Square Enix and Shanda team up

Japanese publisher Square Enix has revealed a new strategic partnership with online games giant Shanda that will see the Final Fantasy series get its first ever official release in China.

The first game to get a release will be MMO outing Final Fantasy XIV, though the date of its arrival has not yet been revealed.

The move comes as Square Enix continues to widen its net and work to establish itself in the games industry’s largest emerging markets.

The media entertainment markets are increasingly becoming more and more global in nature,” Square Enix president Yoichi Wada stated. Under this environment, we are speeding up our globalization strategy aimed at transforming our Group into a truly world-class enterprise.

Through this partnership with Shanda Games, a company with great success in online game operations in China, we are taking an important step in increasing the reach of high quality content from the Square Enix Group to even more customers around the world.”

Shanda chairman and CEO Alan Tan added: Our in-house game development team is well-qualified to assist in the localization of Final Fantasy XIV to the China market, while our strong sales and marketing capabilities and extensive game operation platform can provide access to the broad audience of Chinese gamers.

Since its debut in 1987, the Final Fantasy franchise has attracted many devoted fans worldwide and, based on our experience and expertise in the China market, we are confident in the success of Final Fantasy XIV as well as other future collaborations with Square Enix in China.”