It's official now...

[Radical_Dreamer]

SquareSoft is dead to me.

Nobuo Uematsu was the last glimmer of hope that company had, and now he's leaving it. Mind you, I'll still probably play their future games, it's just that now all the people who created the classics that I grew up with are gone.

*raises a glass*

To SquareSoft. You were great in life, may you be decent in death.

[ZeaLitY]

Cool, someone read the news. Yeah, I hate to leech of RPGFan like that, but the Compendium isn't exactly a news agency.

It'd absolutely rule if he went to Monolith Soft, which I would then dub Square^2. Yes, Square Squared. Masato Kato, Mitsuda, the other dream team guys...it'd be the own. IF they acquired Chrono rights, you know they'd make something.

[Chrono'99]

That's bad news for Enix I guess. They wanted to merge with Square, but now the Square guys are slowly leaving the company...

[V_Translanka]

All I can say is ABOUT FRIGGIN TIME!

Really, he could have left after FFVIII if he wanted...He could pretty much pick & choose his projects now, I'd bet...

Like it matters though, if Square really wants Nobou to do another FF, they can still freelance him to...No real loss, especially with the bank SE is pullin' in (not yet including DQVIII, which SE obviously got Akira back for)...

[Leebot]

Well, it seems that what happened to Square is this:

Square took a big risk with the Final Fantasy movie. It didn't pan out. They eventually "merged" with Enix to save themselves. This merger was actually highly unequal; Enix became the ruling entity (in Japan, the Dragon Quest franchise rivals the Final Fantasy franchise, and some might say it wins). The Square franchises probably will stay around, as Enix flexes their new muscles, but they may seem different. The Enix franchises will definitely stay around, and I'm expecting good things from DQVIII (I'm one of the few North Americans who prefers Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy).

As for other companies, Monolith is made of pretty much the same team that made CT, CC, and Xenogears. Lets just hope they get the rights to the Chrono series, and that they don't go bankrupt from the Xenosaga series (an epic series is a huge risk; each game can be expected to sell less than its predecessors). Nautilus, the branch of Midway responsible for Shadow Hearts, has picked up a very dedicated (if small) following. If they stick around, they could easily grow to overtake Square franchises (if not Enix franchises).

[Symmetry]

Heh, I just finished posting something on OUS about this.

All I really have to say is that by no means am I a Square fanboy, but I'm really sick of the hordes of people who piss and moan that Square hasn't created another game that (in their mind) rivals FFVII.

And I'm slightly embarassed to say this, but I just now made the connection between Monolith and Xenosaga. I was really impressed with Saga, so yeah - that clearly shows to me that they've still got it going on. I'm slightly pessimistic about them ever recieving the rights to the Chrono series, but with Saga & Batien Kadios (which comes out soon and appears to be quite promising), they might be able to create something that rivals Chrono on their own - if that isn't too blasphemous of a statement.  

[V_Translanka]

I think Square was just about making up for Spirits Within on their own through their new FFs...

Both companies prospered because Enix got a hold of Square's online resource, PlayOnline...Both companies are doing well because it gives them both the chance to deversify where they couldn't before (they're now working with Nintendo somewhat and they're even coming out with a cell phone game [Before Crisis]).

[Radical_Dreamer]

They're coming out with several cell phone games, actually. The original Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are being released on phones in Japan.