Square Enix To Focus On Online Games; What Does That Mean For ‘Kingdom Hearts 3’ and ‘Final Fantasy XV’?

Square Enix, the publisher responsible for popular titles like "Kingdom Hearts 3" and "Final Fantasy XV" is switching gears. The company recently announced they would soon introduce a new release strategy for upcoming video games. According to a recent financial briefing session from Square Enix's investor relations website, the company will be altering its development plans for internal studios. The publisher will now reportedly focus on more online-based titles. The report states that Square Enix plans to "accelerate" domestic production of smart titles, while shifting overseas studios focus to online-based titles.

This new release strategy severely hinders the progress of such game titles like KH3 and FF14, the move most likely pushes away much needed resources, with an already delayed release date for both titles, gamers will certainly not be happy with the news. However, Yosuke Matsuda, the president of Square Enix did reassure fans of the flagship games that Sqaure Enix will still develop these titles, in addition to creating new mobile content and online games. "As I mentioned previously, our overseas studios are shifting their focus to include more online-based titles. While we are continuing our development of sellout-type flagship HD (high-definition) games for conventional game consoles, we will be transitioning to developing more online games as a major trend of our business.

Matsuda even specifically named the two titles and confirmed that the studio in Japan is the home of the titles development teams. Matsuda stated, "Studios in Japan are continuing to work on developing flagship HD (high-definition) game titles for consoles such as "FINAL FANTASY XV" and "KINGDOM HEARTS III," which have already been announced at E3. On the other hand, these studios are also working on new content for smart devices. We will produce results from such efforts from this time forward."

Following the announcement of "Final Fantasy XV" and "Kingdom Hearts 3," at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo, both titles have been plagued with issues. An extended release date delay is not even the worst of it, the two games share a game director in Tetsuya Nomura, therefore they are stretched thin as in because he splits his time and talents between the two, now add in the fact the Square Enix plans on allocating more resources to "online games," these games are not going to be here for years! quare Enix released a lineup of new video game releases for the next fiscal quarter, which ends in March 2014, "Final Fantasy XV" and "Kingdom Hearts 3" were both notably absent. Original estimates places the FF14 release date somewhere in 2014, and after the release lineup, the soonest possible release date for "Final Fantasy VX" will be in December of 2014. Meaning that "Kingdom Hearts 3" is still at least two years away, it seems unlikely that "Kingdom Hearts 3" will be appearing on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One any earlier than 2015.

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