are Squaresoft and Square Enix the same?

[Sephiroth31]

I have been wondering this ever since I have watched Final Fantasy 7 AC please enlighten me.

[Mike]

They are different divisions of Square. Square Movies is another division of the company. or maybe it's called Square Film. I don't know, but you get the idea.

[Andromeda]

There was Square, then they bought or merged with a company and became Squaresoft. And then like two years ago, they merged with Enix, the famous company that makes Dragon Quest series. The biggest RPG company in Japan aside from Squaresoft. When the two merged they became Square-Enix. And from that Square-Enix, like when they were Squaresoft has different teams and projects. The same company that made FFVII made FFVII AC.

[Mike]

I thought that they still performed as seperate groups under the same company. Am I wrong?

[Andromeda]

Well there are the divisions, like Square USA who made Spirits Within. And the animation division and their manga division. Though I am not sure, but I think the game division made the movie. Or at least a lot of them probably worked on it, since they worked on FFVII. I know Square has a lot of divisions and sources of income.

[Mike]

Wow, Andro, you are a wealth of FF and Square knowledge. If I wasn't already married, I would buy you a ring.

[Andromeda]

Hehe, ^^ I bet you say that to all the S-Mods. *blush*

Well I know one of Square's most popular anime is Fullmetal Alchemist. Though they also have FF Unlimited, Legend of the Crystals, and a few other anime and manga I cannot recall off the top of my head. The people at Square are busy little beavers.

[Cain Highwind]

As I recall when Square and Enix merged they reorganized the company into 10 groups all seperate and indivual from each other (with occaisional collaboration)

I know Team 1 is basically the main FF group of Square that consists of Nomura, Kitase and the like (so the team who made Kingdom Hearts and FFX) Team 2 is the FFXI developers, and it was either Team 3 or 4 that's Matsuno's group (FF Tactics, Vagrant Story, FFXII), if you play FFTA it should say at the beginning which team made it. Team 9 I believe is Yuji Hori and his group (Dragon Quest related games).

EDIT: Oh and don't forget they recently bought Taito

EDIT 2:

AHA! I found that old news report talking about the different Production teams, and here you go (remember this article is a good couple years old)

Production Team 1 (headed by Yoshinori Kitase)
Last Title: Final Fantasy X-2 International + Last Mission
Current Status: A new project is in development and will be announced quite soon

Production Team 2 (headed by Akitoshi Kawazu)
Last Title: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Current Status: A new title in development here as well, but it can't be revealed to the public just now

Production Team 3 (headed by Hiromichi Tanaka)
Last Title: Final Fantasy XI Rise of the Zilart
Current Status: No new game projects were announced, the team is implementing an emergency phone system into Final Fantasy XI.

Production Team 4 (Yasumi Matsuno)
Last Title: Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Current Status: An announcement regarding Final Fantasy XII will be coming forward this fall.

Production Team 5 (Yuusuke Hirata)
Last Title: All-Star Pro Wrestling 3
Current Status: No information provided.

Production Team 6 (Toshirou Tsuchida)
Last Title: Front Mission 3
Current Status: Front Mission 1st (PS One Remake) and Front Mission 4 seem to be just the beginning, as the team wants to develop the series on many different levels.

Production Team 7 (Takashi Tokita)
Last Title: Hanjuku Eiyuu Tai 3D (Hanjuku Hero VS 3D)
Current Status: New title in the works, scheduled for a 2004 release.

Production Team 8 (Kouichi Ishii)
Last Title: Shinyaku Seiken Densetsu (Sword of Mana)
Current Status: Nothing specific, but Seiken Densetsu should be established as a real fantasy series.

Production Team 9 (Ari Miyake)
Last Title: Kenshin Dragon Quest
Current Status: Being involved in Kenshin Dragon Quest, Dragon Quest Monsters, and also the main Dragon Quest series, this team is currently working on Dragon Quest VIII and gets weekly visits by series mastermind Yuuji Horii.

Production Team 10 (Yousuke Saitou)
Current Status: Consisting only of producers, the team is currently working on three projects. Its head, Yousuke Saitou, is currently involved in Final Fantasy XI. While a complete edition of Star Ocean: Till The End of Time has been discussed, no announcement has been made.

That is by far the best way to explain it, I'd think.

Good job on your homework, Mr. Cain.

Anyway, in layman's terms:

Square began the whole thing back in ye olde days making the first FFs, then turned into Squaresoft, then split to make anime and manga as well as games, then proceeded to buy out Enix, becoming square-enix.

Square Enix makes basically the same franchise games both companies made alone: Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, Dragon Warrior, and recently Kingdom Hearts (though that is a co-op work between SE and Disney).

[TomStrife]

I knew everything she told you and more. Can I get a ring?

Jusk Kidding.