Announced on Monday, Mar. 21, Square Enix and Qualcomm are entering into a strategic partnership to see the duo collaborating on bridging better XR (extended reality) experiences for gamers and avid consumers alike. The Japanese publisher and developer's Advanced Technology Division will be assisted via the Snapdragon Spaces XR Developer Platform in building more elaborate and immersive games for audiences worldwide.
Square Enix is behind some of the biggest IPs in the video game industry, including Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, Tomb Raider, Just Cause, Kingdom Hearts, and much more. With Qualcomm in its corner, the duo will undoubtedly come up with some interesting new concepts in AR and VR spaces.
Qualcomm is a leading chipset provider, allocating some of the most advanced wireless 5G capabilities to technology providers such as Samsung, Microsoft, Acer, HP, Lenovo, and more. The company has been quite busy accruing various new partnerships in the last several months, including Volvo, Microsoft, Ferrari, ByteDance, and Lofelt.
Qualcomm has steadily increased its interest in auto manufacturing chipsets and advanced XR capabilities across technological fronts, from mobile smartphones to now seemingly the gaming world. Through Qualcomm's Snapdragon Spaces, Square Enix hopes to deliver new and exciting forms of entertainment and build upon its already expansive ecosystem of thriving classics.
The technical director behind Square Enix, Ben Taylor, explains his convictions with Qualcomm as a potential to "push storytelling boundaries" and vies to enhance already "state-of-the-art" games for the next generation. His words are presented in more detail via Qualcomm's press release, which relays Taylor's excitement as follows:
"We have been investing in XR and look forward to building on Snapdragon Spaces. In particular, we think the time is right with XR to innovate on games of a classic genre we are especially known for and look forward to sharing them with the world to further our mission to help spread happiness across the globe."
The strategic partnership comes on the heels of Qualcomm's newly announced $100 million Metaverse fund, which aims to build a fundamental ecosystem for companies and developers working on VR, AR, and all other assorted mixed reality technologies. Through its Qualcomm Ventures arm, the tech company expects to "accelerate the Metaverse" and lend financial support to grantees pushing boundaries in that space, whether through media, entertainment, education, gaming, enterprise and more. Those interested will have to wait until June to apply.
See you tomorrow at #GDC22 — don’t forget to stop by booth S650 in the south hall for a look at @Snapdragon Spaces, Snapdragon Elite Gaming, and the new #Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Developer Kit. pic.twitter.com/XTbdjmKirX
— Snapdragon (@Snapdragon) March 20, 2022
Qualcomm will be in attendance at the ongoing GDC 2022 event, starting Monday, Mar. 21 to 25. The tech firm is a direct contributor to the conference, alongside powerhouses in the industry, including The Sandbox, Unity Technologies, and Samsung. The company will be showcasing several of its most interesting new properties, including Snapdragon Elite Gaming, the G3x Gen 1 Gaming Developer kit, and Snapdragon Spaces.
