News

Still speculative, but it was reported today that the body responsible for age-rating games in South Korea (known as the Game Rating and Administration Committee of Korea) has given a rating for PCs for Octopath Traveler, the Square Enix Switch RPG. The publisher of record is Bandai Namco, who according to Gematsu regularly act as the Korean-locale publisher for Square Enix games.

There is always the chance that this could be an erroneous listing, but typically news such as this from a game ratings board is always followed by an official announcement or an actual release of a game. Given further that the game was originally developed in Unreal Engine, a PC port seems like an obvious next step as well. Keep your eyes out for more news soon.

Source: Gematsu

This is unexpected and kind of neat; Square Enix announced today a new CG-animated feature-length movie from the Dragon Quest universe, title "Dragon Quest: Your Story." The movie will be based upon Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, a game first released on the Super Famicom over 25 years ago. Yuji Horii, creator of the Dragon Quest franchise, will be a consulting supervisor on the movie's production. It will be released on August 2 in Japan, but no indications yet of subtitled or dubbed releases outside of Japan.

Source: Gematsu

The last update we had for Distant Worlds shows centered around a lot of dates outside the United States, mostly in Europe. Many of those shows are still to come, so if you are one of our European readers don't forget to look back.

Now, though, a big chunk of 2019 is being filled with dates in the States. The show in Nashville is still coming up next week, but in addition the concert series is coming to:

• Minneapolis, March 1
• Boston, April 5
• Denver, May 2 and 3
• Columbus, Ohio, May 31
• Phoenix, September 7
• Chicago, September 14

Tickets for all of these shows are already on sale! There were no new dates for A New World announced in this round, but I'm certain some will show up in the near future.

Source: Distant Worlds

We reported yesterday that Square Enix had registered trademarks for a Final Fantasy digital card game, and we thought that maybe it would be an online version of the physical card game that was released a couple years back. It appears now that it's not - but don't blame EvilEye, as much as you might like to.

Announced today in Japan, the actual product appears to be a different card game entirely with more RPG elements but still a reliance upon the thirty years of Final Fantasy IP. The announcement website is only in Japanese, and Google Translate does not have a good time with it, but upon comparing the field of play in screenshots with my own physical cards, it definitely seems like a different game.

The game must be releasing very soon, at least in Japan, as applications are being accepted now for a closed beta to be run between the 18th and 25th of this month. It will be available for Windows, iOS, and Android.

Source: Gematsu

Are there any Final Fantasy: TCG players here? If so, you might be delighted to hear that Square Enix has trademarked "Final Fantasy Digital Card Game" in Japan. Since the card game has no online presence as of yet, this could be very big, very telling news of their future plans for the game to expand and reach new players.

As a former card game player that dislikes amassing piles and piles of cards that sit on shelves, I would certainly embrace this additional option to make decks easier to build and test, and an easier time finding other players! If this happens, it will be interesting to see how their online market will work, and if it will be a replication of their physical presence or an opportunity to do something new.

Source: Gematsu

I'm behind in posting this news, of course, but it worked out for the best because just today the consequences of the original news came to light. Last month, long-time Square Enix bigshot (and, most recently, head of the Luminous Productions studio) Hajime Tabata announced that he was leaving the company, after nearly fifteen years working on Square Enix projects. Today, Square Enix announced that Takesi Aramaki will be the new head of Luminous. Aramaki was the programming lead for Final Fantasy XV.

Simultaneous to Tabata's announcement, Square Enix confirmed that all planned Final Fantasy XV DLC after Episode Ardyn was cancelled; the three episodes that took the axe were likely the most eagerly-awaited, being for Lunafreya, Aranea, and Noctis. Episode Ardyn will continue development and be released in early 2019.

Meanwhile, Luminous Productions appears to have shifted gears before the cancellations were announced, with a LinkedIn post by the graphics director of Final Fantasy XV implying that he is currently working on a "New AAA Title for PS5." That post has been edited to remove that reference now, but we might look back on this as the first inkling that the Final Fantasy series will continue.

As for Tabata, he was apparently waiting for the announcement of Aramaki as new Luminous head to announce his own new initiative: today he posted to Facebook that he is starting his own company called JP Games, with the company's official launch planned for January of 2019. Naturally, no further information is available.

One hopes that this does not indicate a real mess over at the Squenix mothership, but this level of transition does seem at least a little ominous.

Source: Siliconera, Gematsu