You probably don’t remember it, but last year Square Enix established a new Japanese studio under their umbrella. Not much has been said about the studio since that establishment outside they are working on a new AAA IP, but now it seems Square is ready for the studio to speak up. As it turns out, the studio is aiming for the big time on a global stage.
In a series of interviews, Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda and Luminous Productions Studio Head Takeshi Aramaki talked extensively about the studios’ overall role. When talking about what type of games they plan to develop, they say it’ll be that in the “AAA” field. Aramaki says the aim of their development is to create a franchise with worldwide appeal, not just for Japan, that can stand up to the company’s other international IPs.
“The team with the largest number of staff assigned is the development of the next-generation AAA-scale game title for a brand new IP. As we all know, Square Enix has a number of popular titles under their belt like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest; Luminous Productions’ mission is to develop a new title that’s on the same playing field as those titles. Our objective is to deliver our audience a completely new IP that is marketable worldwide.”
It’s a pretty ambitious plan, especially putting yourself against that kind of pedigree. Presumably, whatever they are working on started in 2018 when the studio was formed (though it’s possible the project started under Square Enix proper and was moved over), so it’s not hard to believe we won’t see their first project until next gen. We’ll keep you posted either way.
