No... Square Enix isn't collapsing (opinion & discussion/news)

[SelectiveGamer]

I'm probably going to regret this but that's fine. I didn't really know where else to put this either. It was either here or Off-Topic because it's a bit 'getting frustrations' out too on my part. Whatever. I more than likely will just do this and probably not post in this thread afterward.

 

No... Square Enix isn't collapsing and I fail to understand why there are those out there (and yes there are I've seen them myself) who wish for their death or think they 'deserve it.' Now I'm not going to pretend like I don't understand that... because I do. In many ways you could make the argument, and I even agree to an extent, that they do. Mostly because of their BS and constant double-downing, triple-down, quadruple-downing, quintuple-downing, sextuple-downing, septuple-downing, I could go on forever (yes I googled the words give me break) on Web3, blockchain, NFTs and games involving that BS (Symbiogenesis) and even some of the more scummy use of AI (though I don't think there's evidence of that from Square... yet. However, again, I understand the assumption) and their BS live-service games such as Babylon's Fall (FAIL), Avengers (FAIL), and now even Foamstars (failing reportedly but idk for sure) and their shit single player games such as Forspoken (FAIL), Balan Wonderworld (FAIL) and so on and so forth.

 

If you don't know what I'm talking about... then I'm talking about this:

 

 

I'm not defending them and I'm not sitting here typing this right now knowing I'll likely regret doing this and making this thread pretending this isn't a problem. It is. Clearly. But people wanting the death of this company is sickening, tiring, sad, ridiculous and outright clearly not going to happen and people wanting this is mental-5-year old territory. The Final Fantasy fanbase can be, and really is, at times at least and I'd even go as far as to say maybe even a majority of the time, just as bad as the Pokemon fanbase. In the sense that all they do is whine and complain. IMO. Because I have to add that to everything now clearly.

 

It sucks that franchises like TWEWY (The World Ends With You) are more than likely now dead and buried for good (yes I'm using wrestling terms give me a break). But honestly... I don't need TWEWY3. I'm happy I even got TWEWY2 (Neo: TWEWY) which I legitimately thought was nothing but a pipe dream... until it became reality. So I'm happy I even got that. I can see other franchises from Square potentially in danger as well. Probably Valkyrie (meh but I know there are fans of it so I'm so sorry to those fans of it) and maybe even Star Ocean (which sucks because I just started buying those games)

 

But everyone that thinks stuff like Final Fantasy 9 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 4, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 and so on are canceled need to pump the breaks. Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered? Maybe but idk for sure obviously. Nier 3? Maybe but I hope to god not. The boring-ass RPG-element farming games? Good riddance. Get it out. Yes I just buried farming games.

 

What's more likely to happen... is that spinoffs are dead for good. So by that I mean... no Stranger of Paradise 2. Good. But that also means no World of Final Fantasy 2. God dammit. 😭 *secretly adds it to my pipe dream list*

 

They will likely just focus on mainline stuff. In this case... I mean stuff like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, Final Fantasy XVII (17), Final Fantasy 9 Remake, Nier 3 (hopefully), etc.

 

I want them to stop with the BS Web3, blockchain, NFT shilling. I want them to stop with the live-service garbage. Maybe this will get them to do it. Maybe. But I've lost all hope at this point for that to happen. I really have.

 

But this shit about everything being dead, them being dead, them 'deserving' it, etc.? No. Farthest thing from the truth. at worst they'll just be acquired by sony/playstation

 

But clearly I'm just speculating and getting some of my frustrations out. So obviously everything stated is just me and how I personally feel. Final Fantasy 9 Remake DOES NOT deserve to be a part of the cancellations.

 

Whatever. I feel better now. That's all that really matters.

 

Rest in Peace The World Ends With You. I'll fucking miss you. I really will.

[MidnightDragon]

The problem is they fail to learn from their mistakes and keep doubling down on them. And they need to put more money into advertising. And a bad thing is they'll probably stop doing things that are different or, at least, a lot less. 

[Jeanolt]

I haven't read all of that but I agree lol. There's a general pessimistic view of SE which is false, they are one of the most important developers ever and they're still are today, any release they make gets news and coverage, whether good or bad.

 

No one who played FF7 Remake or the latest Nier, Life is Strange True Colours or Theathrythm would claim they are "collapsing"... and if they are, what's left for the others developers?

 

Capcom would love to have all of those games to remake in case of a creative crisis, and it would take them a milennium.. imagine FF6, 8, 9, 10, Parasite Eve, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts, Dissidia, Saga, etc.

Edited May 1 by Jeanolt

[Taliesin_2943]

12 minutes ago, SelectiveGamer said:

I'm probably going to regret this but that's fine. I didn't really know where else to put this either. It was either here or Off-Topic because it's a bit 'getting frustrations' out too on my part. Whatever. I more than likely will just do this and probably not post in this thread afterward.

 

No... Square Enix isn't collapsing and I fail to understand why there are those out there (and yes there are I've seen them myself) who wish for their death or think they 'deserve it.' Now I'm not going to pretend like I don't understand that... because I do. In many ways you could make the argument, and I even agree to an extent, that they do. Mostly because of their BS and constant double-downing, triple-down, quadruple-downing, quintuple-downing, sextuple-downing, septuple-downing, I could go on forever (yes I googled the words give me break) on Web3, blockchain, NFTs and games involving that BS (Symbiogenesis) and even some of the more scummy use of AI (though I don't think there's evidence of that from Square... yet. However, again, I understand the assumption) and their BS live-service games such as Babylon's Fall (FAIL), Avengers (FAIL), and now even Foamstars (failing reportedly but idk for sure) and their shit single player games such as Forspoken (FAIL), Balan Wonderworld (FAIL) and so on and so forth.

 

If you don't know what I'm talking about... then I'm talking about this:

 

 

I'm not defending them and I'm not sitting here typing this right now knowing I'll likely regret doing this and making this thread pretending this isn't a problem. It is. Clearly. But people wanting the death of this company is sickening, tiring, sad, ridiculous and outright clearly not going to happen and people wanting this is mental-5-year old territory. The Final Fantasy fanbase can be, and really is, at times at least and I'd even go as far as to say maybe even a majority of the time, just as bad as the Pokemon fanbase. In the sense that all they do is whine and complain. IMO. Because I have to add that to everything now clearly.

 

It sucks that franchises like TWEWY (The World Ends With You) are more than likely now dead and buried for good (yes I'm using wrestling terms give me a break). But honestly... I don't need TWEWY3. I'm happy I even got TWEWY2 (Neo: TWEWY) which I legitimately thought was nothing but a pipe dream... until it became reality. So I'm happy I even got that. I can see other franchises from Square potentially in danger as well. Probably Valkyrie (meh but I know there are fans of it so I'm so sorry to those fans of it) and maybe even Star Ocean (which sucks because I just started buying those games)

 

But everyone that thinks stuff like Final Fantasy 9 Remake, Kingdom Hearts 4, Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3 and so on are canceled need to pump the breaks. Final Fantasy Tactics Remastered? Maybe but idk for sure obviously. Nier 3? Maybe but I hope to god not. The boring-ass RPG-element farming games? Good riddance. Get it out. Yes I just buried farming games.

 

What's more likely to happen... is that spinoffs are dead for good. So by that I mean... no Stranger of Paradise 2. Good. But that also means no World of Final Fantasy 2. God dammit. 😭 *secretly adds it to my pipe dream list*

 

They will likely just focus on mainline stuff. In this case... I mean stuff like Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 3, Final Fantasy XVII (17), Final Fantasy 9 Remake, Nier 3 (hopefully), etc.

 

I want them to stop with the BS Web3, blockchain, NFT shilling. I want them to stop with the live-service garbage. Maybe this will get them to do it. Maybe. But I've lost all hope at this point for that to happen. I really have.

 

But this shit about everything being dead, them being dead, them 'deserving' it, etc.? No. Farthest thing from the truth. at worst they'll just be acquired by sony/playstation

 

But clearly I'm just speculating and getting some of my frustrations out. So obviously everything stated is just me and how I personally feel. Final Fantasy 9 Remake DOES NOT deserve to be a part of the cancellations.

 

Whatever. I feel better now. That's all that really matters.

 

Rest in Peace The World Ends With You. I'll fucking miss you. I really will.

Slightly off topic but still involving square. I think the whole rise of the super hard souls like genre is part of what's making gaming slowly deteriorate I get there is a lot of gamers who love a challenge I enjoy a challenge sometimes myself but the majority of gamers really just want escapism something to relax and play with some challenge but not stress and anxiety inducing stuff and with just about every company putting such mechanics in to the extent people rage quite or just give up is what I feel is the straw breaking the camel's back 

 

Like final fantasy 7 rebirth it's almost souls like in difficulty at points so I've heard and people are strait up giving up on a game they have waited years for. 

[DaivRules]

Me every few months, when someone mentions them in passing like this thread: Square Enix is still around? Good maybe I’ll finally get that Final Fantasy Tactics remake. 
 

Then I proceed to forget about them. 
 

 

[xh117]

Hold up! I was with you until you said it was good there's no stranger of paradise 2

[AlonMercer]

Any time I hear SE in the news, it's always "X game failed to meet sales expectations." Like I'm not a SE fan, I haven't played many SE titles, so I'm just an outsider looking in but jeez, how are they still afloat? 

[ThatMuttGuy]

2 minutes ago, AlonMercer said:

Any time I hear SE in the news, it's always "X game failed to meet sales expectations." Like I'm not a SE fan, I haven't played many SE titles, so I'm just an outsider looking in but jeez, how are they still afloat? 

 

FFXIV is a cash cow

[Darghel]

I'm going to be honest: Idon't like Square Enix, I haven't enjoyed most, if any of their games in the last decade, and I generally avoid their games unless they're in the garbage bin of sales.

 

With that said, Square Enix will be fine: they have some of the strongest, most beloved franchises in the entire world - probably second only to pokemon - and even if they fail their games constantly, they'll most likely recoup via other expenses, like gadgets or similar. The brand alone can give them millions with relative ease.

 

The real problem here is their greed: they don't just want money, they want ALL the money. They've been searching for that "FF7" money for decades now, they REALLY want their games to sell in the double million digits, which is why they'll constantly say that their sales failed: doesn't matter if it sold "only" 5 million copies, when they want triple that. This means that they don't try to experiment, or try to make innovative gameplay, or even invent new systems: they want something that sells, and that sells A LOT, and takes time to innovate, to invent new systems takes time and money. It's a shame because squaresoft was king when it came to be innovative: they always had some fun, engaging systems in their early games. Nowadays they just go for what's common.

 

I always think of this when I hear Square Enix: "They used to be the trend setters. Now they're the trend chasers". 

[JPtheNeurotic]

I think one of squares biggest problems is cultivating a fanbase to to actually play their games .

 

and they ARE there the problem is they aren’t all on PlayStation .

 

Sony consoles aren’t the jrpg machines like they used to be : the markets change and so has Sony honestly in the department . And that’s fine but the way they handle their game realizes between platforms is maddening . I don’t think Octopath 1 ever came out in PlayStation but we get 2 ? 
 

and final fantasy being stuck on PlayStation with super late PC ports is not helping at all .

[LorenzoLame]

1 hour ago, Taliesin_2943 said:

I think the whole rise of the super hard souls like genre is part of what's making gaming slowly deteriorate

Most games have easy modes and accessibility settings. What are you even talking about?

[CaptHowdy_91]

I've been playing more SE games in the past two years than any other publisher. All I hear is doom and gloom over them, but this is the happiest I've been with their output since the PS2 era. It's a weird clash to see articles do nothing but complain about it.

[ExHaseo]

I really think this is the move they should have done a decade ago. Square has always been at their peak when they've concentrated on the highest quality individual games possible. That's why they were on top during the PS1 and PS2 eras. Everything they made was exceptional quality and pushed the industry as a whole. It was only once the PS3 gen hit that they started to divide their focus too much and it really showed. So I'm really glad they're going to be focusing on just a select number of big AAA titles. I'd much rather see one game at the quality of FFVII Rebirth once a year, than the hordes of mid to bad games they've been releasing, with one good game every 3-4 years if we're lucky.

 

I'd also like to point out that they're going to be focusing on making fewer games with more resources, not that their other franchises are all going to be abandoned. They're simply going to make fewer games with more resources on each. They could easily be giving a lesser franchise like Star Ocean the budget and attention it deserves, rather than cutting it entirely. For the weird pseudo-indie stuff like Harvestella and spin-off games no one cares about like Chocobo GP, those are probably safe to assume dead. Since they never really made the company much money or were particularly popular at all. But their mid-tier franchises like Star Ocean and Nier could easily be bumped up to one of their main series. These kinds of series are popular enough that if they were given more money, they could really thrive. Or maybe they'll only make FF, DQ, and KH from now on. But I somehow doubt it. I like to think that if they're smart enough to recognize that putting more time and effort into projects is making them more money, they're probably smart enough to know that they shouldn't oversaturate their own market. We'll probably start seeing an alternating release schedule for these big franchises. Probably something like 2-3 games a year, with FF and DQ never coming out the same year. Instead of the 10+ we've been getting. I'm betting that FFXIV and DQX will be getting a lot more content too. Especially since Yoshi P already confirmed that FFXIV will be getting more rewards in Dawntrail than we've ever seen before.

 

And anyone saying they're dying or canceling high profile AAA games doesn't understand what they're doing, or the industry as a whole. It's the opposite. They're canceling mid and low tier games that no one cared about like Valkyrie Elysium, Forspoken, or Harvestella and putting more money into games like FFVIIR, KH4, and FFXIV. Because these big games are where they've been making money. And really, this is a multi-billion dollar company and considered one of the biggest devs in the world. Last I checked, they were valued at over $4.5 billion, which is about 700 billion yen. Them taking a loss of 22 billion yen, isn't really that big of a deal. Based on financial reports from the last fiscal year, that's only about half of what they make in a single quarter. Yeah, it's a loss, but they have plenty of money left. Continuing dev on those games and releasing could have easily cost them more money in the long run. I just feel bad for the people who are getting laid off because of it. The company is just fine though.

 

They're doing the smart thing here and just abandoning the games no one really cares about and weren't selling. Like really, is anyone going to miss games like Harvestella, Chocobo GP, or Forspoken? How about those classic games canceled before their time like the First Soldier, Avengers, or Babylon's Fall? I'm more than happy giving all of these up. Since it means we should be getting more games like FFVII Rebirth, more and better content in FFXIV, and maybe even a KH game more often than once every 7-10 years (already been 5 since KH3 with no release in sight for KH4). I can really only see this as a good thing.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, in case people don't understand. "Content abandonment losses" means that the money was already spent. The product just isn't going to come out, so they wont make the money back. Not that they suddenly lost all that money at once.

Edited May 2 by ExHaseo

[shadaik]

8 hours ago, AlonMercer said:

Any time I hear SE in the news, it's always "X game failed to meet sales expectations." Like I'm not a SE fan, I haven't played many SE titles, so I'm just an outsider looking in but jeez, how are they still afloat? 

Because "not meeting expectations" does not mean it's not profitable. Just not as profitable as they'd like it to be.

Edited May 2 by shadaik

[Paleblood]

In my view, the last good game they released was NieR: Replicant, and before that Automata obviously.

 

It's not that all other games were extremly bad (FF 16, FF7R (pretty good), Tomb Raider...), just a bit unnecesary and disappointing.

And that's the thing, they have gone from one of THE developers, to disappointing with their cash-cow IP's.

 

Also, they have no idea how to announce games in this day and age. They are always WAY too early with their announcements and then seem to rush the later half of the game to reach the deadline. They are great at building anticipation though. But once you built this immense anticipation, it's getting harder and harder to reach these expectations. Which wouldn't be the end of the world, if they actually knew what they were doing. It's like they don't know their own target audience anymore, and so they try to shoehorn every possible system into every game they develop. Which in turn, leaves me with a kinda "meh" feeling after playing these games.

 

I am firmly convinced that it was a massive coincidence that FF7R was as good as it was. The ending certainly left me wondering if it's even worth it to continue this "series".

 

....

 

 

If you cannot tell, I'm badly burnt by FF XV and need a little more convincing from their side as to ever call them a "great developer/publisher" again.

[MMDE]

Similar to how when it says EA or Activision, and now even Ubisoft on the cover, you can expect there to be shit on the inside, back in the PS1 era, anything that said SquareSoft on the cover was expected to be some of the best the console had to offer.

 

To be perfectly honest, SquareSoft lost me when it became SquareEnix. I feel it just went downwards after that... I used to be upset about the state of things, missing the golden era, but nowadays I've just stopped caring. If they release something good, maybe I'll play it. I'm actually glad they are re-releasing old stuff these days, quite a bit of it wasn't available in the west. I hope they continue to push out some of those titles. Don't do too much with them other than updating graphics etc.

 

As for NFTs, "web 3.0" and block chain, I just really don't care. They can push as much DLCs and whatnot they want to too. It's very simple, I just don't buy it. I don't spend anything on it. Not only does it mean I'm not affected, whatsoever, but it's the only way companies learn if I'm fine with it or not. There's enough games out there I'm never going to run out of better choices. Are they losing money doing dumb stuff? I really hope so.

 

As for AI, I see absolutely no issue. I welcome it! It's such a useful tool. Think more of it as a tool to make you more efficient. Can potentially save so much development time, especially save money on the things that makes these games cost as much as they do. Will things be more artificial or fake or something? It really just depends on how the tools are used. I'm sure it will open up so many new possibilities for us gamers (and also those who make the games).

Edited May 12 by MMDE

[residentgamer5]

I play a lot of games made by Square Enix and I honestly believe making a one console-exclusive remake trilogy out of Final Fantasy VII is one of the most stupid decisions ever made in game-developing history. Hey, they're (mostly) great games and all. But in terms of sales, profit, marketing, and development costs... It was not the brightest idea.

 

They could have done several great new games (or remakes) with the time, money, and effort it's taking them to still be working on FFVII. I think greed consumed them by believing they could milk FFVII for so long. And while it's still not the sole cause of what's making them lose so much money... I do believe it is one of the key reasons that are stopping them from generating much more money instead, and it's making their huge flops not affordable for their company.

[SelectiveGamer]

Square Enix's financials came out and they pretty much announced that they are 'rebooting' their business strategy and will 'aggressively pursue' a multi-platform strategy for their upcoming games going forward to put all of their future games on Xbox, Nintendo systems (more likely Switch 2 than OG Switch) and PC moving forward.

 

Is it too little too late? I suppose you could make that argument... but does it really matter? Personally... I'd say... no. Because we've already seen Xbox practically announcing that they are giving up without actually coming right out and announcing as much and none of their current titles could likely run on any current Nintendo hardware (Switch). I'd also go as far as to say that there's no guarantee that any of their future games will run on Xbox consoles or Switch 2. Let's also keep in mind that Switch 2 isn't coming until March 2025 at the soonest. So I don't really see how this really matters... at all... but I guess we'll just have to see what happens at the end of the day. It could just mean their future games will come out on PlayStation and PC the same day... but again I don't know and only time will tell.

 

Just how I personally feel about this though obviously.

[JPtheNeurotic]

Sqaure is just finally learning what a lot of other Japanese companies have been figuring out . 
 

 

[syn1905]

They need to be selective with releases, there was a period this year where they releases 1/2 games a month, all big rpgs and as a consumer i just dont have time to play them. When you launch a final fantasy so close (literally 8 days before) a smaller release like valkyria one of the games is gonna suffer sales wise, in this case valkyria because it wasnt a triple a release and doesnt have the power of the final fantasy name.

[B-wrekless]

It feels like gaming seems to be not growing from the late gen x-early zoomer crowd. Late zoomers and gen alpha don't seem interested in playing video games.

[vanessaking2]

Square Enix must do better than they did. It would be a loss for many players if they got bankrupt.

[Eraezr]

Part of the momentum behind this rhetoric is the slow building resentment against PlayStation (Jim Ryan+no true exclusivity ---> The Helldivers 2 situation ---> Stellar Blade raucous) and how it seemingly enjoys Square Enix exclusivity. Even though when you actually look at the data, Nintendo has gotten more exclusives from S.Enix because of the AA-studio output.

 

Not many people are actually willing to consider the re-shuffles in undoing the mistakes of the previous CEO with his NFT debacle. These losses were inevitable.  Square Enix's messaging on how well titles perform also has to do with accounting shenanigans. They're cooking the books.

Edited 35 minutes ago by Eraezr