totals within three years.

To do this, the company wants to work with an established company in North America. Square Enix has long held North American and European subsidary companies that have localized Square Enix games for their markets. However, the company now wishes to also bring more locally-inspired titles to gamers worldwide, rather than simply translating Japanese games.

"We need local content," explains Square Enix VP Michihiro Sasaki. "Our strength is in role-playing games and fantasy titles, so it is a bit difficult to appeal to the U.S. market."

The Final Fantasy series, as well as other Square Enix titles, already have a significant following in the United States, where the publisher is recognized as one of the leaders in role-playing video games. However, North American companies are starting to break into the RPG genre. Bethesda Softworks, a developer out of Maryland, released Oblivion last year, a multi-platform title that skyrocketed its The Elder Scrolls series into the spotlight. Meanwhile, Canadian publisher Bioware is preparing to release Mass Effect, another large-scale RPG, this November.

Square Enix does have a few sure-bet titles coming to North America. Final Fantasy XIII as well as upcoming games in the Kingdom Hearts series are sure to get some state-side attention.