Square Enix have really been branching out into western territory of late. Not only did they acquire Eidos, they’ve also been publishing other western-developed games in Japan. Last year, they published Frontier’s LostWinds for WiiWare in Japan. Recently, they made a very smart move by publishing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in the region, which has been quite the relative success, considering the indifference most Japanese gamers exhibit toward violent games from the U.S.
Now, they’re going to continue with their new practice and publish both LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias and Lit under the name School of Darkness on WiiWare going forward. This last one is old news, but they’re also set to publish Supreme Commander 2, developed by Gas-Powered Games, outside of Japan.
Personally, I think this is a great trend for both Square and the industry in Japan in general. Not only do Square Enix get to branch out and explore (and hopefully be inspired by) different kinds of games, but some of their interest in western titles seems to be rubbing off on their Japanese fanbase.
It makes you wonder what other games they could publish in Japan that would make sense. I initially thought of Assassin’s Creed 2 but Square Enix has a hand in that too. They are helping Ubisoft by acting as the distributor. Any other ideas?
