Square Enix will be shutting down two of its Dragon Quest mobile games in Japan.
13.05.2024 - 08:53 / ign.com / Square Enix / Will
Square Enix has announced a significant company reboot amid tumbling profits.
Reporting its financial performance for the financial year ending March 31, 2024, sales in the Digital Entertainment segment, which includes video games, rose by 2.6% but profit fell by 15.8%. This despite the sale of Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, Foamstars, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. Specifically on HD games, the subcategory Square Enix uses to encompass all the above games, the company saw a significant operating loss of ¥8.1 billion (approximately $51.9 million).
Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth both launched as PlayStation 5 exclusives, and while Square Enix has announced a sales figure for Final Fantasy 16, it has yet to do so for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, the second game in the company’s trilogy of Final Fantasy 7 remakes. In its financial report, all Square Enix would say is it has suffered from an “incomplete journey to better profitability in HD game development”, and that it had “launched many titles but some failed to live up to profit expectations, especially outsourced titles and some AAA titles.” It seems likely Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, at least, is included in that.
In response to the tumbling profits, Square Enix announced what it calls “Square Enix Reboots, and Awakens”, a three-year plan for rebooting for long-term growth. This involves a rethink across all parts of the business, but the highlight is a “shift to a multiplatform strategy." Square Enix said it will “aggressively pursue a multiplatform strategy that includes Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs.” Note the wording here of “Nintendo platforms”, with Nintendo set to announce its Switch successor console before April 2025.
As part of this multiplatform push, Square Enix said it will "build an environment where more customers can enjoy our titles in regards to major franchises and AAA titles including catalog titles." The suggestion in all this is mainline Final Fantasy games will ditch PlayStation exclusivity going forward, although Square Enix has yet to announce specifics beyond Final Fantasy 16's upcoming launch on PC.
There’s also a shift from quantity to quality, Square Enix said, and a bid to deliver “ensured fun.” Square Enix has been accused of pumping out too many Final Fantasy games in too short a timeframe, so perhaps this means the release of major Final Fantasy games will be spaced out a bit more.
Overall, it’s a tough time for Square Enix, which had already absorbed ¥22.1 billion (approx $140.9 million) in what it called “content abandonment losses” ahead of today’s financial report. Square Enix did not name the canceled or rescoped in-development titles.
Looking ahead, Dawntrail, the expansion for
Square Enix will be shutting down two of its Dragon Quest mobile games in Japan.
has generally been a big success among the community, but its impact on the future of the franchise might be a little more complicated. There's no stopping the trilogy train now, and the third game in the franchise can certainly be expected in a few more years. When it comes to other remake prospects in the series, however, a big change in how Square Enix is releasing the games seems like it may be the only hope of keeping things going.
Square Enix is of course at work on the final instalment of the Final Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy, though past reports have claimed that with Final Fantasy 9 and 10, the company also has additional Final Fantasy remake projects in the works. According to fresh claims from a typically reliable leaker, however, that might not be entirely accurate.
Shares of Square Enix Holdings Co. tumbled 16% in their biggest decline in 13 years after its president said sales of recent big-budget games disappointed and that it would take years for a recent reorganization to bear fruit.
Square Enix seems to have been disappointed by the sales of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. According to Bloomberg, company president Takashi Kiryu revealed to analysts after its earnings call that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth was unable to reach the launch momentum required to hit internal targets.
In a recent earnings call, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has revealed that, similar to Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth (backlink to other story), Final Fantasy 16 has also failed to hit sales targets. According to Bloomberg, Kiryu’s statement indicated that sales of Final Fantasy 16 had slowed down after the sales during the game’s launch period.
Square Enix has announced a brand-new business plan that will see the Japanese publisher shift to a multiplatform strategy.
Three of Square Enix‘s most high profile recent releases sold worse than expected, the company’s president has reportedly said.
Square Enix has admitted Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Final Fantasy 16, and Foamstars failed to meet its expectations.
Square Enix has announced a major shakeup dubbed ‘Square Enix Reboots and Awakens’ that will see them embrace full multi-platform game development, after PlayStation 5 exclusives Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Foamstars all failed to meet internal expectations. Additionally, they are making layoffs affecting US and European staff, including the Square Enix Collective indie label – per VGC.
In light of its recently-revealed new mid-term business plans, Square Enix has now confirmed that it has cancelled games that didn’t align with its new strategy. In its latest earnings report (via VGC), the company has confirmed that a number of unannounced titles were cancelled, and that its profits being 70 percent lower than last year were a result of these cancellations.
After rebooting Final Fantasy 7 as the trilogy of Remake, Rebirth and Really, You Went With That? (TBC), Square Enix are now planning to reboot themselves. Among the publishers’ revamped approach to making money - following a recent drop in profits, per their latest financials - is a more “aggressive” approach to bringing their games to more platforms than specific consoles (in other words, PlayStation) as exclusives, with a particular focus on “win[ning] over PC users”.