The "extraordinary losses" Square Enix warned investors about have been revealed.
The publisher has announced its results for the fiscal year ending March 31, and they posted a higher-than-anticipated net loss of 13.7 billion yen (about $134.9 million). As reasons for the loss, they blamed "an increasingly competitive and oligopolistic" market in North America and Europe. Oh, is that why?
The company has lost even more due to recent restructuring and unfortunately, their biggest titles in the past year failed to meet internal expectations. Despite selling millions of copies each, Sleeping Dogs , Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider just couldn't satisfy the publisher's high hopes. They're currently planning to release Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII later this year, and another Final Fantasy should be announced at E3 in June. It may be a FF for next-gen consoles.
In an attempt to turn things around, Square Enix has vowed to increase the turnover of its titles, increase the number of mobile and tablet games, and produce titles that are specifically designed for the regions they are primarily being sold in. Oh yes, that will fix everything up nicely. Make games faster and keep trying to gear titles to different audiences.
Sounds like a plan.
SE makes great games. They just want to be big like EA. I think the small indie type games will be the only way to get those good old fashioned rpgs.
End of line.
Well, at least they distribute great games. In fact as a distributor I really like SE.
Hmmm, sounds to me that what they're trying to say is that Activision is the only publisher out there making "real money" (a.k.a. Call of Duty money). Anything less than that, is chump money.
As long as Square-Enix tries to satisfy only their shareholders (and their incredibly high expectations), they'll stay where they are. Close to the point where they'll become totally irrelevant to gamers.
Look at Atlus, a niche JRPG maker that is taking all the spotlight these days. And they don't care if their games make less than a million. They still keep making good games for their target audience: gamers.
MAybe FFXIII Versus may finally see the light of day.
See, look. It's posted at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Final-Fantasy-Versus-XIII-Playstation-3/dp/B000ZK9QBY/ref=pd_rhf_pe_s_cp_9_FE5T
Nice. Oldschool 'playstation 3' spine graphic and boring old Trajan font type.
yeah it's been there for years
So basically they're saying EA, Activision and the like, pulled a club during S-E's backswing? That explains everything…
So the plane is in a nosedive headed for a mountain, I know let's set it on fire. That will fix everything.
*sigh* Change is what caused your problem in the first place. Changing more will not fix anything; all it will do is make things worse.
Not really. There's good and bad change. They made a bad one, and if they don't change, they'll stay with that bad decision until they're bankrupt.
Now is the time to make a change, but a better one, obviously.
Right, not all change is bad. But the specific change that was made is what I was referring to.
Yearly releases.
Mobile gaming.
Extreme localization.
Yes, this is exactly what gamers want. … … Not.
No matter how hard you try SE, you're not going to be Activision or EA. Although you're already challenging them on pissing off your customers.
Squaresoft provided an alternative to high-speed Western action games, and succeeded brilliantly because of it. Maybe try that again? Provide something which isn't already flooding the market.
Last edited by ProfPlayStation on 5/13/2013 3:12:30 PM
Wait till they get hit with the initial sales figures of Lightning Returns. That's gonna sting.
In all honesty, by the time I get it, the game won't cost the launch price. You would they would quit while they were ahead. Granted I'm still going to complete the XIII series at some point, Square's biggest hitters aren't so big anymore. You can only squeeze the name so much before a game gets Dragonball/Naruto Status to me. Those fighting series should've ended long ago. Just make a solid title that best translates the anime into a game and leave it like that.
In FFXIII's case, the game was good, but the gameplay style and the story felt like a departure from what made the series nice. Still, they should have tried to build a decent fan base for XIII before the sequels came rolling. If Versus and Agito, hell or even Kingdom Hearts or some other title that showed that Square listens to their markets were released, I doubt Square's losses would have been so extensive…
In all honesty, by the time I get it, the game won't cost the launch price. You would hope that they would quit while they were ahead. Granted I'm still going to complete the XIII series at some point, Square's biggest hitters aren't so big anymore. You can only squeeze the name so much before a game gets Dragonball/Naruto Status to me. Those fighting series should've ended long ago. Just make a solid title that best translates the anime into a game and leave it at that…
In FFXIII's case, the game was good, but the gameplay style and the story felt like a departure from what made the series nice. Still, they should have tried to build a decent fan base for XIII before the sequels came rolling. If Versus and Agito, hell or even Kingdom Hearts or some other title that showed that Square listens to their markets were released, I doubt Square's losses would have been so extensive…
Last edited by Sol on 5/13/2013 8:16:40 PM
Well, if this is the case i bet when ff13-3 sells worse than ff13-2, they will either pull their heads out of the behinds or… End up like THQ.
And here I was hoping they would make realization and be a bit more realistic with gauging sale figures. At the same time hopefully produce a great FF game but mobile and catering to the audiences… Luckily there is still NISA and the Tales of Series. Siliconera posted a charted on there predicted development for the next couple of years and it is ridiculous how big mobile development is compared to console development.
I agree with Square on their assessment of the West. There was a time when epiccould only be associated with a jrpg because it didn't require amazing graphics to be done. Now with great graphics, you destroy a few buildings and have the gamer only have to push forward on the analog stick during this, they scream 'this is epic!'. For my money I'll buy a Tales of Xillia before a Last of Us. I'm fortunate enough to be able to purchase both but for most western gamers (PS3 and 360) the jrpg no longer provides the emotional fix you could only get from a well crafted, well scored jrpg.
Maybe I'm just to damn optimistic, but I don't believe Square is meaning harm here. There are games like Kingdom Hearts 3 that gamers have been clamoring for but Square has been unfocused this gen. Going back to producing the titles that gamers really want, with more frequency will make them more money. Seems smart to me. Some are probably too young to remember but FF 8,9, and 10 all were released in three consecutive years. Great games all three. Never heard one complaint from any rpg lovers.
Okay, so Square starts releasing great (hell, I'll even settle for good) rpgs every 1 to 2 years. What's the harm in that?
I'm pretty sure it was the failure that was Final Fantasy 14 online that lost them all their money.
They basically had to make it twice. They didn't listen to fans and testers for the closed beta, me being one of them, and they insisted on trying to keep it similar yet different from FF11. Problem is people just kept playing FF11.
I love how square blames those games for the loses, when it is their own incompetence that landed them where they are. No FFvs13 news in like half a decade, making a bunch of sequels to FF13 which no one really cared for, and not localizing FF zero even though there was a huge demand for it in the west.
No square is failing because they aren't listening to the fans, the fans that got them where they are in the first place. The only reason square is so big is because most older gamers would buy anything with Squaresoft on it because it was basically a seal of excellence.
However that isn't the case anymore, and in fact the best games that have Square on them are usually not developed by Square only published.
I really hope they announce something special at E3 because right now I couldnt care less about what they do moving forward or if they even survive as a company. I know that sounds harsh but they don't deserve my sympathy when they can't respect the consumer enough to listen to what they want, and give them information about a game they announced in 2006.
sell the brand. break up the company.
Let other game designers who wont be so careless have an opportunity to appease the general audience and produce better titles in a more efficient amount of time.
I want to see a different company that (hopefully) won't be as arrogant as SquareEnix take the helm.
-also with a new company We won't be promised certain titles then have their representative refuse to answer any questions about said games for 2 years.
lame
Last edited by Amnesiac on 5/13/2013 9:55:13 PM
That's what happens when retards run the company.
It sounds like they're planning to ruin the Final Fantasy franchise just before destroying the rest of the company. Might I say they are doing an excellent job.
I hope they implode before they make me dislike their past accomplishments.
As an experiment… sell something turn based et al the other good stuff. What have you got to lose?
as a publisher all they need to do is lower their expectations and reckless spending!
the expectations of sales for sleeping dogs, tomb raider and hitman absolution were beyond absurdity!
they were NEVER ever going to come even close to those numbers!
fair warning $E, DONT F*CK WITH EIDOS!
they ARE THE reason you are still alive, eidos goes down, YOU go down with them!
do whatever the f*ck you want with FF, but leave hitman, tomb raider, thief, anything eidos does well out of your grubby mitts!!!!!!!!