Ubisoft to publish Square Enix' Star Ocean 3 in Europe

Square Enix has announced its latest European publishing deal, with French rising star Ubisoft set to undertake distribution and marketing duties for Star Ocean: Till The End of Time in Europe this autumn.

The title is the first really big Enix (as opposed to Square) franchise to appear in the PAL territories since the two companies merged over a year ago, and it's expected that the EU version will be of the Japanese "director's cut" edition.

While Square Enix is bulking up its own European presence significantly at the moment - with tens of new staff expected to be hired at the company's London offices shortly - its relationships with other publishers here are the games industry equivalent of one night stands.

Take Two is set to publish Drakengard at the start of summer, while EA Partners managed Final Fantasy X-2 earlier this spring, and prior to that, Atari handled the critically maligned Unlimited SaGa.

Square Enix' first foray into self-publishing in Europe is expected to come later this year, with the firm expected to handle its own distribution and marketing for massively multiplayer title Final Fantasy XI.