 The merger between Square and Enix , which had been under consideration since at least 2000 according to Yasuhiro Fukushima , Enix chairman at the time , was delayed because of the failure of the film and Enix ' hesitation at merging with a company that had just lost a substantial amount of money . Square Pictures announced in late January 2002 that they were closing down , largely due to the commercial failure of The Spirits Within . The film 's CGI effects have been compared favourably with later CGI films such as James Cameron 's 2009 film Avatar . In 2011 , BioWare art director Derek Watts cited The Spirits Within as a major influence on the successful Mass Effect series of action role @-@ playing games . In the first episode of the Square @-@ Enix published 2015 video game Life Is Strange , when the lead interacts with a TV , she mentions the idea of watching the film , and says " I don 't care what anybody says , that 's one of the best sci @-@ fi films ever made . " Although the film was loosely based on a video game series , there were never any plans for a game adaptation of the film itself . Sakaguchi indicated the reason for this was the lack of powerful gaming hardware at the time , feeling the graphics in any game adaptation would be far too much of a step down from the graphics in the film itself . A novelization was written by Dean Wesley Smith and published by Pocket Books in June 2001 . The Making of Final Fantasy : The Spirits Within , a companion book , was published by BradyGames in August 2001 . Edited by Steven L. Kent , the 240 page color book contains a foreword by director Sakaguchi and extensive information on all aspects of the film 's creation , including concept art , storyboards , sets and props , layout , motion capture and animation , as well as a draft of the full script . 
