Following last week’s reveal of a new Square Enix studio, we’re finally going to get a look at the first Balan Company game tomorrow. What that game might be, however, is a bit of a mystery.
Late last week, Square Enix announced a new studio named “Balan Company” which would focus on making action games. This new developer is comprised of industry professionals and will use a mix of internal development and external contractors to create new titles different from the RPG genre that Square Enix is typically well known for.
Now, the Balan Company website has announced that we’ll be seeing the “grand opening” on July 23, 2020, at 1:00 PM EDT. A tweet from Square Enix’s official Japanese events account explains that this grand opening will actually reveal the first title from this fledgling company.
What could it be? An easy sell would be some kind of action game set in the Final Fantasy universe. With the popularity of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake and the intense action scenes in the company’s movies like Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children and the cutscenes from its games, Square Enix — and by extension, Balan Company — have shown that they have a talent and taste for making high-flying action.
Famitsu has also reported (via Neowin) that Balan Company will also house image and music production, with its name referring to a group of people who are part of a theater company and musical. This could indicate that the studio’s first output will be music-themed in some way.
While a new Square Enix-published game always leads to speculation that it could be Final Fantasy-related, the first Balan Company game could just as easily be something entirely original. Will it be the mysterious Project Athia? We’ll find out for sure tomorrow at this new company’s grand opening.
