Square Enix unveiled Shinra Technologies at Tokyo Game Show today, a new cloud gaming business to be led by Yoichi Wada, former president of Square Enix.

 

Shinra Technologies, named after the organization from Final Fantasy 7, is headquartered in New York City with offices in Tokyo and Montreal. The new company has partnered with Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios, also in New York, to develop games and technology.

 

  Wada said that the newly established company will provide a "new ecosystem for the games industry." The AAA game industry requires huge investments, and older business models - reliance on consoles as dedicated game-playing devices - have been unable to maintain this ecosystem, he said.

 

"The industry will only continue its expansion, but in due time a correction to this path is necessary," Wada said.

More and more game players are able to play software without the need for a dedicated game console or a powerful PC, Wada said,

adding, "I think this is the right direction, but if we continue on this path, game experiences will become diluted." Wada said he wants Shinra Technologies to provide the means to deliver AAA games via streaming cloud-based architecture.

 

He sees 2016 as a key year for cloud gaming, a technology he's seen as the future for the past few years.

 

Jacob Navok, senior vice president at Shinra Technologies, said the announcement is "the first flag in the final frontier for the game industry" and hopes it "will be a call to action to other developers ... shackled by existing technology and processes."

 

A technical beta for Shinra Technologies' cloud gaming service will begin in early 2015 in Japan. The beta will include a version of Agni's Philosophy, the next-gen game engine tech demo, that players will be able to manipulate in real-time.

 

Also included in the Japanese beta are Space Sweeper, a new game developed by Kenko Nakajima, as well as Square Enix-published titles Final Fantasy 7, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman Absolution and Tomb Raider. The titles available in the Shinra Technologies beta are not necessarily indicative of the company's service lineup, said Kristin DeRosa, director of marketing at Shinra.

 

Beta service for Shinra Technologies is slated to begin sometime in 2015.

 

Thanks to Polygon.

I can finally attain my dream of becoming SOLDIER

heh, avalanche studios

Huh, so Shinra Technologies is interested in cloud based gaming, and has teamed up with a company named Avalanche. And one of it's beta titles is Final Fantasy VII (most likely the existing version)...I doth detect something else in the works, but I dare not name it in fear that someone will swoop in and say that it won't happen and make me feel ashamed for ever thinking about it...

 

...Well, can't wait to see how this develops! Now everybody can become a SOLDIER of sorts! 

Huh, so Shinra Technologies is interested in cloud based gaming, and has teamed up with a company named Avalanche. And one of it's beta titles is Final Fantasy VII (most likely the existing version)...I doth detect something else in the works, but I dare not name it in fear that someone will swoop in and say that it won't happen and make me feel ashamed for ever thinking about it...

 

...Well, can't wait to see how this develops! Now everybody can become a SOLDIER of sorts! 

 

Yeah, they'll have the PC version just like Dive In.

Yeah, they'll have the PC version just like Dive In.

Too bad they're making themselves PC based though. Despite what they think, I can't imagine consoles starting to fade out in the next couple of years like that. There's way too many perks to having a console to get rid of it just like that. If anything, browsers and cloud services, pc gaming, and consoles will all eventually sort of mesh into one thing decades down the line. Hell, maybe even an entire century. But who knows what the future holds? Unless they lack the skills to make it happen, most companies' "predictions" of the future of gaming tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies, so there's no telling what could happen.

Too bad they're making themselves PC based though. Despite what they think, I can't imagine consoles starting to fade out in the next couple of years like that. There's way too many perks to having a console to get rid of it just like that. If anything, browsers and cloud services, pc gaming, and consoles will all eventually sort of mesh into one thing decades down the line. Hell, maybe even an entire century. But who knows what the future holds? Unless they lack the skills to make it happen, most companies' "predictions" of the future of gaming tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies, so there's no telling what could happen.

 

How they're making themselves PC based? All their PC games are available on consoles, handhelds, smartphones and tablets.

How they're making themselves PC based? All their PC games are available on consoles, handhelds, smartphones and tablets.

It's really hard to tell what exactly they are focusing on, the way they are talking about consoles being an old business model that doesn't work so well anymore. I'm not saying anything particular, and I guess my PC statement may have been a bit presumptuous, but I've heard similar things before, where companies feel like consoles are going to fade away soon and that the future lies in the mobile market/pc gaming/cloud/you name it. It's like trying to find the gold at the end of the rainbow, but it's near-impossible because it's a rainbow! It's going to keep moving!....I don't know, it's late and I think I've really lost track of what I was saying.

 

Point is, I hope they are more outgoing than I'm thinking they are. I really hope this is something that consoles can benefit from, as well as all of those other avenues I mentioned.

It's really hard to tell what exactly they are focusing on, the way they are talking about consoles being an old business model that doesn't work so well anymore. I'm not saying anything particular, and I guess my PC statement may have been a bit presumptuous, but I've heard similar things before, where companies feel like consoles are going to fade away soon and that the future lies in the mobile market/pc gaming/cloud/you name it. It's like trying to find the gold at the end of the rainbow, but it's near-impossible because it's a rainbow! It's going to keep moving!....I don't know, it's late and I think I've really lost track of what I was saying.

 

Point is, I hope they are more outgoing than I'm thinking they are. I really hope this is something that consoles can benefit from, as well as all of those other avenues I mentioned.

 

Square Enix don't restrict themselves to one platform, just remember that.

Square Enix don't restrict themselves to one platform, just remember that.

Okay then. I'll remember that.

Edited September 19, 201411 yr by Hero of Light XIV

World Domination.

 

Now, where's the Mako?