Square Enix: Last News

Jamie Lang Spain’s Canary Islands video game industry got a major shot in the arm this week as local developer Quantum Box Games, a studio based in Gran Canaria, secured a significant Japanese investment. The deal, worth 300 million yen (approximately $1.9 million), was forged with Route24, a Japanese game development company led by industry veterans who have worked on some of gaming’s biggest franchises, such as “Final Fantasy,” “Chrono Trigger” and “Super Mario RPG.” Route24 boss Kenichi Nishi, a former Square Enix developer, is teaming up with Keita Eto, another Square Enix veteran, and Quantum Box Games to develop a new JRPG titled “Kiriko the Mystic.” The partnership marks a significant milestone for the islands’ local gaming ecosystem as it will see home-grown artistic talent collaborate with some of Japan’s most renowned video game creators.

Square Enix has made both Octopath Traveler games available for all consoles, PC and Xbox Game Pass.Previously, Octopath Traveler 1 was only available for Nintendo Switch and Xbox consoles, while only Switch and PlayStation users could play the sequel, Octopath Traveler 2.In a surprise update yesterday (June 5) Square Enix announced that Octopath Traveler 2 would be available for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One users immediately, while the original would return to PS4 and PS5. Both titles are also available to play via Xbox Game Pass while PC players have always had access to the titles.To celebrate the launch of Octopath Traveler on PlayStation 5 and PS4 and the launch of Octopath Traveler II on Xbox Games Pass, please enjoy this incredible artwork by artist Yasushi Hasegawa.

Square Enix has confirmed the release of the Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth soundtrack.The 175-track collection features “a massive volume of specially selected songs” alongside Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth’s main theme ‘No Promises to Keep’.A version of ‘No Promises to Keep’ was previously released, but the official soundtrack collection will feature the new ‘Loveless’ version composed by Nobuo Uematsu.Rebirth’s soundtrack is available as a seven-disc CD set which comes with a mini memo pad, and is also available to download via Amazon Music and iTunes. As it stands, there is no word on a streaming release for the nine hours of music though.Ready for 175 tracks of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth music?Get the original soundtrack as a physical CD set or download on major music platforms now.

Final Fantasy 14 players are reportedly being banned by Microsoft for using the phrase “free company”.In Final Fantasy 14, a free company is a player-operated organisation within the game, similar to a guild in other online titles. Players can only be a member of one free company at a time, with each company limited to 512 members.As well as the community aspect of being part of a free company, members also get access to shared rewards, group buffs and company housing.To help the system, Square Enix has also created an official community finder tool, which helps players find and join the free company of their choosing via Final Fantasy 14’s messenger service.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth last month, an orchestral world tour has been announced.Set to kick off in August 2024, the tour will allow fans to “experience all new symphonic arrangements” of the music of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.The show will include “beloved scores” by Nobuo Uematsu and “exciting new contributions” from Mitsuto Suzuki, Masashi Hamauzu, and many other esteemed composers and arrangers. The whole thing will be performed by an orchestra and chorus of over 100 musicians led by renowned conductors Arnie Roth and Eric Roth.“Immerse yourself in the world of one of the most visionary games of all time with this sensational multimedia concert experience,” reads the official Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth tour website.Announcing the FFVII REBIRTH ORCHESTRA WORLD TOUR!Immerse yourself in the world of one of the most visionary games of all time with this sensational multimedia concert experience!Experience all new symphonic arrangements of the music of FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH including… pic.twitter.com/SaaIXh8nHk— Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY (@ffdistantworlds) March 8, 2024Select shows will see appearances from the original composers, with Masashi Hamauzu appearing at Los Angeles, Rotterdam, London, Bangkok, Taipei, New York and Paris while Mitsuto Suzuki is set to take part in shows in Chicago, Munich and Rome.Tickets for the tour are being released in waves, with the first leg on sale this Friday, March 15.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has received a special easter egg on Google commemorating the launch of the game.By googling the word ‘Chocobo’ on Google, a button will appear featuring the bird. Once pressed, a full herd of different coloured Chocobo’s will run across the screen, causing it to shake as the mounts rampage across your device.For those unfamiliar, a Chocobo is a fictional species that first debuted in Final Fantasy 2.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth players have been covering a number of iconic tracks via a new piano minigame.A demo for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth launched earlier this week, with players able to get to grips with the game’s opening chapters. As well as providing a backstory for Cloud and Sephiroth, this demo has also allowed players to try out a number of new minigames.“Some of the minigames are just as fun to watch as they are to play, so they’re perfect to play when you feel like taking a breather from the main story,” said Square Enix, with both collectible card game Queen’s Blood and a series of chocobo time trials available to play.However it’s the piano found in Tifa Lockheart’s room in Nibelheim that’s causing the most excitement.

Dawntrail expansion for Final Fantasy 14 has been revealed, showing off the new Pictomancer class.Dawntrail is due out summer 2024 and brings two new jobs to Final Fantasy 14. The first, Viper, was confirmed back in October with the second being unveiled over the weekend at the official fan festival in Tokyo.Pictomancer allows players to use ranged, magical attacks via a paintbrush and paint palette.

NME recently caught up with Loren Allred, the vocalist behind Square Enix‘s newly-revealed Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth theme song ‘No Promises To Keep’, to learn about the process behind singing as fan-favourite Final Fantasy character Aerith.In Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the song is performed by Aerith during a performance of the stage play Loveless. But in the real world – including its live debut at The Game Awards 2023 – ‘No Promises To Keep’ is performed by Allred, who is best known for singing ‘Never Enough’ in 2017 musical The Greatest Showman.Speaking to NME, Allred shared that although she didn’t play Final Fantasy growing up, she became a fan of composer Nobuo Uematsu through watching her friends play.

Final Fantasy 14 adds harder achievements is dependent on the response of one of its most dedicated fans, who has already bagged all 2,700 achievements.Speaking at this year’s Final Fantasy Fan Fest in London, producer and director Naoki Yoshida expressed his admiration and appreciation for the anonymous player.“First and foremost, I want to just say, wow, big congratulations,” he said (thanks to Rock Paper Shotgun). “To see that player just stick with it – just pressing on – as a creator of an MMO [massively multiplayer online game], that’s a really fantastic thing to see.”There are 2,751 achievements in the game, ranging from talking to characters, to diving into dungeons alone, to cyclical side quests, to specific numbers of wins in the player-versus-player modes.However, if that player is looking for further challenges to test their skills in Final Fantasy 14, Yoshida welcomed their input into potential new achievements that could come to the game.“Of course, we will continue to make achievements in the game,” he answered.

PowerWash Simulator is on its way to virtual reality this year thanks to nDreams‘ port for the Meta Quest 2 and 3.The announcement trailer for PowerWash Simulator VR showed off its new tool belt feature that holds the different nozzles for players on the fly. Additionally, the progress is tracked on a wristband with a display and “quick settings” tab to swap between stances to clean every inch of the house, van, or skateboard park.

Square Enix shared the official pronunciation of Cait Sith, a character in Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, but Scottish fans are upset as it is actually incorrect.Cait Sith is inspired by the cat-sìth (plural cait-shìth) in Scottish folkore, sharing his appearance with the fairy creature in his black and white coat. In Scottish Gaelic, cat-sìth is pronounced “ket-shee” and this is reflected in the Japanese katakana for the character’s name – ケット・シー or “Ketto Shī”.We saw many of you were asking so we hope this helps! #FF7R pic.twitter.com/ZC4WAu9IpE— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) October 3, 2023However, Square Enix announced on social media that Cait Sith’s name is in fact pronounced in an Anglicised way, “Kate Sihth”.

Sega has now stepped back from its previously planned blockchain initiatives for fear of “devaluing” its strongest gaming properties, saying the technology is yet to show its maximum potential.In a new interview, the company’s co-chief operating officer Shuji Utsumi said that the move to blockchain might have been viewed as an interesting investment, but Sega’s motivation is to be ahead of the masses.“For the majority of people in the video game industry, what blockchain advocates say may sound a bit extreme, but that’s how the first penguin has always been,” he told Bloomberg, making a metaphor about risk-takers. “We should never underestimate them.”Nevertheless, Sega will be “[withholding] its biggest franchises from third-party blockchain gaming projects to avoid devaluing its content.” As a result, that doesn’t affect the present plans for Three Kingdoms and Virtua Fighter characters to be turned into non-fungible tokens or the newest Sangokushi Taisen blockchain game from developer Double Jump Tokyo.Sega is also “shelving plans to develop its own games in that [blockchain] genre, at least for now.” Utsumi continued to criticise play-to-earn games too, calling them “boring” and pointless for pulling the “fun” out of gaming.The company is not the only business to be dabbling in blockchain, NFTs and web3.

Sonic the Hedgehog and the president of Sega‘s Sonic Team for 16 years, has been sentenced and fined for insider trading in his time with Square Enix.READ MORE: Watch a historical weapons expert break down combat in ‘Final Fantasy XVI’The report from Jiji Press (via Video Games Chronicle) stated that Naka has been given a a suspended sentence of two years and six months in prison, with four years probation. As well as this, he faces two fines totalling $1.2million (£935k).Naka committed the crime with fellow Square Enix employees Taisuke Sazaki and Fumiaki Suzuki in order to secure advantageous shares in developers Aiming and Ateam, based on information that had not been publicised about their games Dragon Quest Tact and Final Fantasy 7: The First Soldier.In November 2022, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office arrested Naka and charged him with violating the Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of 2006 for his $20,000 (£16k) shares in Aiming.

Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida has shared that fans should “look forward to” the current PS5 exclusive coming to PC, though a timeframe for its launch is yet to be confirmed.Final Fantasy 16 launched yesterday (June 22), and while the game is currently locked to a six-month exclusivity deal on the PS5, it’s expected to make its way to PC platforms at some point beyond that window.In a recent livestream spotted by PC Gamer, co-producer Naoki Yoshida shared that Square Enix hasn’t “had the time to optimise the PC version” of Final Fantasy 16 because it has been focusing on getting the PS5 version ready for launch.Specifically, Yoshida explained the studio is still working to optimise Final Fantasy 16‘s seamless loading screens for PC.“We will be sharing more about the PC version when the time is right, please look forward to it,” added Yoshida.It’s been a confusing few years for Final Fantasy 16‘s PC version. The game was initially announced for both PS5 and PC, however Square Enix went on to deny reports of a PC launch.In March, Yoshida acknowledged that he would like to “eventually” launch Final Fantasy 16 on PC, fans shouldn’t expect it to launch immediately after its exclusivity deal ends.“First of all, it is true that Final Fantasy 16 is a six-month limited-time exclusive on the PS5 platform,” shared the producer.

Square Enix has unveiled a Final Fantasy 16 demo for PS5, which is available right now on the PlayStation Store.Final Fantasy 16 producer Naoki Yoshida made the announcement during a key-note speech at a pre-launch event, which was streamed online.The demo will let players jump straight into Final Fantasy 16‘s prologue, and will last for approximately two and a half hours. Additionally, Yoshida confirmed that progress made in the demo will carry through to the full game when it launches this month.“The demo will give PlayStation 5 players a taste of the game’s vibrant world and fast-paced action combat with two lengthy sections showcasing what you can expect from FF16,” reads an official blog post.The prologue itself introduces Clive Rosfield, Final Fantasy’s newest protagonist.

Square Enix has revealed that its recent AAA title, Forspoken, has underperformed financially since its release in January.In a financial presentation, Square Enix revealed that while reviews for the game “have been challenging”, it has also received “positive feedback on its action features”, highlighting its parkour and combat mechanics. “That said, its sales have been lackluster,” Yosuke Matsuda said as part of his presentation.Matsuda added: “While the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings.”He continued, telling investors: “Last year, I stated that we were designating FY2023/3 as a year in which to lay the foundations that will enable us to achieve our medium-term objectives, but that we nonetheless intended to pursue YoY growth in sales and profits.

Luminous Productions, the studio behind Forspoken, has announced it is closing with staff set to merge with Square Enix.The studio was first founded in 2018 and released action role-playing game Forspoken earlier this year via Square Enix. Luminous Productions is currently working on an expansion for the title alongside a patch to “address overall game performance”.Square Enix has since released a statement confirming the merger will come into effect May 1, 2023.

Square Enix has confirmed what titles will be showcased during the Tokyo Game Show, with Final Fantasy 16 missing from the list of confirmed games.Tokyo Game Show has released a list of exhibitors and what people can expect to be showcased, with Square Enix set to give players updates on a variety of Final Fantasy titles – but Final Fantasy 16 isn’t mentioned anywhere.According to the official Tokyo Game Show website (and translated by Eurogamer), Square Enix will be bringing news on Final Fantasy 14, Crisis Core Final Fantasy 7 Reunion, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, Stranger Of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin and mobile remake Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis.The studio will also be offering players a look at Tactics Ogre Reborn, Dragon Quest Treasures, The DioField Chronicle, Romancing Saga – Minstrel Song, Star Ocean 6, and Valkyrie Elysium.The hybrid digital/in-person Tokyo Game Show opens September 15 and runs until September 18.Back in June, a new trailer for Final Fantasy 16 was revealed alongside the news that the title is looking at a summer 2023 release. At the same time, director Hiroshi Takai confirmed that development on Final Fantasy 16 is finished and the game can now be played through from start to finish “though, from optimisation to brush-up, there is still a mountain of challenges to tackle as we head into our final push.”Following that the producer of Final Fantasy 16, Naoki Yoshida, confirmed the reason for the game’s lack of turn-based combat, saying it’s to appeal to a younger audience.He later said that he believes the Final Fantasy series is “struggling” to adapt to industry trends but isn’t worried. “My current impression is that all we can really do is create multiple games, and continue creating the

Square Enix could be opening a new studio in the West.The application appeared on the database last week on August 17 where it was filed, created and formalised, and it currently appears to be pending  (via VGC).It looks like the new Western studio will be called Studio Onoma and will focus on developing and “publishing of computer game software and video game software.”The application also includes additional details for the services and goods the studio will provide, such as strategy guides, posters, casual clothing, toys, games, and playthings, “namely action figures, [and] handheld battery-operated games”. Square Enix Newco Limited is listed as the trademark applicant, which is a recently established company in London, England.Earlier this month, it was reported that Square Enix is looking to sell off stakes in Western studios in a bid to “improve capital efficiency.” This follows the sale of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos to Embracer Group back in early May. The deal was worth around £240million ($300million) and included Square Enix studios Crystal Dynamics, Square Enix Montréal, and Eidos.In July, the founder of Eidos, Stephane D’Astous, stated that the Final Fantasy publisher may have sold its Western developers to gear up for a Sony acquisition.At the time, he said: “If I read between the lines, Square Enix Japan was not as committed as we hoped initially.

Nier: Automata community for days has been revealed to be an elaborate hoax from a group of modders. After footage of a secret room that led to a church was shared by Reddit user sadfutago on the game’s subreddit, the community was aflame with speculation as to whether or not this was a newly-discovered secret or some sort of elaborate hoax. It turned out to be the latter.The hoax was revealed in a recent Twitch stream (which currently doesn’t have a VOD) by the creators, with Lance McDonald outlining what they revealed during the stream on Twitter.The creator of the mod went through a new scenario in both new and old areas of Nier: Automata, before thanking the mod developers for their work and the community at large.At the end of the stream there was a lighthearted apology for the “potential frustration” caused by the scheme, with news that the in-game mod will also be made publicly available in the future.A message also took over the screen at the end, with the three modders each adding their own thanks too.pic.twitter.com/1WeuTG0Ko4— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) July 29, 2022“Everything we have shared has been completely in-game, no editing was used,” began the message.