Sleeping Dogs, Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider all sold much worse than Square Enix expected, which may lead to the cancellation of future titles in these series.
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth publisher Square Enix has declared a $140m loss based on a shakeup of its internal development pipeline.
What are they doing over there? Sounds like they canceled something big. I read a rumor a while back about ff9 remake . Here "Final Fantasy IX has gone through a very challenging development, the game is still in progress but may undergo changes drastic enough that we won't hear about it for a couple of years."
This could be one of the reasons if the rumor is true. That was Silknight i don't know how credible he is but it's something and it would make sense.
The industry implosion is continuing. Sky high budgets, prolonged development windows, stagnant sales numbers, and falling currency values (inflation) are wreaking havoc on the legacy industry. AAA games will slowly become the rarity.
Saad from eXputer: "After suffering from massive financial hits, Square Enix & Bandai Namco appear to be turning over a new leaf but I'm still unconvinced."
I was talking about games with some Japanese guys here in Japan, and it seems like around here Bandai Namco has a fame of making low-quality games, with the occasional gem.
About Square Enix, I believe they lack the capacity to improve. They should learn with Capcom (although even Capcom still makes some bad mistakes), but I don't think they ever will. They keep chasing whatever is new at the time (blockchain, AI...) to say "we innovate", without considering the public perception and if these things actually improve the games or not. Them releasing too many small games with no advertising also shows a lack of trust in its own products. Even with their biggest games, like turning FF into an action game with XVI and the very divisive plot changes regarding whispers and timelines in VII Remake, shows them trying to attract a new generation of gamers without understanding what made the series so big in the first place.
I don’t know why NOW they decide on this, but I guess later is better than never.
Saad from eXputer: "I'm glad I don't have to choose between Square Enix, Atlus, and FromSoftware due to bad release windows and Shadow of the Erdtree."
What a word vomit, rambling, turd of an article that simply states the obvious. Classic exputer.
If you dig into the details, it is clear that SE's problem is they are underperforming in NA and Europe while spending too much money on such games. However, I think they're missing the mark.
Square-Enix insists on making SO MANY JRPGs, and yet only a few of them leave Japanese shores (either that, or they take forever to be localized elsewhere). In this economy, it is foolish to expect every one of your big-budget titles to sell millions and turn a profit. Therefore, you have a choice, SE. Either STOP wasting time and money on Japan-only games that are never given the chance to turn a profit in other regions, OR you need to make fewer games. You can't have it both ways.