With a new year come new plans and new opportunities for third-party developers. Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda gave us an interesting press release on New Year’s day detailing his company’s plans looking into the new year. Addressing the previous year’s troubles and shining a light on their plans for the shifting environment in the industry’s near future.
While Matsuda did address the new prospects that come from the newest generation of consoles, it’s clear that the focus at Square Enix is on the new services that go against the traditional gaming console formula. Naming services like PS Now, Game Pass and xCloud as the evolution of the industry. However, Matsuda also named Amazon, Google and Tencent as potential new competition for Microsoft and Sony.
Services Galore
The landscape of the console market is shifting and it’s hard to see who will come out on top. As cloud gaming is increasingly becoming more and more viable, now is the time for new services to establish themselves early and claim their market share. Now is the time for innovation and experimentation. It wouldn’t be surprising to see some new services with the Game Pass model popping up soon.
This may remind a lot of people of when video streaming became popular. Back in the day, there were only a few video streaming services, with Netflix being one of the big staples. Now it seems like every studio under the sun has their own service with their own original content.
There is every possibility that game services will follow this trend. One day you may need to pay for Activision+ for Call of Duty and Take-Two Now for GTA. Every publisher with their own service for their own content.
Content is King
However, when speaking about these new services, Matsuda placed a big emphasis on their content, “for content is king”. He goes on to state that “Content is the measure by which value is defined” for the new services. “It is by our continued commitment to the envisioning, development, and provision of that content that we further solidify our place as a valued entertainment company.”
It seems that while Square Enix has no interest in a service of their own, they are looking to make the game that defines a service. Much like how Bungie’s Halo defined the Xbox, Square Enix is looking to make an exclusive game that defines its service as a staple of the industry. Whether it be for Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Valve or a new competitor, Square Enix is looking for a deal.
Only time will tell which services will come and go and which will be here to stay, but it’s clear that Square Enix is looking to be there on the winning side.
Check out the full press release here
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