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Report: The Last Remnant sold better in the West, poorly in general
It seems as though Square Enix's attempt to reach out to Western gamers with The Last Remnant has done little in the way of olive branch extension, with the title selling 220,000 units since its release last year. According to Siliconera (and corroborated with info from VGChartz.com), the game sold even worse in Japan, where 360 saturation is notably low, moving only 160,000 units, making the game a relative success with Western audiences.That being said, combined worldwide sales for the game totaled just over half of a million units, with 560,000 selling altogether (more than 400k of which were sold in North America and Europe). Hopefully the acquisition of Eidos will do more for the Japanese company in the west than The Last Remnant did.
Square Enix summons development studio in LA
In a move that we'd have considered entirely out of the ordinary just a few years ago, Japanese developer Square Enix has shored up on the west coast of the US and opened shop. According to Ars Technica, this new development studio plans to cater to a western audience not by changing the type of games they make, but by employing western developers."It's not a good idea to make a game for people you don't understand," game development manager Fumi Shiraishi told AT." According to the piece, this new studio won't set out to develop "another FPS" but will push the envelope with regards to traditional Square Enix-developed titles. Considering the tepid reviews The Last Remnant received in the States, we're hoping this new studio can bring the signature Square Enix style to us with some much needed fresh ideas. Shiraishi wouldn't reveal what the studio will be working on next, though he did say it falls under the "western niche" banner. So, an Infinite Undiscovery RTS, eh? Well played, Shiraishi. Well played indeed.
Capcom's Inafune: Xbox was only way into overseas market
Capcom's Head of Research & Development Management Group and Online Business (breath) Keiji Inafune is all about the Western game market. In an internal interview on Capcom's website published earlier today, Inafune makes a variety of comments regarding Capcom's changing attitude with regards to the Western market. "I think I can only get away with saying this now, but I really thought that using the Xbox was the only way to break into overseas markets, and I took that hypothesis all the way," Inafune says in the piece, citing Lost Planet and Dead Rising as two prime examples of games targeted at Western audiences that were successful.Speaking to the state of the video game industry and Capcom's relevance within it, he continues, "Up until now, we made games in Japan, and it was merely coincidental that those games sold overseas. But overseas game makers in regions like North America and Europe have gained strength, and it has become clear that this is the direction the game industry is going." We've heard statements like this before from MadWorld creator Atsushi Inaba, but never from such an influential and powerful figurehead within the Japanese development community. Considering the online multiplayer focus of the company's cadre of games both released and on the horizon, we think Capcom is putting its money where its mouth is.
