Square Enix Dissolves Shinra, the Cloud Gaming Service
Back in 2014, Square Enix used a subsidiary to operate a company called Shinra Technologies. The idea behind Shinra was to get ahead of the competition by creating a cloud gaming service that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
The idea of building games in the cloud became a hit with instant buzz surrounding Shinra’s products.
Unfortunately, Shinra Technologies has officially dissolved its company and the parent company, Square Enix, will take a 2 billion Yen loss on the entire deal. We ran that number through the Google currency exchange rate app and found that this amount equals $16.8M USD.
Financial documents detailing the dissolution of Shinra say that Square Enix took an “Extraordinary loss.” The document goes on to say that “Out of the above-mentioned amount, the Company has already posted a Loss on Liquidation of Subsidiaries and Affiliates of approximately 1.1 billion yen in the consolidated financial results for the six-month period ended September 30, 2015.”
Shinra went into the details concerning the closure saying, “as a cloud platform operator, has been trying to raise funds necessary for further business operations from third party investors. However, STI has found no prospective investors at this point, and therefore has to discontinue its business.”
For whatever reason, the cloud gaming services market seems like a tough nut to crack. Even Square Enix, the company behind the Final Fantasy lineup of games, seems to be having trouble penetrating the cloud gaming market.
Gaming platforms such as Xbox, PlayStation and others have hinted at cloud based games coming in the future. The technology had rapidly advanced, considering the fact the Microsoft came out with a post saying that they have effectively solved the lag problem.
Still, cloud gaming platforms seem to have trouble standing on their own two legs. Could impending virtual reality games built for hardware such as the Oculus Rift be the next big thing in cloud gaming? Interestingly enough, Oculus Rift is taking pre-orders, starting today.
