‘There needs to be more premium mobile games,’ urges Square Enix CEO

The head of Square Enix believes that a greater number of mobile developers should release their titles as premium products, in order to make the business model more sustainable on the platform.

CEO Yosuke Matsuda discussed the reception of the company’s own paid apps, such as the Go franchise spin-offs of Tomb Raider and Hitman, plus the full port of Final Fantasy IX – the latter of which sells for £15.99.

“Free-to-play games are very important to our business, but at the same time we need to enhance our initiatives in regard to premium apps,” he told GamesBeat.

“As one example, our Japanese development teams excel at turn-based RPGs. We want to release a lot of new titles in that genre. We want to price them strongly as well. We don’t want to offer them at discount prices. We want to produce content that warrants a premium price.”

Speaking about the wider sector, Matsuda said: “When you think about the handheld game market, the installed base for smartphones is just massive. We see those devices making up a very important market.

“I don’t think it would be good for that market to consist entirely of free-to-play games,” he continued. “It’s important for that market to have quality premium games as well.

“If those kinds of games were a viable option, it would draw more developers to give that market a second look. Premium apps are something we’ll be focusing on.”