Square Enix Wants the U.S.

Square Enix is apparently looking to increase their performance in the U.S. and Europe by 50% in the next three years, according to an article published in the Financial Times.

The United States is the worlds largest and fastest growing gaming market, making it particularly important to the Japanese publisher. Success overseas will help Square Enix to counterbalance the stagnant demand for games in Japan. Only 10 to 20 per cent of Square Enix's revenues came from overseas markets. However, they're hoping to increase that to as high as 50% over the next three years.

"We need to seek co-operation with a US publisher - we need local content," Mr Sasaki, senior vice-president of Square Enix, said at the Tokyo Game Show. "Our strength is in role-playing games and fantasy titles, so it is a bit difficult to appeal to the US market."

Read the full article here: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5fac144a-68a4-11dc-b475-0000779fd2ac.html

Square Enix is pretty big here, but I don't know if it's EVER going to become as big as it is in Japan. Sure, there are a lot of gamers here, but a lot of U.S. gamers prefer shooters, sports games and racing games rather than RPGs... and plenty of American RPG fans prefer American style games like Oblivion as opposed to Japanese ones like Final Fantasy. I know I do...

Still, Square Enix is certainly having less trouble conquering the U.S. market than most North American companies have moving into Japan. The Japanese just don't like our games.