Square Enix wants to improve its Public Relations

Vae on 28/5/2013 at 00:30

(http://www.joystiq.com/2013/05/27/square-enixs-three-initiatives-to-reform-its-aaa-business) "Square Enix's three initiatives to reform its AAA business" ~ joystiq

"We're no longer in an age where customers are left in the dark until a product is completed," said Matsuda. "We need to shift to a business model where we frequently interact with our customers for our products that are in development and/or prior to being sold, have our customers understand games under development, and finally make sure we develop games that meet their expectations."

We've been telling them to do this for years...yet, is it too late?...Share your feelings.

UPDATE:

Here's an update on Square Enix...(http://www.polygon.com/2013/6/21/4451988/square-enix-makes-leadership-changes-to-all-studios-new-aaa-hitman) Square Enix makes leadership changes to all studios, new AAA Hitman project in development

Thanks, Shin..;)

Specter on 28/5/2013 at 00:47

That seems decidedly different from their approach to Nu Thief.

Azaran on 28/5/2013 at 01:20

lol

I guess Thief 4 is exempt from this rule

Renault on 28/5/2013 at 01:29

Give them credit for recognizing where they went wrong - I'm sure the development of T4 played into this. How they act going forward will determine if they're serious or not.

I thought this little tidbit was the most interesting though:

Quote:

And, finally, it will overhaul large-scale, long-term development to increase asset turnover (i.e. get games out the door).

Sounds like they realize that expecting astronomical sales to justify a bloated staff of 300+ employees is not the way to go. Hopefully that won't translate into a bunch of crappy, shoddily put together games.

Also thought it was interesting to note that they're planning on focusing on tablets and mobile.

jtr7 on 28/5/2013 at 01:41

Well, they've generalized it, and giving credit after a major disaster is weak. Companies that are full of themselves and only appear to learn when things are really bad don't impress me at all. Give them their sense of worth back and let's see how long they show what they've "learned". All too human.

Chade on 28/5/2013 at 01:53

A.K.A. we can't selling enough to justify our enormous budgets, so we need to make games quicker and cheaper.

The PR related stuff sounded nice, and the AAA market certainly seems to be heading nowhere fast, but it's not clear that this is a good thing for the thief franchise. It might lead to a thief that is more focused on a smaller set of more hardcore gamers, but it might equally likely lead to "Madden-isation" of the franchise.

Renault on 28/5/2013 at 02:00

Agreed, but I'll take my chances with the lower budget game strategy - an AAA Thief title (as they're defined today) will never please the majority of the fans around here.

jtr7 on 28/5/2013 at 02:45

As for Eidos-Montreal, unless Square-Enix imposes changes on their Marketing Department, I don't expect improvements in PR.

Silverwolf on 28/5/2013 at 04:45

Nothing will change at EM.

thiefinthedark on 28/5/2013 at 05:33

I'm still holding out hope that this means they will just can Thief. They don't even have a game built over there so it's not like they have something to shove out the door.