Tokyo RPG Factory Square Enix Absorbed Industry News 1

Tokyo RPG Factory was established by Square Enix approximately a decade ago in order to recapture the magic of the “golden age” of role-playing releases. However, following the launch of three titles – I Am Setsuna, Lost Sphear, and Oninaki – the subsidiary has been absorbed into its parent company, and will henceforth cease to exist as an individual entity.

Effectively, this means the company has been dissolved, although Square Enix is framing it as a kind of merger, whereby it remains the only entity to survive. It’s perhaps not an enormous surprise: despite its bold ambitions, Tokyo RPG Factory never quite managed to match the charm of the RPGs it was established to replicate, and released a trio of middling titles as a result.

We awarded I Am Setsuna a solid 7/10 upon its release, but neither Lost Sphear nor Oninaki could conjure a score greater than a 6/10. While enjoyable enough in their own ways, none of the three titles really stood out in a crowded market, and it’s likely Square Enix didn’t want to commit to a fourth title, hence the studio’s effective disbandment.

[source gamebiz.jp, via gematsu.com]