2012's Square Enix: downturn or upswing?

[Axem Titanium]

I've been hearing the games press hating on Square Enix a lot recently, as a publisher and developer. While I understand that SE's in-house development has been a little rocky as of late, I still think they're doing interesting and relevant things. For example, KH3D and Theatrhythm ate up the charts; Bravely Default looks gorgeous; and TWEWY for iOS has piqued mass-market interest in the series and hinted at a sequel. However, the games press and a lot of game forums (like NeoGAF, etc.) always look to the negatives: Versus XIII still in absentia; bawwwing that the TWEWY countdown was only an iOS port; hating on Lightning Returns already. As a publisher, SE put out Deus Ex last year (hugely successful) and Sleeping Dogs this year (critically acclaimed). Tomb Raider looks gorgeous as well. So my question is: is Square Enix on a downturn or upswing right now? I, personally, am excited about a lot of the stuff they've done recently or have upcoming. On the other hand, there's this constant doom-and-gloom vibe I get from hearing about SE on forums, financially and as developers.

[Goldenboko]

Financially they are doing quite well from what I understand, but that does not determine a company's reputation!

[Jiro]

I'd say they're at the beginning of an upswing. The natural disasters cost Square Enix quite a lot of money and with the GFC still hanging around causing some lingering issues, they're not likely to hit a boom any time soon. But their strong performance in the mobile market is what is keeping them afloat while their AAA titles are doing okay when they do show up

I don't think we have to worry about SE. They know how to do business and how to survive in this industry. So long as they don't try and make another film and Japan stays safe then we should see them start to turn larger profits.

[Wolf Kanno]

I think it has more to do with SE's relationship with fans for the last 10+ years. We went from watching Squaresoft push out tons of great FF titles accompanied with other great franchises like Mana, Front Mission, and Chrono to suddenly have Square0Enix, which releases an actual numbered years after being in development hell, making sequels nobody asked for and some other fans question the logic of doing.

I mean FFXIII sold really well but received a lot of negative feedback from players, then SE turned around and made a sequel for it which only a part of the fanbase actually cared about and that game sold only half as well, and now they've announced a third game despite saying they were not going to do that. FFXIV was a disaster that made SE's president actually apologize to fans, and we can only wait to see if XIV 2.0 will do well or if the damage from the initial launch may have hurt the games rep, especially since we're now going into an era where MMO models are changing and free to play games are gaining more ground, but that's a discussion for another day.

Versus XIII itself is trapped in development hell, to the point the company is forced to make statements just to confirm it isn't vaporware.

KH is a huge success for the company, but six years without a KH3 and releasing four titles spread across three different platforms has alienated parts of the fanbase and may have set itself up for disappointment when KH3 finally does arrive and 3/4th of the fanbase get annoyed cause they have to play the game with the KH Wiki next to them just so they can understand what's going on.

Cries for a VII remake are ignored despite it being the number one thing fans have been asking for years.

While their in-house has had some modest successes, they just are not pulling out the type of content that becomes household names anymore. I mean their biggest titles in the last years are from the Eidos branch they bought as the OP mentioned. The company is making more bank as a publisher in the West than as a developer. Sure they are making money, but they've really wrecked their franchise's reputations.

[Bolivar]

Definitely on the upswing, partially because of them bottoming out not too long ago, but also due to their relationships with other companies. I'm talking about 1) the Eidos acquisition and 2) their publishing model in Japan.

OP is correct in that they had a critical and commercial darling last year (Deus Ex), another big hit this year (Sleeping Dogs) and two more on the very-near horizon (Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution). These are games that resonate strongly with mainstream gaming consumers and I would only expect this to continue. I've interviewed the Director of Deus Ex, he's a bright up-and-coming creator, and from what he's said, the Japanese are fully behind him 100%.

The second plus I mentioned is that Square Enix publishes the Batman Arkham games and Call of Duty in Japan. These games actually do surprisingly well in Japan, so this is something Square Enix makes a lot of money off of, using almost none of their internal development resources.

And this is all without mentioning the fact that they're Square Enix. Their back catalogue is full of evergreen IP constantly being republished, Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy are always guaranteed money-makers because of the name alone. And could you imagine if they actually managed to make another AAA RPG classic? That would put them back on top, and they have the in-house personnel, as well as relationships with the most acclaimed freelancers, to do it.

[Del Murder]

I think they are in an upswing in general with their other projects but not with their RPGs, which is what put them on the map. It feels like they are a general gaming publisher now rather than one who focuses on the genre that they pretty much pioneered for many years.

[Citizen Bleys]

....this constant doom-and-gloom vibe I get from hearing about SE on forums, financially and as developers.

People love to bitch. It's human nature. When something is good, people talk about it for two weeks and then forget about it, but we're still slamming on Mystic Quest 20 years later (almost to the day, actually)

[Formalhaut]

They are on the cusp of an upwelling of good news. While they haven't had a great few years, because of the unpopularity of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series (So far, both Type-0 and Versus looks great!) Square Enix, in terms of Final Fantasy at least, have gone through it's teenage years.

Hopefully, with the suspicions of TWETY (GREAT Game! ) getting a sequel, Versus apparently making some progress and the 50th anniversary and Theatrhythm being an success Square Enix's future looks somewhat brighter than it was a few years ago.

[Axem Titanium]

Also, speaking of random new IPs from SE, has anyone heard the Bravely Default soundtrack? It is goddamn amazing.

Bravely Default: Flying Fairy Original Soundtrack - YouTube

[sabin101]

From what I have seen about the game Bravely Default I would say square is in a upswing that game looks awesome. I truly hope we get the game over here. I will be pissed if we do not get that game.

[Bolivar]

Yeah, that game actually does look really awesome, reminds me a lot of FFIII DS.

[Roogle]

Wolf Kanno summarizes the climate of the relationship between Square Enix and its fans very well.

Square Enix holds some trump cards in their hand. Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Chrono Trigger, and other titles that have very devoted fan bases will flock back if a remake or some type of project involving a beloved title is announced. The perceived problem is that they take the wrong approach to these types of things, releasing ports or portable titles when fans really want to duplicate the experience that they had with the game in the past in some form.

I mean, as long as Square Enix holds sway over the fans with those titles, they will always have the potential of a great upswing. I think they need to find the right talent to make that happen.

[Axem Titanium]

But do we really want remakes of old games? You can only play the nostalgia card so many times and SE has certainly done that a LOT already. I think games like Bravely Default show that in-house SE still knows their stuff and we should be asking for more new ideas and new games out of them, rather than sequels and remakes. I find the reason FF has survived for so long is because each new main series entry isn't really a sequel, so it avoids getting tired. While I appreciate all the side-games that flesh out the world, new gameplay in each major title is what I come back for.

[Bolivar]

You certainly hit the nail on the head, Axem, but I think most of us here believe Square is more likely to re-release titles we enjoyed than they are to produce new ones. They haven't really released a cutting edge, incredible RPG since Final Fantasy XII and Dragon Quest VIII at the end of the PS2's life IMO. So that's six years of nothing, and, even then, XII is a really polarizing game. So for a lot of people, it's been even longer since they made anything really groundbreaking. I enjoyed Revenant Wings and Bravely Default looks great, but it's not moving the genre forward or making a huge splash at the forefront of development.