Square Enix Launches Smartphone-Focused Game Studio, Hippos Lab

Posted by Carter Dotson on March 24th, 2011

Square Enix certainly cannot be accused of ignoring the mobile gaming market. Even since the early days of the App Store, they've released titles from other mobile phone ports like Crystal Defenders, to ports of their classic titles like Final Fantasy and Secret of Mana, to even original games like Chaos Rings and Sliding Heroes. We may start to see more of the latter type of game coming soon, as Square Enix has formed a studio built around smartphone development. Entitled Hippos Lab (a name I love, considering I use the nickname wondroushippo around the internet), the studio began operations back on March 7th. While no specific projects or even platforms of development have been announced, as Square Enix has released Crystal Defenders on Android as well, although in all fairness - I don't think a platform exists that doesn't have a version of Crystal Defenders on it at this point. But still, Hippos Lab could be an exciting venture if it brings more original content from Square Enix to the App Store or even other platforms.