Just read the interview:
GamesBeat: How did The Avengers come together? What helped make that deal happen?
Matsuda: There’s not a lot I can say about that. [laughs] Since there’s another party to that arrangement in Marvel. But I can say that it wasn’t just us that brought that idea together. Marvel and Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal were the ones who got excited and said, “Hey, shouldn’t we do this together?” They made the proposal. That’s how it got started.
GamesBeat: Why did you think it was a good idea to approve that, to make such an ambitious game around The Avengers?
Matsuda: First of all, because it’s such a big piece of IP, I thought it lent itself to giving us lots of potential as far as what we could do regarding game design. We’re still working on the Avengers right now, but I believe that what we achieve out of that is something we’ll be able to leverage on the development side at our studios going forward as well. For that reason, I decided that it would be good to take on this big piece of IP with Marvel.
GamesBeat: What made Crystal Dynamics a good fit for this kind of game?
Matsuda: Crystal has always been a company that’s made games in the action-adventure space. In that sense, I thought that it would be good fit in terms of making a game with Marvel using the Avengers, which would naturally be an action-based game.
GamesBeat: Marvel’s Spider-Man was another successful Marvel-based game, and very different from a lot of superhero-based games that came before. It had far better production values than a lot of previous Marvel games. It looks like yours is very similar — like the thinking around the movies, which have gotten much better as well. It seems like an interesting resurgence, with deeper investment in everything related to Marvel. What’s your reaction to that been like?
Matsuda: I think a lot of good things have come out of that universe, which is so popular around the world now, especially in the United States. I also thought the production values on the Spider-Man game were amazingly good. When you look at things like that, you see more and more excitement building up around the IP. I think it really has had a significant benefit. One good thing leads to another. That’s been the case with the films as well, and I think the same will apply for the games. It’s great that all this excitement is building up.
GamesBeat: Are you happy with what you’ve seen from the new console announcements, and Google’s introduction of cloud gaming?
Matsuda: Just timing-wise, we’re in a period where we’re suddenly seeing a lot of news crop up about new consoles. This time just a little information was released in advance, but when I listen to those announcements it gives me high expectations for what’s going to be coming out going forward. Also, with the discussions about backward compatibility, I think this is going to make for a very smooth migration for the fans. For that reason, I also think it’s going to be great.
As regards Stadia, it’s also inspiring to see — where we’ve traditionally seen the three major platforms, plus the PC, on top of that we’ll now see streaming become a very serious channel. I’m also excited about that, so I’d say I’m very much looking forward to what’s coming out.
GamesBeat: Square Enix had its own experience with cloud gaming through Shinra Technologies. What lessons do you think you learned from that about how cloud gaming could do better in the future?
Matsuda: What we tried to do with Shinra was based on what at the time was very innovative thinking. But in terms of the platform and the play environment, it was too early, and too much for us to do on our own in terms of the scale of the business and the investment involved. The environment just wasn’t there yet. But now that you have big players like Google and Microsoft coming on to the scene, who have the servers and the data center investment to do this in a big way. We’re finally at a place where the conditions are coming together so that this business environment can support it taking off.
If that happens, then what we tried to do with Shinra, and what other publishers have been interested in — we can see people start to get seriously involved in the cloud, because now the circumstances lend themselves to that. We have, as I say, these big players coming on the scene, and probably others will as well. Netflix has announced that it will be developing games, which I’m very interested in, that such a big player in the streaming market is going to be developing game content. The game industry is going to become a major new customer for players in the data center or server businesses. For that reason, I think it will bring a lot of new vitality to the industry.
I think we’re finally seeing an environment where the conditions are conducive to developing the kinds of things that we tried to do with Shinra. For example, to develop a cloud-centric or a cloud-native game. But I’d also note that this is just the year this is going to be launching. We’ll still have to wait and see if Stadia is an environment that game players can be satisfied with. That said, I sincerely hope that it takes off to great success.
GamesBeat: Final Fantasy VII has been in the works for a long time, and there are very high expectations for that project. What have you learned from that process so far?
Matsuda: [laughs] I’d say that what we’ve learned is that making remakes can be very challenging. It’s as difficult or even more so than making an original title, a new title, in a different sense. What I mean is that when you’re making a remake, you can’t just chase nostalgia. That’s not going to work out. You have to make it the latest game, a game that’s current.
In making the Final Fantasy VII remake, we have to think about the fans of the original, who know Final Fantasy VII, but at the same time we want to expand beyond that to people who may not have had any experience with Final Fantasy VII, or even Final Fantasy altogether. I don’t believe we can just be thinking about the fans of the past game when’re making this. Of course we value how much support they’ve given us, but at the same time we’d like to see new customers play this as well. We need to make a game that will satisfy both of those customer bases. That’s why I say it’s so challenging.
GamesBeat: What do you think about the rise of subscription services in games? How many subscriptions do you think gamers are ready to pay for, and have you thought about doing a Square Enix subscription.
Matsuda: My own sense is that I wouldn’t want to pay for more than 2,000 or 3,000 yen, maximum, considering what we already pay for video services. In my case, I’m spending more because I’m also buying games outright. It’s difficult to say what the appropriate number will be, but I will say that we’re thinking in a very forward, positive manner about the potential for running a subscription service.
GamesBeat: How did The Avengers come together? What helped make that deal happen?
Matsuda: There’s not a lot I can say about that. [laughs] Since there’s another party to that arrangement in Marvel. But I can say that it wasn’t just us that brought that idea together. Marvel and Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal were the ones who got excited and said, “Hey, shouldn’t we do this together?” They made the proposal. That’s how it got started.
GamesBeat: Why did you think it was a good idea to approve that, to make such an ambitious game around The Avengers?
Matsuda: First of all, because it’s such a big piece of IP, I thought it lent itself to giving us lots of potential as far as what we could do regarding game design. We’re still working on the Avengers right now, but I believe that what we achieve out of that is something we’ll be able to leverage on the development side at our studios going forward as well. For that reason, I decided that it would be good to take on this big piece of IP with Marvel.
GamesBeat: What made Crystal Dynamics a good fit for this kind of game?
Matsuda: Crystal has always been a company that’s made games in the action-adventure space. In that sense, I thought that it would be good fit in terms of making a game with Marvel using the Avengers, which would naturally be an action-based game.
GamesBeat: Marvel’s Spider-Man was another successful Marvel-based game, and very different from a lot of superhero-based games that came before. It had far better production values than a lot of previous Marvel games. It looks like yours is very similar — like the thinking around the movies, which have gotten much better as well. It seems like an interesting resurgence, with deeper investment in everything related to Marvel. What’s your reaction to that been like?
Matsuda: I think a lot of good things have come out of that universe, which is so popular around the world now, especially in the United States. I also thought the production values on the Spider-Man game were amazingly good. When you look at things like that, you see more and more excitement building up around the IP. I think it really has had a significant benefit. One good thing leads to another. That’s been the case with the films as well, and I think the same will apply for the games. It’s great that all this excitement is building up.
GamesBeat: Are you happy with what you’ve seen from the new console announcements, and Google’s introduction of cloud gaming?
Matsuda: Just timing-wise, we’re in a period where we’re suddenly seeing a lot of news crop up about new consoles. This time just a little information was released in advance, but when I listen to those announcements it gives me high expectations for what’s going to be coming out going forward. Also, with the discussions about backward compatibility, I think this is going to make for a very smooth migration for the fans. For that reason, I also think it’s going to be great.
As regards Stadia, it’s also inspiring to see — where we’ve traditionally seen the three major platforms, plus the PC, on top of that we’ll now see streaming become a very serious channel. I’m also excited about that, so I’d say I’m very much looking forward to what’s coming out.
GamesBeat: Square Enix had its own experience with cloud gaming through Shinra Technologies. What lessons do you think you learned from that about how cloud gaming could do better in the future?
Matsuda: What we tried to do with Shinra was based on what at the time was very innovative thinking. But in terms of the platform and the play environment, it was too early, and too much for us to do on our own in terms of the scale of the business and the investment involved. The environment just wasn’t there yet. But now that you have big players like Google and Microsoft coming on to the scene, who have the servers and the data center investment to do this in a big way. We’re finally at a place where the conditions are coming together so that this business environment can support it taking off.
If that happens, then what we tried to do with Shinra, and what other publishers have been interested in — we can see people start to get seriously involved in the cloud, because now the circumstances lend themselves to that. We have, as I say, these big players coming on the scene, and probably others will as well. Netflix has announced that it will be developing games, which I’m very interested in, that such a big player in the streaming market is going to be developing game content. The game industry is going to become a major new customer for players in the data center or server businesses. For that reason, I think it will bring a lot of new vitality to the industry.
I think we’re finally seeing an environment where the conditions are conducive to developing the kinds of things that we tried to do with Shinra. For example, to develop a cloud-centric or a cloud-native game. But I’d also note that this is just the year this is going to be launching. We’ll still have to wait and see if Stadia is an environment that game players can be satisfied with. That said, I sincerely hope that it takes off to great success.
GamesBeat: Final Fantasy VII has been in the works for a long time, and there are very high expectations for that project. What have you learned from that process so far?
Matsuda: [laughs] I’d say that what we’ve learned is that making remakes can be very challenging. It’s as difficult or even more so than making an original title, a new title, in a different sense. What I mean is that when you’re making a remake, you can’t just chase nostalgia. That’s not going to work out. You have to make it the latest game, a game that’s current.
In making the Final Fantasy VII remake, we have to think about the fans of the original, who know Final Fantasy VII, but at the same time we want to expand beyond that to people who may not have had any experience with Final Fantasy VII, or even Final Fantasy altogether. I don’t believe we can just be thinking about the fans of the past game when’re making this. Of course we value how much support they’ve given us, but at the same time we’d like to see new customers play this as well. We need to make a game that will satisfy both of those customer bases. That’s why I say it’s so challenging.
GamesBeat: What do you think about the rise of subscription services in games? How many subscriptions do you think gamers are ready to pay for, and have you thought about doing a Square Enix subscription.
Matsuda: My own sense is that I wouldn’t want to pay for more than 2,000 or 3,000 yen, maximum, considering what we already pay for video services. In my case, I’m spending more because I’m also buying games outright. It’s difficult to say what the appropriate number will be, but I will say that we’re thinking in a very forward, positive manner about the potential for running a subscription service.
