Square Goes Fully Mainstream

More detail from Square president, no more non-mainstream games allowed -Destructoid.

Discouraging news from Square-Enix passed along to me today.  They have insisted that all their games have to now fall into the mainstream mold.  I’m not sure what that leaves the company with aside from the Final Fantasy franchise.  It’s an established money maker, and I am party to it, but cutting out innovation and creativity does not sound like a good business practice.

Some of the best games and franchises started out by being new, creative, and original.  Look at games such as Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Infamous, and Assassin’s Creed.  All of these are games that broke the mold of their genre and have been turned into acclaimed, successful franchises.

Two of the best examples of innovation leading to success are Portal and Ico/SOTC.  Portal started off as a creative spinoff game to Half Life that was a wholly original take on puzzle games.  The sequel followed and was a fantastic game.

Two of the most acclaimed games, from fans and critics alike, came from Sony and what is now Team Ico.  Ico and Shadow of the Colossus were two unique games for the PS2 that set up expansive, beautiful worlds with no explanation of what to do.  You are thrown into the game and figure out what to do as you go along.  They are fantastic games and I am eagerly awaiting their next, The Last Guardian.

Stamping out creativity and insisting on mainstream games would have eliminated Ico, SOTC, Portal, and many other games.  I hope Square learns from this.  The post was from a couple of years ago, I haven’t heard whether that is still true but considering the only games I have heard from Square lately are all Final Fantasy, I’m not counting on it.