Square Enix head Yoichi Wada has told Forbes that some element of multiplayer or social gaming will be incorporated into each title Square Enix produces. They don't give the exact quote, so it's not certain whether he means the internally developed series they're known for, like Final Fantasy, or everything they publish - which would include Deus Ex: Human Revolution. He seemed particularly fond of free-to-play games with a cash shop, referencing Tencent, a company that makes F2P games. He compares their games to Square's own "highly polished" games available for top dollar. "What is polished is in the eye of the beholder. Our games' graphics are very polished, but Tencent is actually very polished in terms of the experience."
Will Supreme Commander 3 be a fantasy MMO where you can buy cosmetic items for your ACU? Well, alright, maybe I'm getting carried away, but though it'll likely mean more chocobos gracing our monitors, it could also mean that Square Enix is seriously thinking about muscling in on the free-to-play territory and leaving big budget titles for somebody else to take care of. The rise of Free to Play games like Dragonica, Runes of Magic and, er, Lord of the Rings , is now nearing it's zenith. With the Japanese RPG titan thinking of binning its premium retail box-o-games in favour of Final Facebook Fantasy Tactics and the like, this slippery slope just got a lot more... slippery .
[ Forbes ]
