Square Enix to launch mobile games in Europe

The first titles from Square Enix' mobile games catalogue to launch in Europe are set to arrive this summer, with Aleste, Actraiser and Drakengard rolling out on operator portals across the territory.

The games are due to arrive on Vodafone Live in Germany this month, and will be appearing on other operators and in other countries over the course of the coming weeks, as well as being available from Square Enix' European website.

The games are being localised for the European marketplace by Macrospace, and the two companies will also be working together on the marketing and distribution of the games in the various European territories.

Aleste and Actraiser are both versions of classic SNES and Mega Drive era titles (Actraiser in particular is notable for being an early example of genre-mixing, combining side-scrolling platform action with Populous style gameplay) while Drakengard is based on the PS2 title of the same name which was published in Europe by Take Two earlier this year.

Square Enix operates a major mobile entertainment business in Japan, and this move into the European market is part of the company's stated plan to extend all of its Japanese businesses out into the rest of the major world markets.

"Our relationship with Vodafone in Europe allows us to offer mobile gamers the highest-quality original content Square Enix is famous for," boasted Yoichi Wada, Square Enix' president. "Going forward, we will work hard to continue releasing ground-breaking entertainment through the industry-leading Vodafone live multimedia offering."