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Namco, Square, Enix ally on Online Games
Japanese videogame software makers Namco Ltd, Square Co Ltd and Enix Corp said on Monday they will team up in online games and overseas distribution in a bid to cut rising development costs.
The agreement, under which the three companies will set up a joint task force to prepare for planned online delivery of game content, underlines their desire to take the initiative in the potentially large online game market.
''We aim to bring the online game market to life as quickly as possible while looking into various areas to lower our costs through tie-ups,'' Square President Hisashi Suzuki told a news conference.
Under the agreement, Namco, known for the ''Tekken'' game series, and Enix, creator of the blockbuster ''Dragon Quest'' games, will provide new online game titles for Square's Play Online (POL) service scheduled to take off next March.
Square is preparing to roll out the new online-game service next year at the time of its planned release of an online version of its mega-hit ''Final Fantasy'' series for Sony Corp's PlayStation 2 (PS2) game console. The three firms aim to jointly set up a company to operate POL by the end of this year, but details such as capital and equity ratio have not been decided, Square's Suzuki said.
'GROWTH POTENTIAL'
''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,'' Enix President Keiji Honda said.
Honda said Enix plans to release one or two online games via POL in the 2002/03 business year and it would consider releasing an online version of ''Dragon Quest'' in the future.''One company alone can't create a large online game market. But we now have strong partners and we will welcome more participants,'' Square's Suzuki said.
BACKING FROM SONY
Analysts said the announcement came as little surprise as the three firms suggested in April that their top shareholders would swap stock to boost ties and they would discuss over several months the specifics of an operational collaboration.
''The news came with little specifics, especially on sharing of development costs,'' Yoko Sasao, an analyst at Commerzbank Securities said. ''Therefore this will have a neutral impact on the shares of the three makers.''
Analysts reckon POL could attract around 300,000 users on the strength of the ''Final Fantasy'' name alone. However, grabbing more users may be a problem as they need to pay an estimated 20,000 yen ($162.8) or more to buy PS2's hard disk and modems, which are needed to play the online games.
Under the latest pact, the three firms will also cooperate on overseas game sales and jointly develop technologies needed for game delivery through mobile phones at home and abroad.
The three said their online game business will receive backing from Sony Computer Entertainment, the game-making unit of Sony Corp, and NTT Communications, the long-distance unit of telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp They did not elaborate.
''We would be grateful if SCE and NTT Communications could invest in the joint company,'' Suzuki added.
Asked whether the collaborations would lead to an equity tie-up among the three companies, Kyushiro Takagi, Namco executive vice-president, said: ''We have no intention to make such a move at the moment.''
SOURCE: Reuters
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