Sony to invest Enix/Square/Namco...?? hmm..

News out of Tokyo this morning has Square, Namco, and Enix announcing that they will be developing an online network together. Talks have been ongoing since April. The main objective appears to be to spread costs out for online game development. Square\'s president, Hisashi Suzuki, said at a joint news conference the three companies will set up a joint venture by the end of this year to run commercial online game services.
The three companies will jointly develop technologies, including software for programming of games to be played on mobile telephones. Other areas of cooperation include online entertainment services, arcade game development and character licensing, they said.

Details: (1) The three companies will undertake preparations to launch a joint venture to manage Square’s PlayOnline, to which they will all supply content; they will also develop this business in North America and Asia; (2) they plan to unify their overseas marketing operations; and (3) they will jointly develop their cellular-phone services and R&D support technologies, as well as pursue joint overseas development. Square will take leadership in (1), Namco in (2), and Enix in (3) with cooperation between these companies. However, only broad outlines of the plans were given for the direction of the partnership and things may evolve over time.

Additional plans were also disclosed on business relationships of the individual companies. First, Enix and Square have begun talks on the joint development of online game plans, while Namco will supply its content to Enix\'s publishing business, characters held by Enix and Square will be supplied as game prizes for use in Namco\'s facilities; and finally the three companies are looking into the possibility of joint development of arcade games.

The three companies will start testing online systems from July. Enix President Keiji Honda said his company hopes to release its first online game title during the next fiscal year to March 2003, while Namco Vice President Kyushiro Takagi said his company has already started its online game development, but declined to give further details.

Sony Computer and NTT Communications may invest in the joint company, the executives said.

The alliance is not exclusive, but the companies declined to say if any negotiations are taking place with other companies.

Taking advantage of the advance in online communication technologies, the tie-up is expected to create a new "network entertainment" market, the three firms said. The service will also be offered in North America and Asia, including China.

"I believe there has never been an online game service with 1 million or more users," Enix\'s Honda said, adding that the companies cannot calculate the total investment needed for the new business until they conduct further network tests.

As the first step of their alliance, the three companies will cooperate in translating their game software sold overseas into local languages.

The executives said the three companies are not considering mutual shareholding for the moment.

Commenting on the alliance, Tsubasa Research Institute Ltd.’s Takashi Oka said that “It\'s impossible for Square to proceed with the online game infrastructure by itself, with the plans, risks for investing in online game will be reduced to one-third.\'\'

Source Gaming-Age

Sony is the devil...Japan is enthralled as sony decides to invest in gaming conglomerate providing probably fantastic games. However, across the pacific, Bill Gates is yelling at J. Allard wondering why he did not get in on the deal. (Quote from storm at IGN Boards)

MS invests in Tecmo, gets DOA3. Sony invests in Namco/Square and Enix and steam rolls over MS. (Quote from siraris)

For more quotes go to the board...http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=6871679&replies=13

Hmmmmmmmmmm............the 3 biggest 3rd parties teaming up and there  all on ps2.  M$ will very a veeeeeerrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy hard time in japan and this may be the final straw.  That one powerful trio and if sony invest in them you know what that means.  Excluisive to there games.

Originally posted by raslant
Hmmmmmmmmmm............the 3 biggest 3rd parties teaming up and there  all on ps2.  M$ will very a veeeeeerrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy hard time in japan and this may be the final straw.  That one powerful trio and if sony invest in them you know what that means.  Excluisive to there games.

The Japanese trio is making sure no American made console wins in Japan.

And Sony is the captain of the ship, Sony I must say is very very very very smart.  

Namco, Enix, and Square have always supported Sony big time.. and it\'s just getting stronger..
looks like Namco, Enix and Square are fighting with Sony against M$ and possibly Nintendo.(rdtx at IGN Boards)

THis is a great way to sell an addon with this new alliance.....

And I get stupified!!! This is so amazing. Three of my favorite developers joining together to keep customer cost low and allow them to create probably the greatest network games in the history of gaming. This is bigger than big... this is HUGE!!! Getting support from Sony to aid them in doing this... I mean Sony knows whats going on... they have 800,000 users on Everquest. Bring that together with the greatest games on any console and it just makes for some pure kick ass gaming.

Bill pissed himself when this was released. LOL

I wish sony would invest in my new console idea the trusty 386+4MB-Ram + Trident-256k Graphics+Mouse_Keyboard.  
We could sell this baby for 49.99

Originally posted by Toxical
I wish sony would invest in my new console idea the trusty 386+4MB-Ram + Trident-256k Graphics+Mouse_Keyboard.  
We could sell this baby for 49.99

Send them your idea.

I have a question about all these costs for online play.  What will be the best interent provider for gaming consoles?  I know that there are some companied (Roadrunner) that combine telephone/tv/internet all through one service, but is there any cheaper way without having to mess around with my current phone and tv plan?  Also, would a good, cheap, 56K connection be sufficient for online play?  How much downloading will be involved?

Sorry for all the questions.  Answer any in any order if you want.

Originally posted by tHe GaMe


The Japanese trio is making sure no American made console wins in Japan.

And Sony is the captain of the ship, Sony I must say is very very very very smart.  

Namco, Enix, and Square have always supported Sony big time.. and it\'s just getting stronger..
looks like Namco, Enix and Square are fighting with Sony against M$ and possibly Nintendo.(rdtx at IGN Boards)

I couldn\'t said it better myself.  Japan doesn\'t want an American console to beat there own consoles so xbox is going to have it very hard over there.

Originally posted by raslant



I couldn\'t said it better myself.  Japan doesn\'t want an American console to beat there own consoles so xbox is going to have it very hard over there.

Do u remember when Ken said that XBox was finish, was it becuz this soon to happen deal was in the making.

Although it isn\'t final that Sony will lead the team, but you know they will, if Microsoft was in there shoes right now they would too, no dummy would not want to have an investment in this.

TOP

Originally posted by tHe GaMe


Do u remember when Ken said that XBox was finish, was it becuz this soon to happen deal was in the making.

Although it isn\'t final that Sony will lead the team, but you know they will, if Microsoft was in there shoes right now they would too, no dummy would not want to have an investment in this.

I agree that\'s proably why ken said that cause he knew this deal was getting put together in japan.  That proably the going to make the ps2 almost unstoppable over in japan.  Since square, enix, and namco are proably japan fav 3rd party developers.

Xbox fanboys what do u think about this.

Xbox fanboys what do u think about this

First off I think your a jackass(don\'t take that seriously), calling XBOXer\'s fanboys to start with.

Anyhow what I think is MS should have keep the console american and European. Doesn\'t mean they wont do well in Japan, I just never liked the idea.
Square=don\' like any of there games
Enix= um never played any of there games, which says it there.

Namco=If i\'m not mistaken they are the ones behind soul calibur, which is a great game.

The alliance is not exclusive, but the companies declined to say if any negotiations are taking place with other companies.

i hate it when people don\'t read their own posts

previously posted by raslant
Hmmmmmmmmmm............the 3 biggest 3rd parties teaming up and there all on ps2. M$ will very a veeeeeerrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy hard time in japan and this may be the final straw.

ummm i can hardly think those are the biggest three devs - hell konami IMO is higher than both Namco and Enix - to me the big guns are Square/EA/Sega - those are the games that people buy because of the devs

to say the least i don\'t know why you think these companies are exclusive to Sony - sure they are making games for them but who says that some of these joint games won\'t make their way to xbox and GC - just wouldn\'t make sense to me

but anyway i am happy about their little alliance and look foward to some awesome new arcades

Originally posted by Sublimesjg


i hate it when people don\'t read their own posts



ummm i can hardly think those are the biggest three devs - hell konami IMO is higher than both Namco and Enix - to me the big guns are Square/EA/Sega - those are the games that people buy because of the devs

to say the least i don\'t know why you think these companies are exclusive to Sony - sure they are making games for them but who says that some of these joint games won\'t make their way to xbox and GC - just wouldn\'t make sense to me

but anyway i am happy about their little alliance and look foward to some awesome new arcades

If you read some more, they have already announce that Sony would probaly invest in the company, and that other companies have been denied access at this moment.  But you know and I know that Sony once they invest in this company(which 100% sure they will), look for Nintendo and Microsoft to be locked out.  Becuz they do not want competition entered into there investment.