PlayStation bigwig Jim Ryan made a surprise appearance during Final Fantasy 16’s pre-launch livestream overnight, where he said that his company’s relationship with publisher Square Enix has “never been stronger”. In the brief speech, he mentioned that Sony’s collaboration with the company “goes back to the start of PlayStation’s existence” and that he values “everything we do together and your commitment to our brand and business”.
Obviously this is all just corporate waffle pertaining to the fact that Sony signs a lot of console exclusives from the company, including the aforementioned Final Fantasy 16, but also the upcoming Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and this year’s Forspoken. If you read between the lines you could come to the conclusion that more console exclusives may be coming – at this point, we honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Kingdom Hearts 4 got money hatted as well.
Either way, it’s clear that the two juggernauts are thick as thieves right now. It’ll be interesting to see how this relationship matures throughout the remainder of the generation.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 51
Well you know what to do then Jim.
Given Sony saved them from bankruptcy by buying a large portion of their shares and then selling them the shares back when they were stable, that’s some statement.
@thefourfoldroot1 that’s… an interesting take. Sony sold Square shares because they [Sony] were in the hole and needed to sell some assets to return to profitability, and Square was not exactly setting the world on fire at that time.
@Tharsman
It went both ways. When SE needed it, Sony bought the shares and then just showed up to the share holder meetings making no demands.
When Sony were struggling but SE were doing well, they sold the shares back.
@Shepherd_Tallon “no demands” other than Square being so restricted that they had to create subsidiaries to even develop games like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for Nintendo platforms.
It is absolutely true that after the huge box office bomb from the Final Fantasy movie, Square almost went bankrupt. That investment indeed save the company. But “no demands” is not accurate.
Edit: Also, I would have to dig more, if it’s available, but as far as I can tell they didn’t sell the stock “back”, they simply sold it on the stock exchange. I doubt Square-Enix had the spare money lying around to buy their stock back.
Put a ring on it then common honey commit 😂
Friendly remind Sony said the same thing about insomniac before buying them 😳. I know Nintendo fans here will be mad but it’s only a matter of time before the welcome to PlayStation family announcement happens.
@Tharsman
It was a result of an agreement between the two at the time of the original purchase. Sure it helped Sony out too as the shares had increased in value, I’m not claiming it was charity.
I hope Sony values this as much as we do. Atlus has clearly a weaker partnership with Sony in this moment as compared with the PS1 and PS2 eras. I really hope that SE games remain in Playstation, Kingdom Hearts, FFVII, FFIX, FFXII and even hidden gems like Brave Fencer Musashi will always be Playstation games in my memory.
@4kgk2 I don't think they have the guts to buy Square Enix.
Really surprised they haven't put a ring on that finger yet.
@Blackmagehobbit ATLUS has a weak relationship because they are owned by SEGA.
Deep down SEGA directors hate Sony for killing their console business.
If their games didn't sell well on PS, they probably wouldn't even release on Playstation hardware anymore, out of spite.
@twinspectre90 I don’t know Jim might want to make a big statement after that weak showcase.
I doubt they'll be buying SE but good that SE remains a healthy relationship with Sony. Go on Sony, invest on SE more and give us a better port of Drakengard 3 or a Chrono Trigger remake
@Americansamurai1
It’s not like they have to really. Besides, when Sony had their original 6 game western release agreement on PS1 it wasn’t great for them, eventually they had to go back to Nintendo too. I’m not sure they want to permanently wed themselves to one platform. Especially as they want to branch out into NTFs and the like, which is a thorny issue for platform holders and Square likely want to keep their options open in that respect not knowing where Sony will fall
Heck yes, it's only a matter of time to SE to join SIE. Frock Atlus.
@Ashina Seriously Drakengard 3's frame rate was insulting
@Tharsman
This is basically what I remember from the news at the time: https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/05/13/why-sony-sold-all-its-square-enix-shares-revealed
I'd never heard about the Crystal Chronicles part before. It's the opposite of everything else I've ever read about that story. Interesting though. I'll look it up.
But it's not unheard of for two Japanese companies with closely aligned interests to help each other, and for there to be give and take involved.
@Keyblade-Dan Sony should let Bluepoint games help with SE in porting Drakengard 3 on PS5 like they did with Demon's Souls
@Sil_Am
I doubt Sega hates Sony, although they don’t have many reasons to love them. You are right about Altus games coming to Xbox have to do with Sega parent company. It took a long time, but Atlus has slowly been integrating more into Sega proper, and Sega had a cozy relationship with Microsoft since the Dreamcast days.
@Ashina That would be amazing personally I'd love all 3 to get remaster at least on the level of the NieR Replicate remaster that was really well done I'd be there day one (I'm probably the only actual full on Stan of this franchise there is 😅)
@thefourfoldroot1 i always thought if Sony did acquire them. It would be kind of like Bungie as separate from PlayStation studios. Free to release on switch and PC, but not Xbox.
@Shepherd_Tallon two companies belong each other via investments is not rate at all, anywhere. MS did it with Apple back in the day too, and they were rivals.
As for the article, it does not seem to contradict what I stated. I never stated they sold due to bad blood, simply due to bad financial standing. Crazy given this was already about one year into the PS4 generation.
The quote also does not claim Square bought the shares back. They could just see it as them helping Sony via the stock sales. Large stock sales like thad tend to have negotiations involved. Sony had like, 18%? Just throwing that into the stock market without taking to SE and making public statements can really hurt the value of stock, as it can lead the market to over-react to the sudden burst in availability.
Didn't Sony say this about the Persona games, and then Microsoft put an embargo on announcing the ports?
@Tharsman As ever with the game industry, its not that simple. Nintendo didnt help matters either.
Square chose to make FF7 on Playstation due to the extra space and relative affordability resulting from CD-Rom and then Nintendo snubbed Square Enix and refused to let them publish on N64. That's why Square released FF 1 and 2 on Wonderswan as they were not allowed to publish on the more successful gameboy advance. Square were desperate to tap into the popularity of that market so needed to strike a new deal with Nintendo
Nintendo's president and CEO, Hiroshi Yamauchi only agreed to Square publishing on their hardware if they would commit to supporting the gamecube and GBA with unique games, rather than releasing a multiplatform title, or porting old titles.
Sony, who had purchased shares in Square at the time sought assurances from Square that this agreement wouldnt impact development of mainline titles for Playstation 2
Square agreed and set up sub-teams to work on GBA (Tactics Advance) and gamecube (crystal chronicles) - although in the case of the GC these were still headed by members of their core game development unit in practice, even if they were officially developed by a different team.
Yeah, most big AAA squareenix games sold best on playstation, even when xbox 360 rules american market. Most xbox people bought it not for japanese games but for halo and western games, while playstation gamers are from international market.
@Sil_Am You may be correct, but Atlus was always very strange with their decisions. Nintendo was a stronger rival to Sega and still we see exclusive games in the Switch (SMT V). My point is that Sony can do better to keep games from third parties in Playstation. Right now, this life service obsession from the company is frustating.
I still think Sony is keeping its cards close to its chest ,with all the ms shenanigans going on,they won't want to sway any decisions, with a couple of ill timed announcements,I just wish they would make a decision over the Activision buyout, and be done with it
@4kgk2 Jim’s big announcement after the showcase will be, to the small vocal group of players that already bought a PS5 and disliked our show, i would like to announce we have sold another 5 million PS5’s in the last quarter. I mean the showcase wasn’t that bad and PS5’s are still selling like hotcakes. They don’t need to buy a studio to quiet the few million hardcore players throwing a fit online. They are too big of a juggernaut for that.
Keep doing wut ur doing jim 👏 I'm ready for these final fantasy games hope those rumors of ff9 and ffx remakes r true sony throw that money 💰 🤑 at them 👍 👌 😀
Article reads like it's been written by a bitter Xbox fan which is intriguing given This is a PlayStation site.
Regardless I think Sony are just waiting for Microsoft to close the Activision deal which they will eventually.
Them they'll snap up square but keep them somewhat separate to PlayStation so they can still release switch games
I'm sure money does change hands, but it's not like Sony needs to pay exorbitantly high sums to make the games PlayStation-exclusive. Square knows their games will sell far better on PlayStation and they also know Microsoft is training their fans to stop buying games. Square-Enix may deem releasing on Xbox not worth their time, so they might as well take the money from Sony to make it official.
@TheCollector316 Interesting take.
@pharos_haven
It's nothing new. Has been said for a few years now.
Oh get the same roof already
Following Forspoken, I'm not really sure how to take this news. Aren't there better developers they could build a relationship with? Devolver, Frictional, CDPR?
It amazes me the number of people saying "Buy them please Sony!" It's genuinely pathetic.
Why not just partner with square exclusively?? It's clear that square has quite a special bond with ain't consoles
@__jamiie are you surprised? MS will buy SE without hesitation if given the chance. people just want to be sure that SE is still developing for the Playstation in the future. MS will own 50% of the publishers in 10 years anyway. Sony must (and they will) do something in the future to prevent MS from getting everything.
@4kgk2 Nah, he doesn't have the guts
Well... i don't mind it at all. It's games i enjoy, minus Forspoken.
I really wish they made a new Chrono game. That would break the internet.
FFT2 would be awesome too.
@__jamiie Not playing devil's advocate, but after what MS has done, can't blame anyone for feeling that way. Not that I think it's a good idea, though.
@Sil_Am Infact Atlus is good with Sony mainly probably had the Persona 5 deal when Atlus was owned by Index Corporation. Sega kind of didn't interfere until they released Persona 5 outsold lot of their games after the push from Sega had taken control. Infact Sega does hate Sony for killing their business, but Sega knows it needs both MS and Sony to survive. Sega did help Sony back in PS3 days with exclusives when PS3 was on the back foot.
@Blackmagehobbit I think they made some of the deals when Atlus was part of Index Corporation or Sega left them alone for a while. Later over time Sega pushed for more control over Atlus with Persona games selling more than most of Sega's games. I agree Sony needs to try and keep good relations with the third parties to try and keep console exclusives those small things make a big difference. I agree the push for more GAAS is concerning in their financials rather than keeping it a little more balanced.
Sil_Am wrote:
Always think it is grossly overstated how much control Sony had on this. Yes they were the catalyst that sped up their downfall but the main problem was Sega themselves, their inability to move with the times and successfully market their products.
They got themselves into financial failure on their own and then needed a big win to survive. Dreamcast was a good console in many ways, though lacking in others - and ironically was forward thinking - but it was too late. As it was horrendously marketed it didn't sell well enough to support them, as they were selling each console at a considerable loss. They were dead in the water before PS2 came out a year and a half later.
Then acquire them. This is all PR fluff until Sony spends more than they ever have and actually buys them. Sony has literally zero Japanese presence and Square fills a major 1st party need. Asobi will put out one game every 5 years, it’s not enough.
@AsterZero Agreed. We never know what is exactly discussed and negotiated at the backstage though.
Anything that stops getting games brought down by series s, I'm on board.
@Blackmagehobbit yeah well since the PS2 and Xbox days I seen PS as more JPRPGs and Xbox for WRPGs so in a way it's coming back to that. For MS buying Bethesda and likely getting Elder Scrolls VI exclusive to PC/Xbox Consoles I'm for having some FF games as a console exclusive to PlayStation. Yeah the 60% increase in GAAS to 40% single player in 2025 is what I found concerning and seen it in another financial report a year or two ago which should be 40-50% in I do see why they are doing it. There's not many times Jim has had to take feedback which they did with the PS3/Vita Stores with the classic games which I think is an area Sony needs to work in. They had a start with Valkyrie Profile and Legend of Dragoon which is a good start.
@AdonisIsBeast @0niguy @Shepard93n7 @Ashina @Americansamurai1 @twinspectre90 @4kgk2 @Keyblade-Dan @UltimateOtaku91
As much as I'd love for Sony to acquire Square-Enix, I would feel very bad for all my gamer friends that can't afford/don't own a PS5.
@KidRyan At the end of the days PlayStation has more games from Square Enix, if they buy it, it won't change anything,
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