We can call them that, can’t we?

We’ve redefined industry terminology many times in the past, and three famous international publishers – Electronic Arts, Activision, and Square-Enix – are presenting a strong reason to do so again. They’re purchasing developers who provide considerably different titles than what they’re already known for, and this habit of consolidating the industry shows no sign of stopping.

It isn’t anything new, though these aforementioned juggernauts are heading in intriguing and different directions. For quite some time, EA was known for its mediocre releases, and they were mostly sports-related. Madden and NBA Live were their most notorious titles, while their college and Tiger Woods releases didn’t fare much better. That’s changed, and drastically. The upcoming Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space have been talked about numerous times (both here on TNL and everywhere else), and they’re even trying new things with their tired sports games.

Anyone who followed EA’s press conference at E3 – ideally, that was quite a few of you, since theirs was arguably best – remembers their dynamic “DNA” system. A hand-in-hand relationship with Synergy Sports Technologies’s system will update player stats daily, using the magic of the internet and your assumed constant connection to it. This abolishes the “buy a new set of rosters every year” problem, and ensures that players will get a more exciting bang for their buck.

Those and numerous other movements have taken EA from the doghouse to the pent house, but Activision doesn’t have similar aspirations. They’re more comfortable with their current strategy, which involves cranking out titles of considerably lower quality than most of EA’s releases. Their reasoning is that their titles sell well regardless, and therefore do not require the same amount of polish. Unfortunately, this is as true for Activision now as it was for EA before, as the latter’s football game sold incredibly well even when it wasn’t the best in town. Consumers enjoy being spoon fed, even if the food tastes like crap, and the house of Guitar Hero has no qualms with taking advantage of that.

Speaking of GH, it’s refused to evolve since the third release and doesn’t look to do much more in Guitar Hero: World Tour. EA’s Rock Band 2 is superior in many ways, from the menu system, to the song list, along with the promise of continued and constant DLC, and more. Even so, they have nothing to compete with the Activision-Blizzard merger. That could be viewed as Activision’s safety net, since they’re following a path similar to that which Acclaim did years ago, and could crash and burn just as hard – if Blizzard and its World of Warcraft wasn’t going to be there to save them.

Where Square-Enix fits into this are their efforts to become the “Japanese EA,” which is a somewhat amusing association considering that the companies have a history of working together. Regardless, their very name tells of one of the most controversial mergers in the history of RPGs: Square and Enix becoming one. The proposition terrified me at the time, since I feared my beloved Grandia and Dragon Quest would be tainted, but I’m all right with it now. How did I feel later on when they took over Taito? To be honest, rather indifferent.

Before they touched Taito, however, they went for UIEvolution, and no one talks about that move. It’s noteworthy because SE has also been releasing some rather nice portable titles, and that was just one sign of their determination to do so. Both their on-the-go Final Fantasy entries and the more recent Song Summoner prove that well enough. Now they’re trying to snatch Tecmo, and after Itagaki’s departure made stock holders uneasy, the time was right. This could mean that the future holds a thousand Ninja Gaiden compilations across all consoles, cell phones, and MP3 players, but what will be will be. They’ll have a lot of work to do if they’re to truly become the “Japanese EA,” after all.

It does feel like there’s a race to be a publishing conglomerate extraordinaire, and because of their releasing the most quality product at a healthy rate, I have to put my money on EA. They’re doing impressive things, they didn’t have to in order to keep afloat, and they’ve thusly regained respect. Activision hasn’t, and what about Square-Enix? They’ll need far more original properties than Rogue Ga– er, Infinite Undiscovery to win this battle. The title of “Conglomerate Supreme” has yet to be attained!