Square-Enix calls its cloud gaming portal 'selfish', but 'obvious'

Core Online, the cloud-based gaming portal from publisher Square-Enix was born out of a 'selfish' need to increase its audience.

In an interview with GI.biz, Square Enix's European head Phil Rogers said, "Take Mini-Ninjas. We think it should be played by multiple millions of people and actually it's not, it's played by single millions of people. So how can we expose it to a broader audience?"

"Technically how can we do that - is it possible by re-working the code?" Rogers continued, "what sort of service and delivery platforms can we build around it. Very much on that innovative experimental axis, that's how we started it. We believe in our games, we believe that the more people that can find and play our games, the better."

Rogers also commented on the performance of OnLive so far, which has seen a decline in subscribers, "I guess in some ways we've been travelling fast. There's been a lot written about the OnLive situation - often pioneers end up in a position where they get shot in the back."

"It's very hard to work out exactly what went on but I think it comes down to the fundamental view that giving customers more choice, new ways to play and new ways to pay - increasingly we're thinking about the business model - I'm not saying it has to work, but there must be some logic there. Maybe there are operational things that we need to avoid", Rogers concluded.

Thanks Eurogamer.