Square Enix

The Story Behind Square Enix’s Failed Latin America Video Game Division

In the summer of 2013, Square Enix sent a small team of representatives to Latin America for an ambitious business trip. They met with dozens of independent development studios across the region, visiting five countries over the span of a few days. They were looking for developers to partner with Square Enix to create games…

Final Fantasy XIV‘s Player-Run Tournaments Embrace The Fun Of Random Chance

Most players adventuring in Final Fantasy XIV worry about what new piece of loot will drop from a difficult dungeon or if they can earn enough rewards in PVP to unlock that one emote they like. But some players lean toward the more creative side, hosting massive roleplaying events. Combat in these events is mostly…

Fan Translator Says The World Ends With You‘s Italian Text Looks A Lot Like His Work

After learning that The World Ends With You was going to have an official Italian translation, the person who made a well known Italian fan translation tuned into a stream to check out how they handled the translation problems he struggled with. While watching, he started to notice that it looked familiar. Much of it…

The World Ends With You: Final Remix: The Kotaku Review

If you have never played The World Ends With You before, the Nintendo Switch version released on Thursday night is not a bad way to get into it. Final Remix retains the game’s great sense of humor, its fantastic music, and Tetsuya Nomura’s most restrained character designs. But if you have played it before—say, if…

Left Alive will come to PS4 and PC on March 5, 2019, Square Enix announced today. The military soap opera was revealed at last year’s Tokyo Game Show and is set in the Front Mission universe with Armored Cored V’s Toshifumi Nabeshima directing. The Mechonaissance continues apace.

Just Cause 4 Is A Series Of Chaotic Science Experiments

I’m standing on a bridge connecting two small mountains, staring at the tree-laden canyon and small river below. I turn around and walk towards the road, trying to find my bearings and get a handle on the controls. Seconds later, a car plows into me. The screen turns to red and then grey, but I’m…

In Space Channel 5 and Dragon Quest VR, The Hero Is You

When I was in sixth grade, my best friend at the time penned a short story for a school assignment that was titled “The Video Game That Sucked Me Into It.” We did not have the lingo of “self-insert fanfiction” or “Mary Sue” at the time—I’m pretty sure neither of us even had an America…

Utada Hikaru And Skrillex Team Up For Kingdom Hearts III Music

Originally, Skrillex was going to remix Hikaru Utada’s Kingdom Hearts III theme, “Don’t Think Twice.” However, that developed into a new, original collaboration. The resulting track is called “Face My Fears.” The Skrillex collaboration, which was produced along with Poo Bear of Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean? fame, will be released on January 18,…

The First Episode Of Life Is Strange 2 Doesn’t Hide Its Politics

In certain ways, Life Is Strange 2 is a huge departure from the first game. It’s set in a different city, with wildly different characters. It ditches the Gossip Girl-meets-Twin Peaks murder mystery for a harsher story about two teenagers on the run. But it’s still an over the top teenage angst fest. Life Is…

The Sights Of The Tokyo Game Show

Today was the first day of this year’s Tokyo Game Show. It was a business day, which means the show wasn’t open to the public. But here’s your inside look. Actually, let’s start with an outside look. Now on to the Tokyo Game Show’s innards. Sony, Bandai Namco, Sega, Tecmo Koei, Square Enix and Konami…

The Chocobo, As Drawn By Final Fantasy‘s Creators

At the Square Enix Music booth at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, there’s a display of original Chocobo artwork done by the creators of various Final Fantasy games. Some of these creators aren’t visual artists by trade, so the results are a little interesting. Above, it’s composer Nobuo Uematsu’s take on the classic flightless bird.…

Final Fantasy VIII Is MIA

Last night, Nintendo and Square Enix delighted Final Fantasy fans by announcing a whole bunch of new Switch ports. There’s Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy X/X-2, Final Fantasy XII, and even the adorable pocket edition of Final Fantasy XV. But where’s Final Fantasy VIII? It’s not clear why the adventures of Squall…

My Favorite Final Fantasy Taught Me Some Bad Lessons About Love

Final Fantasy VIII, the sorceress epic about a hormone-fueled romance, has been my favorite game in the series ever since I was 12 years old. I beat it almost that many times before I unlearned the lessons that Squall and Rinoa’s relationship taught me about trying to fix sad, broken guys, like the game’s gunblade-brandishing…

Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu is cancelling a live music performance and talk scheduled for October 7 in Kanazawa, Japan for health reasons. In his apology, Uematsu said he hopes he can regain his health to perform in the future with the Kanazawa ensemble

First Look At The Last Remnant Remastered For PS4

Originally released on the Xbox 360 in 2008, The Last Remnant was ported to the PC the following year. It announced for the PS3, but that release never happened. Now a decade later, the game is coming to PlayStation. Square Enix has announced The Last Remnant Remastered as a download-only title It will be released…

Here’s a look at Project Prelude Rune from Studio Istolia and Square Enix. The studio headed by Tales honcho Hideo Baba and this footage looks very early.

 Delightfully Strange Final Fantasy XV Mods

Final Fantasy XV’s PC version brings the inevitable mods. Some are just as kooky as one would hope! In June, Kotaku previously reported on the PC patch that brought mod tools to the game. Since then, creators have whipped up all sorts of things to entertain themselves and us. I thank them for that.

Eminem’s New Album Samples Kingdom Hearts [Update: No It Doesn’t]

Eminem’s surprise album drop over the weekend contains an even bigger surprise for JRPG fans: one of the tracks samples Square’s Kingdom Hearts throughout. UPDATE: Actually, it doesn’t. UPDATE 7pm, Sep 4: The album’s producer Illaproducer originally told Rolling Stone that the track sampled was Simple & Clean by Utada Hikaru, the intro song to…

Former Square Enix Employee Opens Victorian Cafe In Tokyo

Hidemi Matsuzuka used to oversee Square Enix’s figure brand. These days he’s left the game maker and is running his own cafe. While at Square Enix, Matsuzuka was popular with fans for sharing images of the latest figures and merch. (Read the thread below.) Called Chamber of Raven, his cafe and bar is located near…

We’re Not Getting This Chrono Trigger Sequel, Dammit

When not creating delightful video games, Owlboy creator Simon Stafsnes Andersen likes to create mock trailers for video games that will probably never exist. Like this one, a heartbreaking glimpse at the Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross sequel that might have been. According to the YouTube description, it took Andersen a year to get the look he…