Square Enix plans to change development structures & slim down lineups. |UP| Board meeting info. $140 Million Hit in "Content Abandonment losses"

Gamernyc78

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Update 4/30

At the Board of Directors meeting on March 27, 2024, they voted "to revise their approach to the development of HD games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources."

Credit to @Genki_JPN



Q: Has the way that your development function has spread to cover so many bases made controlling your development efforts more difficult?
A: It has less to do with our development function and more to do with the numerous entries in our lineup. I want to structure
our development function so that we are able to ensure higher quality from each title by slimming down our lineup.
Click to shrink...
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Q: Why have you been unable to slim down your lineup until now?
A: As our customers' needs and the types of devices available have diversified, we have tried to produce hits by developing a
wide variety of titles rather than by focusing only on certain ones. I believe that this has resulted in the splintering of our
resource pool. Meanwhile, there have been clear winners and losers among the major titles released recently in the gaming
market, and it has become possible for even indies titles to make their presence felt. The market is increasingly polarized
between blockbuster and indies titles, but I feel that we have developed many titles that fell somewhere in the middle. I want
to make clearer distinctions going forward.
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https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/pdf/24q2outline.pdf
 
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Evilnemesis8

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Meanwhile, there have been clear winners and losers among the major titles released recently in the gaming
market, and it has become possible for even indies titles to make their presence felt. The market is increasingly polarized
between blockbuster and indies titles, but I feel that we have developed many titles that fell somewhere in the middle. I want
to make clearer distinctions going forward.
Click to expand...

It makes sense. These sort of AA titles that Square Enix released(particularly in 2022) did not have the presentation levels or the polish required to appeal to the general audience. Only the core audience would buy that. At the same time, these games were not THAT cheap to make that they could be a good return on investment with the hardcore.

Increasingly in the market you've got to pick one: Are you truly going budget(relative to your own size and portfolio as a company) or are you making a "Premium" game?
 
Zzero

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Yeah, they released a bunch of "small" JRPGs with limited marketing and then had them all compete with eachother. They aren't going to do that again. Too bad though, if even one of them had broken out it would have paid for the others.
 
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According to Bloomberg, Square Enix director and president Takashi Kiryu told analysts this week that the company’s new structure will be announced by spring 2024 and put in place in time for the start of April, and aims to improve the quality of the company’s games.

In its financial results for the nine months ending December 2023, Square Enix's sales were essentially flat, with sales from its digital entertainment business actually down 4.7%. This is a somewhat surprising result given the release of Final Fantasy 16 in June.
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via IGN
 
Nhomnhom

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FFXVI had so many good qualities but the idea of injecting so many MMO elements and limiting the player to a single character really held the game back.

The initial set up, tone of the story and world building was great, if the game was able to keep up with the quality of the demo it would've been one of the strongest contenders for GoTY.
 
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Eternal_Wings

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At the Board of Directors meeting on March 27, 2024, they voted "to revise their approach to the development of HD games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources."

Credit to @Genki_JPN

 
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Evilnemesis8

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140M is a big loss(especially considering the current conversion rate from Yen to USD).

Best guess is at least one triple AAA game and a bunch of mid/low sized budget games have been axed in this restructuring.
One thing for sure is that Kiryu wasn't kidding when he said he was going to do this. This is pretty decisive from him.
 
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quest4441

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They are streamlining the pipeline so no more slop like harvestella, valkyrie elysium type of games which is a good thing
 
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Neversummer

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Eternal_Wings said:
Come on Sony put a ring on Square. They are suffering.
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Easily green light Chrono Trigger remake make it 3D like Mario RPG remake while keeping gameplay the same, Parasite Eve, Xeno Gears, FF Tactics & more classics.

I would love to see a souls like in the Final Fantasy universe backed by Sony that would be rad especially since FF boss battles are already goated.

This is the perfect time for Sony to take in Square Enix take 1-2 years interagate Square Enix pipeline for PS next generation (PS6) especially important if the PS6 is a hybrid handheld & Sony no longer creates a traditional console box. PS needs first party team to produce games for the growing & massive potential Asia market.

Oh & if Sony can finesse & acquire the Dragon Quest ip they would be golden to compete in Japan especially if Sony expands these ip like FF & Dragon Quest into cross media (FF live action on Netflix/HBO & Dragon Quest animation on Netflix would be great expansion for the franchise)
 
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Gamernyc78

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mibu no ookami said:
And people will continue to say Square Enix is a good buy...

@Yurinka
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They are low price roughly around 5 billion & Sony would get some of gaming most legendary ip including Final Fantasy, Neir, Chrono Trigger & if they somehow finesse acquiring the Dragon Quest ip it would be a publisher that gives many positive. Iconic gaming ip that can be further fleshed out in gaming & expanded into films & animation. Sony would double there gaming output which is something PS currently needs or continue to be left behind competitors who have higher output & is currently out selling you in hardware & software (Nintendo) Sony acquiring Square Enix would give Sony more of the gaming pie not allowing Steam & Nintendo direct competitor to further eat market share while giving Sony studios that can produce lower budget games for the Asia market something Sony hasn’t had ever. Also due to Japan yen being week wages are lower then American or European studios. Also if Sony wanted to expand into mobile acquiring ip that are much easier to translate to mobile giving the art style would help example Dragon Quest meets Genshin Impact or Final Fantasy meets Honkai Starrail & if the future of console gaming is more mobile hybrid handheld PS will need studios that cater smaller games that are turn base/tactis that are better games to play on a handheld.

The only negative would be Sony having to shave fat focusing less on new ip & more on existing ip & building those franchises up & tie them to quality while expanding them into film’s & animation. There’s no negative value n acquiring Square Enix & it’s something that should’ve been done a long time ago just like when Sony could’ve bought Capcom when Sony helped them when Capcom almost when under. The only reason Sony wouldn’t acquire Square is if they instead bought enough share to have a say so while not fully acquiring strategically allowing Sony to acquire another publisher like Capcom (just for an example) so they technically can say to any pushback against ftc that they technically don’t own Square & themselves are independent.

Edit: Square Enix owns Geno, Mallow & Boshi (the blue Yoshi like character & other characters from Mario RPG) Sony acquiring Square Enix can position Geno as a PS mascot a wooden character w blue clothing. Position Geno as PS owns Mario & create a new ip “Geno Super Adventure” as PS own 3D side scroller platformer, low budget, low amount of voice acting, pure fun creative gameplay in a fantasy wacky universe

what-voices-would-you-imagine-mallow-and-geno-having-v0-ym4jmafblx2c1.png
 
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