Final Fantasy developer Square Enix have released their Financial Results for the end of the Japanese financial year, and it seems they're going through a big change in their strategy.
While they have numerous titles available on PC, plenty of which work great on Linux and Steam Deck thanks to Valve's Proton, they do have a habit of doing exclusives and they publish quite a lot overall. However, they've announced a new "medium-term business plan" which covers the fiscal year ending March 31, 2025 through the fiscal year ending March 31, 2027 that they're calling "Square Enix Reboots and Awakens" as a plan for long-term growth.
Part of this plan includes the move from "quantity to quality" so they can "strive for a regular launch cadence, focusing its development efforts and investments on titles with substantial potential to be loved by customers for years".
Pictured - FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE
This plan involves a "Shift to a multiplatform strategy" for HD titles (meaning major consoles and PCs) as they "will aggressively pursue a multiplatform strategy that includes Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs". But they also said they will include the "possibility of PC launches" for their SD titles (those meant for mobile and browsers).
For those of us on desktop PCs and handhelds, it's again good news, as they said clearly in regards to expanding digital sales that "the Group will engage in initiatives which focus on the acquisition of PC users".
So the hope is that we should see far more same-day (or close to it) releases on PC for Square Enix games.
Interesting that we have Square Enix just generally looking to expand across more platforms and slow down a little for quality, while EA just want to put adverts in your games.
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Interesting that we have Square Enix just generally looking to expand across more platforms and slow down a little for quality, while EA just want to put adverts in your games.And don't forget how Microsoft has closed a bunch of award-winning studios and now thinks that focussing on mobile telephones and bringing back Candy Crush Saga will save the Xbox brand.
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Mohandevir May 13
Square Enix had some great titles available when the Steam Machines first launched. They made some decisions that I personally don't understand (Eidos), in the last few years, and many recent games just under-delivered, but I hope to see them come back to that "2015 era shape" again, with this kind of news.
Last edited by Mohandevir on 13 May 2024 at 2:01 pm UTC
Last edited by Mohandevir on 13 May 2024 at 2:01 pm UTC
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"Interesting that we have Square Enix just generally looking to expand across more platforms and slow down a little for quality"
the issue is that may mean kill niche titles that arent bad but arent as popular as their main franchises
the issue is that may mean kill niche titles that arent bad but arent as popular as their main franchises
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Kimyrielle May 13
What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Anything that sells.
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What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Yeah every time a AAA company says something like "quality over quantity", what I hear is "we are spending even more on a handful of big franchises in the most popular genres instead of doing anything new or creative or investing in more diverse games".
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Yeah, I found myself thinking "So, just new iterations of big blockbusters, then."What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Yeah every time a AAA company says something like "quality over quantity", what I hear is "we are spending even more on a handful of big franchises in the most popular genres instead of doing anything new or creative or investing in more diverse games".
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Mohandevir May 13
Yeah, I found myself thinking "So, just new iterations of big blockbusters, then."What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Yeah every time a AAA company says something like "quality over quantity", what I hear is "we are spending even more on a handful of big franchises in the most popular genres instead of doing anything new or creative or investing in more diverse games".
The thing is, aside from FF, I don't know what blockbusters Square Enix has left... Eidos was behind the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider franchises and it was sold, along with the ips...
Last edited by Mohandevir on 13 May 2024 at 5:14 pm UTC
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What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Anything that sells.
i wish.
if their mad scientists plan was to sell games, that would be a good thing, nowadays you have to sell dlcs, skins, lootbox, gambling , ads, subscriptions, seasson pass, battlepasses...
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are you kidding?Yeah, I found myself thinking "So, just new iterations of big blockbusters, then."What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Yeah every time a AAA company says something like "quality over quantity", what I hear is "we are spending even more on a handful of big franchises in the most popular genres instead of doing anything new or creative or investing in more diverse games".
The thing is, aside from FF, I don't know what blockbusters Square Enix has left... Eidos was behind the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider franchises and it was sold, along with the ips...
dragon quest sell a lot in japan, to the point that i wouldnt be surprised if it sell more on japan alone than final fantasy worldwide.
the day an dragon quest is relased its holiday because no one will work that day.
nier was an niche game, until nier automata made it popular and now even old nier games sell.
monster hunter is another big hit...
im not sure about the rest but im quite miss informed about gaming in general.
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FutureSuture May 13
Releasing their games on GOG would be a pleasant surprise.
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monster hunter is another big hit...It is, but it belongs to Capcom.
I'll throw Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Romancing SaGa, The World Ends With You, and all their sequels into the list, plus once-famous one-offs like The Bouncer and Rad Racer, to replace that one.You're totally right about Dragon Quest, by the way!
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Mohandevir May 13
are you kidding?Yeah, I found myself thinking "So, just new iterations of big blockbusters, then."What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.
Yeah every time a AAA company says something like "quality over quantity", what I hear is "we are spending even more on a handful of big franchises in the most popular genres instead of doing anything new or creative or investing in more diverse games".
The thing is, aside from FF, I don't know what blockbusters Square Enix has left... Eidos was behind the Deus Ex and Tomb Raider franchises and it was sold, along with the ips...
dragon quest sell a lot in japan, to the point that i wouldnt be surprised if it sell more on japan alone than final fantasy worldwide.
the day an dragon quest is relased its holiday because no one will work that day.
nier was an niche game, until nier automata made it popular and now even old nier games sell.
monster hunter is another big hit...
im not sure about the rest but im quite miss informed about gaming in general.
Oh! Sorry! Completely forgot about DragonQuest. Should have though... I beat the hell out of it, on my original NES! Played it again on my Steam Deck, not long ago. Lol!
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What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.Well that didn't take long to be answered.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/square-enix-confirms-us-eu-layoffs-as-part-of-restructuring/
The scale of the layoffs wasn’t shared, but staff were told that people working in publishing, IT, and Square Enix’s Collective indie games division would be predominantly affected.
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Mohandevir May 13
What exactly do these people consider "quality", I wonder.Well that didn't take long to be answered.
https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/square-enix-confirms-us-eu-layoffs-as-part-of-restructuring/
The scale of the layoffs wasn’t shared, but staff were told that people working in publishing, IT, and Square Enix’s Collective indie games division would be predominantly affected.
... By doing this, it will be able to “build an environment where more customers can enjoy our titles in regards to major franchises and AAA titles, including catalogue titles,” it said.
While it isn’t explicitly mentioned in the plan, the recent releases of Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth are the most obvious examples of Square Enix releasing a platform-exclusive AAA title.
Yup! Rince and repeat on more platforms!
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Mohandevir May 13
monster hunter is another big hit...It is, but it belongs to Capcom.
You're totally right about Dragon Quest, by the way!
I'll have to dig back into JRPGs, some day... Flew right above my head for quite a while.
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are you kidding?
dragon quest sell a lot in japan, to the point that i wouldnt be surprised if it sell more on japan alone than final fantasy worldwide.
the day an dragon quest is relased its holiday because no one will work that day.
Dragon Quest is about 88M units sold worldwide ($5B revenue) whereas Final Fantasy sits around 180M ($19B). Dragon Quest is popular in Japan but it's nowhere near the level of Final Fantasy in term of sales or revenue overall.
Last edited by dindon on 13 May 2024 at 6:35 pm UTC
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Releasing their games on GOG would be a pleasant surprise.
They do release some games on GOG but not all, unfortunately. As for what Square Enix has in mind, the CEO did mention about going back to the multiplatform nature of the business and since their aim is quality over quantity, we're probably going to see less games like Front Mission, Live-A-Live and Harvestella and more Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts.
I really miss the days when Square and Enix were separate companies doing their own RPGs because they made some of the best games during those periods.
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Dragon Quest is about 88M units sold worldwide ($5B revenue) whereas Final Fantasy sits around 180M ($19B). Dragon Quest is popular in Japan but it's nowhere near the level of Final Fantasy in term of sales or revenue overall.Though it's worth noting that Square-Enix will often fail to release Dragon Quest titles outside of Japan. It's a little bit odd, really, considering that Square had to merge with Enix to save themselves after the early-2000s Final Fantasy movie nearly bankrupted them!
You'd think that they'd want to have a broader slate of titles globally in order to avoid putting all their eggs in that one basket again.Last edited by Pengling on 13 May 2024 at 6:57 pm UTC
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Well this sounds like terrible news. I imagine they're just copying all the other big ones now, which is focus on only their biggest existing franchises and get rid of everything else.
Oh, and that means biggest in terms of revenue. Not the most popular franchises, critically acclaimed, and/or AAA titles. Expect live service, mobile, and other garbage to win the day while many, many, jobs are lost.
Oh, and that means biggest in terms of revenue. Not the most popular franchises, critically acclaimed, and/or AAA titles. Expect live service, mobile, and other garbage to win the day while many, many, jobs are lost.
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