Building on its already strong base in the Japanese mobile development scene, Square Enix has unveiled its new development house in the region: Hippos Lab.

The studio, which officially began operations on March 7, is set to serve up "high quality original content focusing on smartphones", acting as a reaction to what the publisher claims has been an explosion in the smartphone gaming scene in recent years.

Studio line

The launch of Hippos Lab follows on from what was Square Enix's strongest year in mobile development to date.

The likes of Chaos Rings (by Media.Vision) and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (by Ideaworks) were two of the publisher's hits of note in 2010, with its mobile business strategy so far focusing on tapping titles from internal and third party studios.

UK outfit Beautiful Games, which was originally set up by Square Enix purchase Eidos in 2003, is another developer on the firm's roster, pushing out mobile sports games under the Big Cup brand.

Specific projects for Hippo Labs are currently unknown, though Square Enix claims its first game will be "ready soon".

[source: Gamasutra]