In its recent annual report to investors, Square Enix has made explicit his intention to “improve our apps premium for smart devices offer”, as you can read in the document published during the weekend. His plan: expand the scope of their consoles, extensive RPG and payment, so they also reach smartphones, a territory traditionally associated with the free games.
In the text, signed by Yosuke Matsuda (President and representative of the company director), recognizes the domain of free-to-play in the mobile market; “the gaming market premium that players pay for buy is practically non-existent”, it reads, but “Our group has offered a long games premium for smart devices, including completely new titles», that posts in perspective”represent a considerable amount of our income”.
According to Square Enix, the perception that a free-to-play game “is less expensive to develop than traditional console games” is inaccurate: «initial development costs» are «basically the same or even higher than a new game for portable machines dedicated», and it is necessary to invest steadily in ‘operational and additional development costs’ to ensure compliance with the «massive numbers of downloads and significant active user base that generates benefits» based small payments. «The risk of games free-to-play is even greater than the one of the premium», says the report.
“Premium games, obviously, have to be modified to keep pace with the frequent updates of operating system and require a constant marketing spending to generate notoriety,” continues the text. «However, smart devices are still a best platform to play games very dear for many years that consoles dedicated, because the latter have problems with the backwards compatibility ‘.
The other day he spoke, after the Conference in which arose the new PlayStation 4 Pro, how dedicated consoles have not been able to maintain relevance against a generation that already assumes that Facebook will beside this or which game, and video games are something that exists on almost any device: are not confined to the small domain of the dedicated machine. Square Enix report stated that «the native generation of smartphone already sees the smart devices such as a video game console all-in-one», and mobiles, exceeding, as it is obvious, in number in portable consoles, «have made significant progress in management both specifications»; a few advances that, explained, “is likely to continue without ceasing”.
«By these reasons, has sense that the creators of games, as us, offer games that have been developed traditionally for consoles portable dedicated not only in those consoles, but also for devices smart multifunction», says the text.
One of the genres that Square Enix is interested is the RPG round robin, which is considered appropriate for the type of smartphones that we currently have. «We see RPGs by turns as a style or format of game that we do not consider to be old fashioned for nothing,» explained; «those RPG development is something in which our group has highlighted a long ‘.
The ultimate goal is that the “market premium” continues to be one of the «pillars of our business, at the same time that the free-to-play market”, as well as, by the way,”enrich the portable market in the broader sense of varied consumer needs». Positive reading is that Square Enix is willing to make an investment to make mobile games Beyond a little: just that there are people who can watch a movie or read a book in your smartphone, can have that play an RPG of forty hours and sessions that go beyond the five meter Minutillo; to that refer, I think, with it’s “native generation”. It is a possibility. It reading dark has that see with the adoption generalized of hobbies and traps of them games free-to-play (micropayments, dynamic of game repetitive and simple) that can affect negatively to the design of these games: could take advantage of the new context for delete many of them things that make that them RPG Japanese have bad image between many players, but it certain is that there is a risk of that those taras is multiply and boost in this new world that have all in the Pocket. Bravely Default is a background light.
In the report full also is trying to others issues, as the reality virtual or those markets emerging.