Recently, Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, agreed to sit down with the Japanese branch of Reuters for an interview concerning the present status of the gaming industry. Wada mentioned that business had been brisk since the end of 2004, and that the pace would most likely continue at the same high rate well into next year.
Beginning with Square Enix's Japanese release of Dragon Quest VIII in November, many companies released titles from their respective flagship series, one right after the other, into the beginning of this year. Wada said that this saturation of the market with popular titles boosted the industry tremendously. He went on to predict that the momentum the industry built up in the last few months will keep going strong well into next year, as there are many major titles up for release soon -- both in Japan and overseas. For Square Enix, these games include the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy XII, Kingdom Hearts 2, and the North American version of Dragon Quest VIII. The anticipation these titles are creating in the gaming market is multiplied by the coming of the next-generation platforms, which are expected to raise the bar on gaming products throughout the industry.
In regards to the North American localization of Dragon Quest VIII, Wada hedged his comments, saying only that he would like to have the game released "as soon as possible."
Finally, Wada spoke a little about the future of the gaming industry. He mentioned that in the coming decade, we will probably see more network-based games, with online gaming becoming more prominent.
|
RSS feed
iTunes