Chrono Break

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"Chrono Break" (クロノ・ブレイク, Kurono Bureiku^?) is the name of a trademark registered by Squaresoft (now Square Enix) on December 5, 2001 and was later abandoned.^[1]

1 Registration
2 Official response
3 Signs of life
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Registration

The registration followed a press report of talks about a new Chrono series game. Within this report, Hironobu Sakaguchi mentioned that the team of Chrono Cross, especially Masato Kato, was interested in developing a new game in the series, and that script and story ideas were currently being considered. The project had not been greenlighted.^[2] While Squaresoft did not publish any official news, this registration led many in the video game community to believe that a sequel to the Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross was in full development. However, Masato Kato and others who worked on Chrono Cross—such as Yasuyuki Honne—meanwhile departed to work for Monolith Soft, and Squaresoft published no news concerning a sequel. On 2003-11-13, the trademark was dropped in the United States.

[edit] Official response

Fan inquiry over a new title was subsequently large enough to warrant an entry in Square Enix's FAQ page, in which the company noted that no new game was in development, though this did not mean the series was dead.^[3] In 2006, the entry was revised to include sequel inquiries for any series. A similar trademark was registered in 2001 by Square Enix in Japan as "Chrono Brake". The Japanese trademark is still registered.^[4] In an interview at E³ 2003, the development team responsible for making Chrono Cross stated that they would love to develop a new Chrono game, but that they won't be able to make one for a long time, as they must keep supporting and making expansion packs for their unique project—the MMORPG Final Fantasy XI.^[5] Ironically, Hironobu Sakaguchi (one of Chrono Trigger's creators) pitched the idea of an MMORPG to Squaresoft while working on Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. In February 2007, Square Enix producer Hiromichi Tanaka took part in several interviews while promoting games in Europe. Tanaka reiterated that no new game was in development, but that a return was certainly not out of the question.^[6]^[7]

“	...it's very difficult to be able to reunite the original team, to be able to make a sequel to the Chrono series...because if we don't try to reunite these people but take other people instead, we will find ourselves at that point with a game which will feel different, since there would be different persons in charge, and we would possibly lose the Chrono spirit.^[8]	”
	— Hiromichi Tanaka

[edit] Signs of life

Hopes for a sequel have been recently raised as Masato Kato has returned to Square Enix to work on games of the World of Mana project.^[9] Additionally, in an interview at a PLAY! concert in May 2006, Yasunori Mitsuda stated an interest in composing for a new game in the series.^[10] These hopes are also padded by the good working relationship between Kato and Mitsuda, as the two collaborated to release Kirite, an album complemented by a storybook. In September 2005, Kato and Mitsuda again teamed up to do a game called Deep Labyrinth for the Nintendo DS.^[11] Additionally, Mitsuda announced in 2005 that a new Chrono Cross arranged album was in the works; as of May 2006, it is tentatively "out within the year".^[10] These, combined with Square Enix's recent polls that list Chrono Trigger as an option for game porting to handheld systems, suggest that interest in the Chrono series has not completely dwindled at the company and that a new iteration may eventually be made. Fans continue to write letters and e-mails to both Square Enix USA and Japan headquarters requesting Chrono Break.^[12]