Square Enix on Switch: ‘We want to proactively create new IP and reboot past titles,’ ‘Well suited to mid-sized titles’

Square Enix has released the outline of its results briefing held on November 8, 2017, in which Square Enix president and representative director Yosuke Matsuda shares choice words for Nintendo Switch.

Here are the key questions and answers, which expand upon our initial report from earlier this month:

Q: Where do you intend to prioritize allocation of your development resources going forward?

A: We base our development resource allocations on the unique attributes of each platform. In particular, Nintendo Switch makes it easier for us to leverage our back catalog of assets and expertise, so we want to be proactive in creating new IP and rebooting past titles for that platform.

Q: What do you think of Nintendo Switch, and how are you approaching development efforts for it?

A: Nintendo Switch is seeing rapid uptake, and we welcome the arrival of such a platform. We intend to be proactive in our development efforts given that it’s a platform that is well suited to the mid-sized titles at which we excel.

Here are a few other interesting comments from the Q&A:

Q: Why is the balance of your content production account larger now than it was at the end of FY2017/3 even though Dragon Quest XI has already been released?

A: Development efforts for major titles are underway at both our overseas and domestic studios. We will be making announcements about the release dates of those titles between the end of FY2018/3 and E3.

Q: What do you think of the platform Steam for downloading PC games?

A: Steam has many users, but our games tend to get lost amongst the many titles it offers. As such, we think it’s important to guide users from our sales website to Steam.

Q: Left Alive was introduced in September. What will it cost to develop, and what is the positioning of the title?

A: We want to make it into a AAA brand, but that does not mean that we intend to devote massive development costs to it. Content-wise, the game will be satisfying in a hardcore way, and that’s how we want to market it to players.

Thanks, Games Talk.