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Just Cause 3 won't launch with multiplayer, but Square Enix says it 'does make a lot of sense'
The recently-announced Just Cause 3 will not feature multiplayer capability when it launches in 2015, but developer Avalanche Studios and publisher Square Enix are being coy about the mode being patched in down the road. In an interview with Game Informer, Avalanche CCO and co-founder Christofer Sundberg said that although the team was focusing on the single-player content for now, they would consider it "maybe sometime down the line." Taken on its own, that statement doesn't seem too encouraging. However, Shinra Technologies - a subsidiary of Square Enix that aims to pioneer cloud-based gaming technology - has several key personnel sharing Avalanche Studios' office space. Jacob Navok, senior vice president of business for Shinra, told Game Informer he and his staff were working on a "possible future collaboration" with Avalanche. "What we see in the near future are cloud games that are developed from the ground up as well as games that are in an existing pipeline that we will enhance," Navok said before presenting an oddly-specific hypothetical situation. "For example, taking a game that doesn't have multiplayer right now and easily giving it multiplayer is what we imagine for enhancements." When Game Informer asked Navok if Just Cause 3 could or would be that game, Navok responded, "I think it does make a lot of sense." [Image: Square Enix]
Square Enix unveils cloud gaming business Shinra Technologies
Square Enix announced its aim to deliver "revolutionary" cloud-based gaming with Shinra Technologies, a newly launched subsidiary helmed by Yoichi Wada, the former president of the Japanese publisher. Cutely named after the company in Final Fantasy 7, Shinra's goal is to "change the game industry ecosystem by offering new types of games experiences" through its own tech. Shinra appears to be an evolution of Square Enix's Project Flare streaming project (the service's web page now redirects to Shinra's) but set up as a separate subsidiary. Shinra wants to deliver cloud gaming using what it calls a "virtual supercomputer." Rather than using one central processing unit (CPU) and one graphics processing unit (GPU) to stream a game, Shinra said its tech pools "hundreds or thousands of CPUs and GPUs in a datacenter" to boost processing power and deliver higher quality games. "It's like having a super-powered games console," Shinra's FAQ claims, "with no need to buy the console."
