Square Enix retires Eidos publishing label

[antonkan]

Japanese pub consolidates operations in Europe and NA, confirming some headcount reduction; British company's name will live on through dev studios.

At the end of April, Square Enix concluded its acquisition of Eidos Interactive, a British publishing house that had fallen on hard economic times despite owning a number of top gaming properties. As part of the £84.3 million ($136 million) deal, Eidos was folded into the Square Enix Group, which also includes Square Enix's global game development-publishing arm, as well as 2005 acquisition Taito.

Today, Square Enix revealed one more step in integrating Eidos into its global organization with the formation of Square Enix Europe (a moniker still to be finalized). Current Eidos CEO Phil Rogers will head up Square Enix Europe, and John Yamamoto will continue to lead Square Enix's North American arm.

As detailed in a statement provided to UK-based gaming site CVG, the new publishing label will combine Square Enix and Eidos' European publishing labels. Eidos' North American operations have also been impacted by this move, with the publisher saying that all publishing duties have been transferred to Square Enix in the region.

As a result of the move, Square Enix will be retiring the Eidos publishing label, though the venerable name will live on through the company's various development outfits. Square Enix also confirmed that the restructuring will result in an unspecified number of layoffs as redundant positions are consolidated in both Europe and North America.

Source: Gamespot

 

[shakirmoledina]

thts actually good to finally have it finalized... we have to still see how some non-enix titles will take eidos games such as football manager

 

[raulpica]

Can't say I wasn't expecting it.

Oh well, I hope it brings good things.

 

[Ace Gunman]

I'm not sure about this particular naming choice. If this is Square-Enix Europe, does that mean the Japanese S-E studios are being rebranded as "Square-Enix Japan"? If not, I think that's a mistake. Any time you title a part of your company (or anything, really) in such a way it makes it seem like lesser secondary studio. B-listers, essentially.

Example: When you think "Justice League", you think "Yeah! Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!". But when you hear "Justice League Europe", what comes to mind? The answer, of course, is nothing. You draw a blank and your immediate thoughts wander towards bizarre European bootlegs of the aforementioned superheroes.

The choice of Europe specifically is also problematic. It makes it seem (if only superficially) as if Europe is the target audience rather than the locale in which they are based. We know the difference, but from a generalized perception perspective it's not as clear. A better choice would have been something along the lines of Square-Enix International, or something in that general direction.

 

[moose3]

So the Development arm of Edios stays, and keeps producing the games, some swapping of talent. From that segment at the end, sounds like it will keep the Edios name somewhere, credits listing maybe designating it as being from the Edios branch? "Edios - A Division of the Square Enix Group"

It's just the PR/Advertising arms of the company from the publishing side that will be absorbed as needed or just let go in their respective regions when the job is duplicated. So what was the localization arm of Squenix in Europe called before? Who ever has the better office space is the one that gets label Square Enix-Europe?

 

[taken]

I'm not sure about this particular naming choice. If this is Square-Enix Europe, does that mean the Japanese S-E studios are being rebranded as "Square-Enix Japan"? If not, I think that's a mistake. Any time you title a part of your company (or anything, really) in such a way it makes it seem like lesser secondary studio. B-listers, essentially.

Example: When you think "Justice League", you think "Yeah! Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!". But when you hear "Justice League Europe", what comes to mind? The answer, of course, is nothing. You draw a blank and your immediate thoughts wander towards bizarre European bootlegs of the aforementioned superheroes.

The choice of Europe specifically is also problematic. It makes it seem (if only superficially) as if Europe is the target audience rather than the locale in which they are based. We know the difference, but from a generalized perception perspective it's not as clear. A better choice would have been something along the lines of Square-Enix International, or something in that general direction.

We still have Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!" in europe

 

[megawalk]

i can imagine seeing on the tomb raider series in the game a brand which says "Square-Enix"

 

[antonkan]

I'm not sure about this particular naming choice. If this is Square-Enix Europe, does that mean the Japanese S-E studios are being rebranded as "Square-Enix Japan"? If not, I think that's a mistake. Any time you title a part of your company (or anything, really) in such a way it makes it seem like lesser secondary studio. B-listers, essentially.

Example: When you think "Justice League", you think "Yeah! Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!". But when you hear "Justice League Europe", what comes to mind? The answer, of course, is nothing. You draw a blank and your immediate thoughts wander towards bizarre European bootlegs of the aforementioned superheroes.

The choice of Europe specifically is also problematic. It makes it seem (if only superficially) as if Europe is the target audience rather than the locale in which they are based. We know the difference, but from a generalized perception perspective it's not as clear. A better choice would have been something along the lines of Square-Enix International, or something in that general direction.

We still have Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!" in europe

LOL.

But a liitle off-topic...

 

[VVoltz]

I'm sure Superman Europe, Wonder Woman Europe, Greeb Lantern Europe and The Flash Erupe are cool as well.

in topic I agree with Ace

I'm not sure about this particular naming choice. If this is Square-Enix Europe, does that mean the Japanese S-E studios are being rebranded as "Square-Enix Japan"? If not, I think that's a mistake. Any time you title a part of your company (or anything, really) in such a way it makes it seem like lesser secondary studio. B-listers, essentially.

Example: When you think "Justice League", you think "Yeah! Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!". But when you hear "Justice League Europe", what comes to mind? The answer, of course, is nothing. You draw a blank and your immediate thoughts wander towards bizarre European bootlegs of the aforementioned superheroes.

The choice of Europe specifically is also problematic. It makes it seem (if only superficially) as if Europe is the target audience rather than the locale in which they are based. We know the difference, but from a generalized perception perspective it's not as clear. A better choice would have been something along the lines of Square-Enix International, or something in that general direction.

We still have Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!" in europe

LOL.

But a liitle off-topic...

 

[DSGamer64]

Considering Eidos published a number of Enix games including the first three Dragon Warrior games in North America as well as both Dragon Warrior Monsters 1 & 2, this isn't really a surprise to be honest. Eidos has struggled lately to make good games, hopefully they can use their resources to help on Square Enix projects as well as being a publisher.

 

[Ace Gunman]

We still have Batman! Superman! Wonder Woman! Green Lantern! The Flash!" in europe

Ah, no, I meant from the standpoint of the actual books published under the titles of Justice League and Justice League Europe, and from within the context of the actual DC universe continuity.

Of course those heroes are available for reading/etc in Europe, but if you're picking up a Justice League comic book, you want the official one entitled "Justice League of America". Not the bizarre European spinoff team that no one cares about and satrring heroes no one has ever heard of. And that goes for elsewhere as well...

I recall Family Guy doing a joke about the "Mexican Superfriends", a gag team they invented for the sake of the punchline. This team starred Mexican versions of Batman, Superman, Aquaman, and the rest. The whole gang. But people don't want "That Mexican version of Batman..." they want THE Batman. Bruce Wayne, Gotham City. Not the Latino equivalent character.

The point being there's a certain level of negative expectation when you entitle a brand in such a manner. You expect the main brand "Square-Enix" to give us Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, and other such titles. The AAA titles of gamedom. Whereas one looks at "Square-Enix Europe" as a name and all expectations are thrown out the window. Suddenly it doesn't matter that they created Tomb Raider, because they're just "that other spinoff S-E studio...". Ya' know?

 

[tylerxian]

This isn't that surprising, yet I feel bad for the unknown number of employees that are getting laid off because of the switch.

 

[kenyab2009]

ahhhhhhhhhhhh no more final fantasy

 

[GentleFist]

~~lol square enix isnt retiring