Square Enix Announces It Will Merge Its Wholly Owned Subsidiaries Luminous production Entered the company on May 1.
The merger is part of the company’s efforts to “further enhance the competitiveness of the group’s development studios” as part of its current medium-term business strategy.
According to Square, Luminous Productions not only has “AAA game development capabilities,” but also has technical expertise in areas such as game engine development.
The merger of the two entities will further strengthen the group’s ability to develop high-definition games.
Originally called Business Division 2, Luminous was made up of employees who worked on Final Fantasy XV in 2016. The new studio worked on its own projects while helping to develop the game. It will be officially unveiled to the public in 2018.
The studio’s purpose was to develop video games and “other entertainment content,” but later that year it shifted its focus to making only game development. Head of the new studio and Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata left Luminous Productions and Square Enix at about the same time.
The studio’s Luminous Engine is known to have been used to develop several Square Enix games, including Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and Final Fantasy XV.
In 2020, the studio announced that it was working on a game called Project Athia, which would later be known as Forspoken.
Forspoke launches January 2023 with moderate reviews. Many critics and players pointed out that the game came with several technical and graphical issues. The patch was released in early February, and Luminous promises to continue working on improving the game’s overall performance, graphics, playability, and general updates and fixes to game content on PC and PS5.