Square Enix: Forspoken Sales Were Lackluster, Many Small and Mid Games Underperformed

[ethomaz]

Shocked

Square Enix says Forspoken sales have been lackluster, and many small and mid-sized titles "did not perform as well as we had expected" | RPG Site

Square Enix financials in their HD Games segment don't look too hot.

www.rpgsite.net

Net sales declined YoY in the HD Games sub-segment, partly because the release of major titles a year earlier had created a challenging YoY hurdle, but also because many of the new small and mid-sized titles we launched this year did not perform as well as we had expected.

Reviews of "FORSPOKEN," which we released on January 24, 2023, have been challenging. However, the game has also received positive feedback on its action features, including its parkour and combat capabilities, so it has yielded results that will lead to improvement of our development capabilities of other games in the future. That said, its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings.

 

[Remember_Spinal]

They need better management there, point blank.

They released like 15 games from september to december all to the same small market of customers. A lot of those games lacking polish or any real marketing outside of the platform exclusive stuff.

They could have spent the following two years releasing those games with a bit more development time and care and instead of a shotgun of 60’s and 70’s could have had a steady cadence of higher 70’s to 80’s. Especially in games like Diofield or Valkyrie elysium which had solid foundations but needed more time in the oven.

 

[Gediminas]

They need better management there, point blank.

They released like 15 games from september to december all to the same small market of customers. A lot of those games lacking polish or any real marketing outside of the platform exclusive stuff.

They could have spent the following two years releasing those games with a bit more development time and care and instead of a shotgun of 60’s and 70’s could have had a steady cadence of higher 70’s to 80’s. Especially in games like Diofield or Valkyrie elysium which had solid foundations but needed more time in the oven.

at this point, it felt like they are japanese ubisoft. we can just hope, the new director will be clever.

 

[Remember_Spinal]

at this point, it felt like they are japanese ubisoft. we can just hope, the new director will be clever.

I’ll give SE credit for actually having a good variety of games releasing at least

 

[Yurinka]

at this point, it felt like they are japanese ubisoft. we can just hope, the new director will be clever.

Yes, like Ubisoft they are one of the most successful publishers in the world.

I’ll give SE credit for actually having a good variety of games releasing at least

A good variety of RPG types you mean. Ubisoft has a way bigger variety of games, ranging from dancing to tactical shooters, racing games, platformers, open world shooters or open world action adventures, strategy games and so on.

 

[Vertigo]

It’s about time they learned their lesson. Shuttering luminous was necessary. They got fired from FF for good reason.

Square has been shit for a long time now. Ff14 team will save them.

 

[Swift_Star]

They need better AA games and have to keep focusing on their strenghts, there are clearly Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.

 

[Zzero]

They need better AA games and have to keep focusing on their strenghts, there are clearly Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.

Is KH really a strength? I feel KH3 alienated a lot of people with its decade long wait for release being marred by bad combat, a disappointing story-end and -and this one is just my opinion- disappointing set of new worlds to visit.

I'd put DQ up there as the second strength or separate out XIV as its own category at this point.

 

[Swift_Star]

Is KH really a strength? I feel KH3 alienated a lot of people with its decade long wait for release being marred by bad combat, a disappointing story-end and -and this one is just my opinion- disappointing set of new worlds to visit.

I'd put DQ up there as the second strength or separate out XIV as its own category at this point.

KH3 is the best selling game in the franchise, so, yes, it is a strength.
I forgot about DQ. It also is a strength.

 

[adamsapple]

 

[ethomaz]

A lot of things is wrong with Square Enix choices to be fair.

- You want to release Sequel on a console that never received the first game.
- You want to not release Sequel on a console that received the first game.

There is no sense in their decisions.
And that is only a single example.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

and some people trying to spin Forgotten charting in NPDs as "it did better than expected"

 

[Remember_Spinal]

and some people trying to spin Forgotten charting in NPDs as "it did better than expected"

No different than “gamepass increases game sales” with nothing on the charts lol

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

No different than “gamepass increases game sales” with nothing on the charts lol

 

[Remember_Spinal]

 

[Gods&Monsters]

Oh I just did a reply about Forspoken in another thread. I'm finishing it later today. I'm going to copy my reply here. It's like my review lol

Spoiler

I'm at the end and it wasn’t that bad. I had some fun with the magic and parkour.

The ending is kind of weird tho, you have to follow the light and watch cutscenes for like 2 hours. I'm not sure if they ran out of budget and that was the cheapest way for them to explain the story.

Also, Frey is a good character but there's way too much swearing. I don't notice stuff like that usually but it's too ridiculous in this case. A British New Yorker swearing ten times every sentence is too much

That's so unfair. You got bait by that Miku bitch. It's probably Faust alt.

 

[Remember_Spinal]

Oh I just did a reply about Forspoken in another thread. I'm finishing it later today. I'm going to copy my reply here. It's like my review lol

Spoiler

I'm at the end and it wasn’t that bad. I had some fun with the magic and parkour.

The ending is kind of weird tho, you have to follow the light and watch cutscenes for like 2 hours. I'm not sure if they ran out of budget and that was the cheapest way for them to explain the story.

Also, Frey is a good character but there's way too much swearing. I don't notice stuff like that usually but it's too ridiculous in this case. A British New Yorker swearing ten times every sentence is too much

That's so unfair. You got bait by that Miku bitch. It's probably Faust alt.

They can’t ban me, i quit.

 

[Entropi]

I bought the game but it was very easy to drop it to play Hogwarts’ Legacy instead. I may come back to it one day but it didn’t blow my socks off in any way.

A friend of mine loved it though. Not sure what was the appeal for him.

 

[Swift_Star]

They can’t ban me, i quit.

You left gaf?

 

[Remember_Spinal]

You left gaf?