Ben-DutkaPersonally, I think the games sold fine; it was the internal expectations that were completely out of whack.
But Eidos Montreal founder Stephane D'Astous says in fact, Square Enix just doesn't know how to sell their games. Perhaps this is why he left the studio he created; remember that Square Enix now owns Eidos Montreal.
In a new Polygon interview , D'Astous said that Square Enix has some really great games, but they just just don't know how to generate high sales for those titles:
"We are in a situation that we have great games that could have sold more. They need to attack that very, very seriously. Last year was supposed to be a home-run season, but we didn't hit a single home run; maybe a double or a triple, but they weren't home runs."
Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider managed to sell about 3.5 million copies each, and Sleeping Dogs sold 1.75 million. However, all failed to reach the internal targets and then, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada resigned after the company posted "extraordinary losses." D'Astous also attacked Square Enix's lack of structure:
"The lack of leadership, lack of courage, and the lack of communication were so evident, that I wasn't able to conduct my job correctly. I realized that our differences were irreconcilable, and that the best decision was unfortunately to part ways."
Yeah, well, we could've told you that. Just look at the last decade, or pretty much ever since Squaresoft merged with Enix. It didn't start out too badly but this past generation has been a disaster. The worst part is that they do put out some really awesome games; Deus Ex: Human Revolution is another one. But those aren't internally developed and what is internally developed either takes seven million years to complete or ends up disappointing everyone. Talk about a "lack of communication…"
Short version? They're messed up.
Yeah, THAT's the problem. That's a minor part of a giant problem.
TR sold damn good for an ancient property, reboot or no reboot. Sleeping Dogs was effectively a new IP and already had a niche status so those numbers are quite good.
Perhaps the entirety of S-E needs a hiatus. Lock the company down for a while, go off and reevaluate and decide whether or not they can make a true return to what it means to be a developer. I wouldn't WANT to see S-E dissolve, but I also don't WANT to see them spiral so far out of control we get, what, S-E All-Star Olympics?
I bought Deus Ex Human Revolution quite recently… To put it politely it's not for me.
I just cannot stand game which have the first person perspective and when you go to pick up an object it just hovers. Surely we should be past that this gen. It just breaks the immersion instantly for me. Along with a first Person game that does not show legs. These are old gaming traits I really do not expect to see anymore. But even beyond that the gameplay is too fiddly and the story just hasn't caught me – despite the good art direction.
But Deus Ex aside, what does this mean for Eidos next?
Keep the Square, lose the Enix…
they need some serious re organisation or re structuring but there is some thing seriously wrong there and changes need to be made for them to make gud games again and they need some realistism added to the sales projections so they don't incure "such large losses".
happy gaming =)
Almost any other publisher would've praised the work done on Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Sleeping Dogs and Hitman and been happy with the sales. Not the idiots at SE though, lets cite these games as failures rather than discuss the real issue like the jokes Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest have become. This company sucks and I just hope Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal get out from under it before it's too late.
maybe part of the problem, maybe they could of sold better, but how much better?
im shocked TR sold as well as it did, same goes for hitman absolution.
1 there games in VERY old franchises.
2 there games which have not had a big hit in YEARS!
3 there games in series which have been hit and miss since day one, some are amazing, some are, well…….
these are not the ingredients for a record breaker in the sales department!
so the fact that they sold as well as they did, they should be dancing around like pixies not whinging!
$E just needs to understand not everyone is antivision, and not every game is COD.
exactly whats destroyed the whole japanese market, they see how well antivision does, how well mindless pew pew games do, and think hey if they can do it we can do it too.
sorry bubs, dont work like that!
I am probably going to be burned in effigy, but out of all the games the SqareEnix have released, I have really enjoyed them all, and yes that does include the Final Fantasy 13 saga (and yes I am excited for Lightning Returns, so let the hate and down votes begin). Tomb Raider is an amazing game, but they released it during a horrible month (February) for any media releases, and I hardly saw any marketing going on for it. That is how I felt about the majority of their games, that they have no idea how to market them to the masses. In order to generate sells you can no longer expect games to sell by word of mouth or the annoying guy trying to get you to pre-order something at Gamestop anymore.
@Blankline ill agree with you on this square Enix shouldn't expect FF or Cod sales for every game just because the square Enix Logo is on the game doesn't mean its going to sell mass millions
@Zerrek just by the game if you enjoy FF13 then buy it and lets leave it at that
im not going back into this repetitive argument
and idea if a new Dragon Quest game coming out on a actual system and not a handheld? thanks