Financial Woes for Square Enix

[champagne supernova]

they wish they were becoming "Western". At least we'd have some goddamn interactivity if that were the case. The problem is that them japanese don't know how to innovate and stick to the old ways of "bit of gameplay here followed by a smurfload of cutscene".

Not that I've played Yakuza, but that doesn't seem to fit it. And I don't think Valykria Chronicles was like that either. MGS, okay fair enough it did, but they were fairly epic and the basic gameplay was interesting.

And certain Japanese developers are clearly getting it right in the RPG genre. Valkyria Chronicles I already mentioned. Demon Souls is another one. Neither is a traditional old-school JRPG, nor is it a fully-blown Western adventure either.

I think XIII was going down the right track. It made battles quick and exciting. The majority of its characters were more 3-dimensional than in previous FFs outside of the major character/s. What it did wrong is it stripped down too much. People like RPGs to tinker, which was basically not happening in XIII. The battle system probably erred towards to too little control. The world was too stripped down and linear. Why? Probably because it got rushed at the end and was too determined by the results of focus groups.

It would appear that the same thing has happened with XIV. There were a lot of ideas that obviously came through but they couldn't be implemented. So yes, the corporates have clearly interfered too much.

I am very curious to see Versus XIII. Nomura would probably not allow any interference in his work from those above him, and they would have to deal as he is too important and influential in the company. And I'd like to see what the creatives at Square-Enix can produce without too much interference from upstairs.

There also seems to be a lack of polish in Japanese games these days too. Gran Turismo 5 is a case in point. Brilliant gameplay dynamics but horrible to actually set up a race.

[Depression Moon]

I had read about this in a magazine. I was surprised to hear a number that large for a drop. I also felt XIV was going to be received bad, but I didn't think it was going to have done that badly for them.

There's another topic going on about how Square refuses to put up most of their games on PSN for English audiences. English translated games. That they just have to turn into a digital copy that people can pay for and download. Not like making a whole new game. Its almost free money. Square makes some dumb decisions. So its really their own fault half the time and I find it hard to feel sorry for them. Maybe the execs should get a clue at some point

I very much agree with this. Where's my Threads of Fate?

[Hot Shot]

I think it's just SE keeps delaying their games. If they made them faster they wouldn't need to pay several months salary for a team working on one of their games, which, I assume is a lot of money.

As for PSN, we don't even have FFT on there in Europe/UK as well as a load of other games.

[Bolivar]

Unfortunately you reap what you sow. I was defending them back then but this really all started with X-2, making millions of Kingdom Hearts spinoffs on handheld, and letting a lot of great talent go, or be freelance. I also think the deal they announced at E3 2008 caused them to release a lot of games on a console where their base simply is non-existent, and gamers lost interest in them in general. People moved on to other franchises, and truly innovative JRPG's came out from other studios. I could go on and on about things they should do (giving Final Fantasy to a Western developer ISN'T one of them) but I just don't see a good outlook for SE.

I really, really hope Versus XIII comes out before the company folds. Because that could be a real possibility. Gran Turismo's out, Duke Nukem's coming out, it would be a shame to see Versus XIII not make it.

[Del Murder]

I don't think SE is going to fold any time soon.

[Hollycat]

Saw a discussion on ffxiah.com and thought I'd bring it up here. Whether you like the direction Square Enix has taken in the past couple years or not, it's become increasingly clear that it's not financially viable. Square Enix announced on their corporate website today a 91.7% decrease in expected earnings for fiscal year. This appears to be due to disappointing sales for multiple titles (most significantly Final Fantasy XIV), delays for the PS3 version of FFXIV and also Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The net worth of Square Enix has been in decline the past two years, and has taken a drastic fall in the past six months since Final Fantasy XIV's release:

The brief increase before a major release followed by a sharp decline after a disappointing showing has become commonplace for Square Enix releases, and now it's reaching a low not seen since the drastic failure of The Spirits Within. For those interested, below is the stock value for a little over the past two years:


Before today's news, we learned that a majority of the development team for Final Fantasy XIV had been sacked. While I do think that a good deal of FFXIV's failure was due to the development team's inability to learn from the mistakes of FFXIV and that Tanaka did certainly share a deal of the blame, I think equally culpable are the Square Enix executives who likely pushed a release ahead of a reasonable time schedule.

Given the recent thread discussing the possibility that Square Enix should cooperate with a western developer to make the a Final Fantasy title, it's clear that many people feel like something needs to change, and the stock plummet which occurred as a result of today may be a catalyst to that change. Money talks. When Final Fantasy XIII was released, Wada apologized to fans who were disappointed with the title while still remarking on the game's fiscal success. Without that fiscal success to fall back on, what can we expect to happen in Square Enix's corporate structure?

How long until Wada has to resign in shame for running the company into the ground?

.... I'm pretty sure I just lost a lot of money if thats their real stock values

[kotora]

You didn't lose anything unless you were planning to sell stock

[Bolivar]

I don't think SE is going to fold any time soon.

Oh, you watch.

[G13]

.... I'm pretty sure I just lost a lot of money if thats their real stock values

If you're talking about all those games you've collected then I think you'd be sitting on a gold mine, man. Provided that SE actually went under.

[Hollycat]

true, I didn't think about that, mostly I was being sarcastic

[kotora]

I think you mean you were trying to be ironic.

[Hollycat]

No, irony is completely different

[kotora]

Yeah because you failed at it. Sarcasm doesn't even apply in this situation.

[Hollycat]

you need to by a dicktionary
(worst pun ever intended)

[Jiro]

A bankruptcy scare might just be what they need. I mean it worked for them once before, right?