Square Enix’s I am Setsuna Studio Tokyo RPG Factory Sees A 244 Million Yen Loss

It’s been revealed in the latest publication of financial statements released by the “Official Gazette” (Kanpo) that Square Enix’s Tokyo RPG Factory studio saw a deficit of 244 million yen.

Tokyo RPG Factory was created to make I am Setsuna, originally announced as Project: Setsuna, a throwback RPG made to appeal to the old school RPG fans. The game, titled Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna in Japan, sold 33,629 copies on PlayStation 4 and 27,994 copies on PlayStation Vita in its opening week in Japan for a combined total of 61,623 units sold. While those numbers aren’t terrible for a new IP, it was considered a not-so-great figure for a major Square Enix title and the deficit certainly shows for it.

[Relientk77]

It's about 2,411,330 U.S. dollars, if anyone was wondering because I was.

[nX]

I'm more wondering how this is a "major Square Enix title". It looks like a low budget indie RPG, how could it cost so much to develop?

[TheColbertinator]

Budget should have been like Undertale for those graphics

[3-4-5]

Oh stop guys.

Graphics are 100x better than Undertale...get out of here with that lame BS.

I haven't even played Setsuna but I'm not about to troll hate on it like you guys are.

[NewMonday]

1) game barely a month old
2) full priced digital only, Ratchet and Clank was bigger cheaper and had a physical release
3) no promotion or pre-order discount

full fault here is on the publishing side, it's like Square-Enix tried hard to kill this game.

[himdeel]

I wanted the game...on Vita.

[indysurfn]

LOL! You sir sound like my friends. They keep telling me to just make my own game in my spare time because they too dont understand the cost in making a game. I cant convince them it takes many people to make a game and more for a rpg. And it takes years to make a game not a few months.

I think the problem here is two....one they did not promote it effectively. Not a single JRPG friend of mine knew about it until I told them about it. Two when they saw it they said what is up with the piano music. You cant make a game that has mass appeal with only piano music especially a jrpg! Oh and a third thing they only released it digitally. This also confirms the LACK of publishing dollars. Some people view a digital only title as
a NON AAA title automatically, and also some people REFUSE to buy digital. So they game itself is good (except I personally want more than piano music maybe I will be suprised later in the game). But it needs more than that.

[SSjDomon]

They put little money and effort into it, obviously. It's not bad but it is lacking passion and resources.

[shuvam09]

That is really absurd...
That's the kind of amount that could easily be the entire production cost for the game, given what certain games ask for on Kickstarter...
Besides wasn't the game made in a span of around 18 months???
How can a small scale game make so much loss???
Were they expecting this to sell a million copies???
The amount of exposure given didn't show so...
Besides SE have a habit of blowing up figures...
Remember Tomb Raider? Yeah...

[lelo2play]

"Square Enix’s I am Setsuna Studio Tokyo RPG Factory Sees A 244 Million Yen Loss"

Well, I guess more mobile games are coming from Square.

[littlezizu]

Game would have done better if it had physical release or it was priced at 30$. 40$ for only digital is a hard sell. Game was well received so hope SE gives studio another go.

[Nick_Shively]

Exactly this. I would have paid $20-30. It was fun at E3, but I've heard it's very short. I'll probably still grab it on a Steam sale.

[SaveFerris]

I was hoping that there would be a physical release, but I'm not sure that will happen now if they feel it sold poorly.

[Darkwatchman]

I didn't get it mainly because it didn't arrive over here on vita. I know I've heard about how the vita version in Japan is buggy, so how hard is it to fix that??? It looks like a dreamcast/ps2 era game. There's no reason that can't run well on vita. Laziness.

[SSjDomon]

I'd say it doesn't look quite as good as Dreamcast, but better than PS1, so maybe something like Nuon's graphics. The worst part isn't the graphics though, it's the artistic decisions. Look at their feet, they have damn hooves! I hated that in Bravely Default, too.

Also, I skipped it because of no Vita release as well.

[Muzikguy]

I think $30 would've been great as well. I was hoping for a physical copy of the game too. I'm just not a fan of digital only. I still plan on buying it though at some point.

[SSjDomon]

I dislike that digital never gets a steep discount. They save a lot of money by going digital and that needs to be passed to the consumer.

[gangsta_red]

I don't think so, no matter what the game would have had a tough time.

If this was in retail it probably would have done worse, the graphics are average, the name isn't appealing and there is no promotion behind it. Not good for a retail game sitting on shelves for the average consumer.

JRPG's just don't sell as well as they used to and lately the ones so far this gen have been few and most have been extremely mediocre.

Japanese devs seriously need to put some time and effort into their games if they hope to not only increase interest in this genre but also increase sales.

[rainslacker]

I never really saw a lot of marketing for this game. That probably had more to do with it than anything. The price itself was pretty high for a game like this, and JRPG fans do seem to like their physical releases.

[mockzer0]

I was all in at $15, so were 4 of my friends 😕

[SSjDomon]

I think the Vita version would have sold well, too.

[feraldrgn]

Should have released it on the Vita in the west as well as the console.

[SSjDomon]

I'd have got it for Vita.

[Muzikguy]

Why does Square Enix have to put their name on this. It's by Tokyo RPG Factory, not SE. It's as if they jump at the opportunity to claim it theirs to try and save face. "See look we still make RPGs people are asking for!" Pretty sad if you ask me. They also shouldn't be talking it up like its some big budget release. No marketing and small production budget of course it's going to sell this way.

I think this is great to help get Tokyo RPG Factory started. I do hope for more sales, but I believe this is their first game? I'm sure things will work out for them. I think it would help more to distance themselves from SE too tbh

[DemonChicken]

http://www.polygon.com/2015...

[Sephiroushin]

Are you serious?... SE created the studio to actually make jrpg people are asking for... If youre such a fan of jrpg can I ask under what rock you have been living?

Also the studio can't distant themselves from SE because SE is its creator and owner; On the other hand If they dont bring profit to SE then they might just kill the studio

[Muzikguy]

Ok so SE made the studio. I still think they're just going to hurt it more than help it. They had to create a studio just to make games they were making nonstop back in the 90s just so they could continue making games that aren't JRPGS with their "main" company. So this one game will bomb and they'll blame the fans probably.

[Ethereal]

The $30 price tag and no retail edition made me hold off on this one....

[Bleucrunch]

I do not think Square Enix exercised a huge marketing campaign so the sales are not that bad. I first found out about this game on gameinformer. I trust they didn't expect high sales with that kind of marketing for the game.

[Muzikguy]

I would think that same thing as well. Or they can just not market it and just complain about the sales. Then say something like "see, nobody wants these games". Funny when people want to cry victim when it's their own fault

[josephayal]

Never heard of this game before or knew it existed

[MilkMan]

Yeah, it looks pretty crappy.
If I want nostalgia, I can always play the original Chrono. This just looked bland as hell.

[SatanicEyeJesus]

People that enjoy this kind of game, usually prefer a retail version. Dumb movement by SE to focus only on digital.

[gangsta_red]

"...usually prefer a retail version."

Why? Exactly what type of people are these and what would be the difference if it's offered digitally only?

[shinoff2183]

I would of paid $60 for a physical copy. Thats on square, shouldve had the option.

[theshredded]

It's pricey biggest reason, I and many people thought this was a $20 or $30 digital game or something. Only people who'd buy this are die-hard jrpg fans.

[mockzer0]

I bought child of light day 1 because it was priced correctly for the experience... This game, not so much. I'll wait for a sale.

[s45gr32]

The game devs will make its money back, thanks to PC gamers. It has happened before with Alan Wake, etc.

[Kreisen]

I honestly thought it was some Kickstarter game lol. Everything was so low budget and shallow...

[Saranya]

There's must be multiplatform not only on PS4.

[shuvam09]

What for???
To make more losses???
It released on all systems it could make a profit on...

[OtakuDJK1NG-Rory]

wouldn't make a difference.
If it was also Xbox One and PC the those audience wouldn't favor retro style games over modern games especially for the price of $40 or however it cost in Japan for PS Vita.

Console isn't the place for Retro style JRPG or JRPG in general much. Only a several franchises can still do well.

[lobocob]

40 bucks digital only 20 hour jrpg

I'll get it when it's 20

[antikbaka]

i don't think that this lost is the result of only one game. there might have been some other reasons too

[cimerians]

The asking price was too much. Square needs to do a better job at budgeting. A lot of games like this that are actually better, are much cheaper.

[gangsta_red]

IMO it wasn't priced appropriately, 40 bux? Way too much for this type of game that was digital only and looked the way it did.

I actually suggested that more JRPG's from developers should release digital due to not having appealing graphics so I had no problem with this one being digital only. But it also needs to be priced appropriately too.

If this game would have released in retail stores it would have sat in the backroom for ages. It would have more than likely failed even harder.

The JRPG genre just isn't appealing to the mass audience and that is partly due to most of the games not evolving with the times.

Shame too, I really like JRPG's but the last good one I played was Xillia.

[Darkwatchman]

Must not be playing on vita and 3ds then. They have an abundance of great JRPG's still being pumped out, especially the vita.

[gangsta_red]

Nope, I am definitely not. When I'm out, I'm out, no time for gaming on the go. Especially for jrpgs.

And that is another issue with the genre. Japanese devs are sticking to mobile or handheld because there's no need for them to make HD quality graphics or innovate and push the genre forward.

I am sure there are an abundance of them for 3ds and Vita and I can bet that most of those being pumped out are just as mediocre or bad as the little we have been getting for consoles.

[Darkwatchman]

Not true. Half my 3ds collection is JRPG's and a little over half my vita collection is JRPG's. In total, 50+ games.

Out of those 50+ and roughly 30 JRPG's, only 4 of them at most are bad. The rest range from good to amazing and the best vita and 3ds JRPG's absolutely demolish console JRPG's that have released over the past several years.

And so what if you don't have time for gaming on the go? I usually don't either, but when I do it's great and convenient. When I don't, I'm playing it all comfy at home in bed or a nice chair with earbuds in. A very intimate experience.

[gangsta_red]

Well then the question has to be asked, why are those 50+ JRPG's demolishing the more big budget triple A releases on consoles? What are these mobile versions doing differently than the ones found on consoles? Can't be much, I bet it's not much at all.

"And so what if you don't have time for gaming on the go?"

Because I don't have time and don't want to spend my time outside playing video games would rather spend that time enjoying life. At home on my spare time I play consoles, no need to play handhelds or mobile games.

[Darkwatchman]

You just sound like a handheld hater and I am very sorry to hear that. While you're hating on handhelds, I'll continue playing Grand Kingdom on Vita and look forward to next month's release of Shin Megami Tensei 4: Apocalypse on 3DS

Actual answer: mobile is big in Japan. Handhelds are big in Japan. It's a busy territory and so handhelds dominate there. Because of this, most Japanese studios put their efforts into making deep and engaging rpg's for handhelds as opposed to consoles because that's their homeland territory.

Almost every 3ds/vita JRPG is an exclusive with more quality pumped into it than the lazy Japanese console developers lately or they're better versions of existing console games or just identical versions(and rpg's are huge so that portability and ease of use is a huge benefit to the genre) Case in Point: Persona 4 Golden or even Tales of The Abyss or as I already mentioned, Grand Kingdom.

[gangsta_red]

"You just sound like a handheld hater..."

Are you for real? All I said is I don't have time for handhelds, I have no use for them. Why does that make me a hater?

"...Japanese studios put their efforts into making deep and engaging rpg's for handhelds as opposed to consoles because that's their homeland territory."

I agreed up until this point. Are you saying that they don't put the same time and effort into their console counterparts? I seriously doubt this. Like I mentioned earlier, Japanese devs can get away with non HD, short production time and less money developing these games for mobile with little to no innovation or need to push the genre forward.

I haven't played any handheld JRPG's but seeing them in demos or watching some playthroughs it really does look like the same amount of time, effort and innovation goes into them the same as their console counterparts with little to no difference. That seems to be the real problem, console jrpgs seem to be made with the same production value as it would be for a handheld/mobile device.

"The JRPG genre is very much alive and well on handhelds. So many quality titles."

That's great, it needs to be that way for consoles.

[Darkwatchman]

The JRPG genre is very much alive and well on handhelds. So many quality titles.

[Darkwatchman]

And like I said, you can play them at home. Handhelds can be played anywhere. No need to get your panties in a bunch and you keep bringing up innovation. The genre doesn't need innovation. There's very little you can do to already existing genres. All the genre needs is quality, which console JRPG's haven't been getting a lot of, but handheld JRPG's have been. Dungeon Travelers 2 Persona 4 Golden on vita and the SMT series and all its spin-offs on 3DS are prime examples of QUALITY games.

None of them are "innovative". Some are more unique than others, but above all, the most important thing is that the mechanics and elements that exist are refined. Dungeon Travelers 2 for example has one of the deepest leveling and skill systema I've seen in a JRPG in years with a lot of malleability for different playstyles.

It has a lot to keep track of and utilize to its potential. Strategy ams carefully pouring over skills and items and such is paramount. It's a deep game without feeling overly convoluted just for the sake of saying "hey, look at me. I'm complex. Buy me."

A lot of recent console JRPG's have really been missing out on the RPG of JRPG with straight forward rpg elements that don't do the genre justice.

[Protagonist]

How about releasing it for the Vita in the west.. Make some money and so forth...

[trooper_]

Ouchies.

[Auron]

Physically release it and put it on more platforms square!!! It doesn't take rocket science!

[CrimsonWing69]

Well how much marketing did this game get? Any real coverage from media outlets? And you price it around $30. U were just asking for it not to sell.

I bought it, I think it's great. I'm sure there's more out there that would appreciate it as much as I do that really don't know it exists.

[jocelot]

thats for not releasing this for vita in the west...

[SSjDomon]

I was hoping the Vita version would be localized. Too bad, that's one missed sale at least...