Square, Eniz, and Namco. . .

http://ps2.ign.com/news/35904.html

At a press briefing in Tokyo today, Square, Namco and Enix at last revealed solid plans on their much talked-about partnership, news of which first surfaced months ago. The bulk of today\'s announcement centers on network gaming, but the three companies will be working together in many areas outside of this as well.

Square\'s PlayOnline game network, scheduled to begin pay service in April of next year, will serve as the network backbone for Online games developed by all three companies. Square has already revealed its plans to make Final Fantasy XI playable only through the service, and both Namco and Enix have been rather verbal about their belief in Online gaming. At the briefing, Enix president Kenji Honda stated that Enix would release one or two PlayOnline games in the 2002/2003 business year, and would consider an Online version of Dragon Quest, one of Japan\'s most popular series. Namco chose not to reveal any further plans, with vice president Kyushiro Takagi instead choosing to restate that Online game development has begun within the company.

This cooperation between the three companies in the lucrative Online gaming market is coming about due to the tremendous costs and difficulties of developing a gaming network. Honda stated "We see huge growth potential in online games although there are obstacles to clear...such as a way to prevent the system from crashing if there is an overload of users trying to access the system at the same time."

Square president Hisashi Suzuki hinted at the possibility of even more partners, stating, "One company alone can\'t create a large online game market. But we now have strong partners and we will welcome more participants." The companies declined to say if negotiations were under way with other companies.

By the end of this year, the three companies will set up a joint company to operate the PlayOnline service, although details have yet to be revealed on this. Whatever form the deal will take, it looks like it may have some major backers. At the press conference, it was revealed that Sony Computer Entertainment and Japan\'s massive NTT Communications will support the deal, although specifics were not given. It\'s possible that the two giants will invest capital in the deal, according to Namco, Square and Enix executives.

In addition to the Online business, the three companies will work together on many other fronts. The three will cooperate in the overseas market, bringing together their know-how in order to enable more efficient management of these divisions. Cell phones will also see the results of this deal, with the three companies teaming up to develop software support solutions for cell phone game development. Additionally, the three will work together on cell phone game development outside of Japan. Further details were not provided.

Other tie up areas include Square and Enix conferring on the development of Online titles, Enix gaining access to Namco properties for its publishing business and some form of cooperation in the arcade sector. It\'s unclear if this last area is in any way affected by Square and Namco\'s individual partnerships with Sega and Sony in arcade development.

I always new I was getting PlayOnline. Now I just have a better reason why.

I always had a feeling that internet play was just another way to get money out of my pockets!  But, of course I\'m going to do it!

This is good news indeed

No need to pay for seperate ones now. Hopefully Sony can join up with them but I doubt it.

Read the last paragraph. Sony and NTT are interested.

the more companies that invest, the more potential gamers will be involved the lower overall costs to us

Sony would be foolish not to pour some cash into these 3 and help them create some very large budgeted games for us.

Hopefully something really special will come out of all this

Originally posted by Caspian
Read the last paragraph. Sony and NTT are interested.

Sorry, I got bored and didnt read the last two paragraphs

Originally posted by ddaryl
the more companies that invest, the more potential gamers will be involved the lower overall costs to us

Sony would be foolish not to pour some cash into these 3 and help them create some very large budgeted games for us.

Hopefully something really special will come out of all this

Sony Computer Entertainment and Japan\'s massive NTT Communications will support the deal