Square Enix Files Trademarks for "Squaresoft" and "Enix"

Square Enix Files Trademarks for “Squaresoft” and “Enix”

By: Dimi Gronnings On February 10, 2015, 7:33 am EDT @fringenerd

Last month, on January 19, Square Enix Holdings filed trademarks for both “Squaresoft” and “Enix“.

Japanese gaming sites speculate that Square Enix will become the parent company to two subsidiaries named Squaresoft and Enix, and that each company will have a different focus in the video game market.

Square Company and Enix Corporation merged in 2003 to become Square Enix. The merger had been in consideration since 2000, but the financial failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within in 2001 made Enix skittish. Following Square’s recovery with Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, the companies finally merged.

[Editor’s note: the article initially stated that Square and Enix merged to become Squaresoft, which is incorrect; the merged company is named Square Enix.]

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About Dimi Gronnings

With over ten years' experience as an editor, Dimi is Niche Gamer's Managing Editor. He has indefinitely put a legal career on hold in favor of a life of video games: priorities.

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Siveon

I doubt they’ll be any real difference

Unless Squaresoft starts making games akin to their PS1 days (HA) and Enix actually localizes a Dragon Quest game for once (Double HA).

But hey, nice to see those two fancy logos again.Anyone else thought it was funny that for Square, they colored in a triangle instead of making anything that looked like a square?
Phelan

Employee – something wrong is happening, people no longer respect the Square Enix!
Boss – ok so let’s return to Square Soft and Enix and continue making crap.
Sylveria Shini

True to the Square Enix pattern of ruining the legacy of great things, they are now going to ruin Squaresoft and Enix as company names.
Nonscpo

Wonder how long before conspiracy theories start coming out about Square Enix going out of business. After all anything can be twisted and misrepresentated
Phelan

YOU ARE GENIUS!

Now we know why they are doing it. Currently people say “it was better during SquareSoft and Enix times”… if they will ruin both brands… people no longer will be able to say that those companies were better!
Greed

Don’t forget squareenix is still being sued by SNK also lol
froyton

I’m a bit optimistic about this, albeit cautiously so. If they’re willing to shake things up internally like this, it could be one of several steps to getting better and earning back trust. I guess we’ll see how this plays out.
Nin

Clearly, the Enix simply wants to make loli porn games again. https://vndb.org/v6265
Neojames82

I feel like this means that “Square” is going to focus on mobile f2p crap and Enix will probably….well maybe still do mobile f2p crap….so really nothing.
Neojames82

Well I don’t think they are going out of business but they are not rolling in the dough either.
MaidKillua

Hopefully one of them will focus on making games for consoles and PC that are actually good instead of shitty mobile games
Death Saved

“Square Company and Enix Corporation merged in 2003 to become Squaresoft”

Think you meant Square Enix.
Kuso Miso

That would be too good to be true.
http://www.nichegamer.net/ Dimi Gronnings

Let’s just pretend that never happened.
http://www.nichegamer.net Brandon Orselli

Yeah both Dimi and I are consistently sleep deprived, so apologies for that.
Game Guy

If they’re finally splitting up, it sadly won’t mean much. The people who made squaresoft and enix so great are long gone.
Sarracenia

Please no.
I hate it when games get localised. Give me a straight translation 100% of the time please.

I don’t want my rice balls being doughnuts.
Siveon

Oh, please.

You are the only person I’ve met online that actually bothered to make a distinction between the two words in regular conversation. When I mean localization, I’m just talking about a translation, a dub, and a physical release to western shores. I haven’t seen a single-game release that wasn’t fan-translated not being called a ‘localization’.
Sarracenia

Localisation carries with it the specific connotation that it will have the script changes so as to appeal to an audience that isn’t/wasn’t the originally intended audience.

The most recent one I played being HDNRe;Birth 1 and it changing a 25 second long voice line to “t-t-tomb!?”

I understand that they’re generally called localisations, and I understand that they are also generally localisations. I am simply saying “Fuck that, no thanks.”
Also the exact same thing I say to any projects involving NISA, fuck those guys.
Death Saved

If that’s because you guys have a press copy of Xenoblade Chronicles X, then i assure you that you deaths will be as quick and painless as possible.
Death Saved

I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Dewey Defeats Truman

straight translations are terrible. Many games get horrible localizations that go too far, to be sure, but if you think a straight translation with no efforts to localize it into english is a better solution then I don’t think you know just what a straight translation is. There’s always a middle ground, and a good localizer will find it.
inquisitormcsagington

“Enix-go make shitty shovelware mobile crap, shitty Eidos IP rip offs and keep Nosgoth from falling into it’s own arse!”
“Squaresoft-Make me beautiful, intelligent RPG’s, with fun mechanics and characters!”

“And Parker-I want pictures, PICTURES OF SPIDERMAN!”

At least that’s how I hope it’ll go.
inquisitormcsagington

Eat your hamburgers Apollo.
2nd though just give me translations.
And Vagrant story 2.
Juhata

I want the old times to come back too, but the dream is over.
Audie Bakerson

I recall they TMed Square a year+ ago but that never went anywhere.

Honestly, I think it’s just for some rereleases.
Fenrir7

I’d love to see the Squaresoft logo on a retail game again
tetrisdork

It’s probably to maintain the trademarks. Or, there will be 2 Japanese dev studios – Squaresoft will be the team behind FF15, and Enix; hey, there is precedent in the keeping of the Eidos name alive in Montreal. OR, it will be like when Viacom was split into 2 – Viacom and CBS Corporation – last decade where the only thing they will have in common are the majority shareholders.

Or, like I said first, it is to maintain the trademarks. But, hey, we might get old-school corporate logo merchandise!
http://www.nichegamer.net/ Dimi Gronnings

Very good.
http://www.nichegamer.net/ Dimi Gronnings

Apparently no one besides us has picked up on this yet. First Dragon’s Dogma Online’s release window, and now this … Feels good.
Fenrir007

I liked them a lot more when they weren’t a single company. I wish I could say this would be are turn to the golden times, but it’s just a Berlin Wall separating the mobile microtransactionfest from the poorly ported and milked old games repackaged for instant consumption.
Thanatos2k

I don’t even think the merger is the problem. The problem is bad management making bad decisions and the result is bad games followed by bad sequels to bad games because the people in charge have no idea what they’re doing.

Oh, and doubling down on mobile.
Thanatos2k

Seriously. Japanese pun jokes NEVER TRANSLATE WELL.

Just make new lines.
Thanatos2k

“Squaresoft, go make me more action RPGs with Lightning because Toriyama swears that’s what everyone keeps asking for! Do everything he says because he has a proven track record of success!”
Jack Ripper

Holy shit. I didn’t know Enix even made eroges.

And just for the hell of it, I clicked on the developer to find even moar loli porn. Dragon Quest really corrupted Enix huh?

P.S. Awesome Alice avatar.
KefkaFollower

Square is so out of my radar now days!
I had to google to find out about Motomu Toriyama.

When someone says Toriyama, I think in Akira Toriyama.

😀
Thanatos2k

Yeah I used too also, before FF13.