Ever wanted to play an obscure game from Square Enix like Terranigma or a classic title like Chrono Trigger? Well, You may get the chance to soon someday, as Square is looking into making all of their games available in a digital library.
President and CEO of Square, Yosuke Matsuda, stated during E3 that he has heard demands for the entire library to be available digitally, and it is something he is considering for the developer.
"We're working on that in a variety of ways," stated Matsuda. "We actually have launched a dedicated project internally to port those [NES Titles], so we are working to make them available on a variety of platforms. Certainly down the road, we would like to see that on a subscription or streaming service, so we're exploring the possibility of creating a dedicated channel for ourselves."
One problem that would need to be ironed out is what type of service would Square Enix utilize for their library. Subscription services have become more popular of late, each with their own service models, from EA and their EA Origin Access, to even Nintendo with their new Nintendo Online. Matsuda holds Bethesda up as an example as well, noting that most game developers and publishers are going in the direction of having their own catalogs in a digital form, and that means Square needs to stay competitive.
Matsuda does comment on the possibility of there being a subscription fee, stating he doesn't know which way the service may go, as their goal is to "leverage our catalog" on the right service model.
Another obstacle that may harm the promise by Matsuda is making sure all Square Enix titles make the cut. Matsuda admits that many older games from Square's early days may be hard to digitally archive because the code has gone missing. "It's very hard to find them sometimes, because back in the day you just made them and put them out there and you were done- you didn't think of how you were going to sell them down the road." In at least one case, Square has only been able to recover the source code because a developer who had left the company had a copy of it still.
At E3, we've seen a move this way as well in regards to bringing those older games to market globally. At E3, Square announced the third Mana game would be translated for the first time and come west in the Collection of Mana as Trials of Mana along with a remake next year, after being exclusive to Japan as Seiken Densetsu 3 since its release in 1995. Beyond that, two classic SaGa games were announced to be coming west with Romancing SaGa 3 and SaGa Scarlet Grace: Ambitions showing Square Enix's commitment to bringing their classic games to market.
What are your thoughts on this? What game do you want to see revived for the Square Enix library? Leave your Comments below
