Can Square Enix Survive?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 พ.ย. 2024
- In this episode we consider whether Square Enix can survive its recent dips in expected sales, restructure initiatives and existential crisis that CEO Takashi Kiryu has inherited from his predecessors and decades of attempts to navigation both domestic and global markets with its range of IPs. We compare the post-merger history of Squaresoft joining Enix and compare this to two other giants in Japanese games publishing Bandai Namco and Capcom, and consider how these competitors have navigated their own dips, expansions and consistencies over recent years compared to the approach Square Enix has taken.
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Here we consider Bandai Namco, Capcom and Square Enix and look at their approach to game development and their respective IPs. How Square have handled their flagships such as Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest vs Tekken and Street Fighter and other legacy games attributed to Namco and Capcom, and see where the issues could potentially lie, and where Square can turn it around with their Back Catalogue, a renewed focus on quality over quantity and a return to what they traditionally do well.
#finalfantasy #dragonquest #squareenix
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SquareEnix just has such a weird decision history. I loved SquareSoft. When it was SquareSoft, I knew when I saw a game with the SquareSoft logo on it, I knew I was getting a solid game.
SquareEnix though is just way too hit or miss. They make good games, but I can't tell if I'm part of the market that the game was made for.
It didn't use to be like that, their name doesn't have the consistency behind it that SquareSoft did.
Gaming changed, it’s much harder to make a game. That being said, they also made a lot of mistakes.
And what about the Enix side from the company? Technically Enix was just a publisher that worked with various developers like Armor Project, Quintet, Spike Chunsoft, etc., but they published tons of great games like Dragon Quest, Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma, among others
It seemed like every squaresoft game was great back then
solid point. every time i boot up a ps1 final fantasy game, that old squaresoft logo screen still gets me hyped to this day. the same excitement i got when i was a kid.
@@jairekambui7738 it's because they became more Profit & Business oriented,
also, they felt that their game is "Cringe" therefore they removed everything that
makes FF special, and adopt a more Western RPG style with real world architechture and place,
which makes everything bland,
their CEO literally dislike FF and favor Western game more,
even though they're the Pioneer of RPG and Fantasy RPG back in the 90s
back in the day, Squaresoft experiment with a lot of Artstyle,
at their peak they produce a lot of Iconic game with a Style that no other game had,
they had the balls to create something new
it's because SquareEnix is no longer creating a Sincere FF game that was actually the Reflection of who they are,
that FF kept getting low popularity
Few things Square needs to understand.
1) JRPG is a niche genre. You can't get CoD/GTA sales numbers out of any jrpg game. This is a basic fact. Those modern JRPGs everyone talks about as big successes sell like 2-5 million units. And that brings us to the next point.
2) Square shouldn't be spending $200 million on a Final Fantasy game. Their overinflated budgets are the reason a FF game can never make a profit. Like I said in the previous point, jrpgs can't pull in CoD/GTA sales numbers. The kind of sales numbers that justify massive budgets. If Square had reasonable sales expectation, budgeted accordingly, they could make money.
3) They need to control their project leads. Stop letting studio veterans waste time and money on feature creep and exploring new avenues instead of making games. Before going into full production, make them develop a full roadmap and story bible and make them stick to it.
4) Stop blowing money on games no one wants. Everyone with half a brain knew Forespoken would be a flop, yet Square carried forward with blowing money on it like a rapper whose first album went platinum.
5) Live service is not a gold mine. It is a fool's gold mine. Every publisher has blown countless millions chasing Fortnite and the live service graveyard is massive by now.
Square's problems, like most problems in massive corporations, all go back to a lack of competent leadership.
You pretty much summed it up.
Yeah I think that’s the Key, FF budgets need to scale back and be multi platform in order to succeed. FF7 rebirth had too much money pumped in, was console exclusive, and was a sequel on a console with a smaller install base. It feels like jrpgs have somehow become more niche in the modern era as more gaming options and entertainment alternatives became available, and square needs to understand that FF and jrpgs in general, no matter how good, will never be able to pull in sales that can justify hundreds of millions of investment. Especially not in the modern era. The problem is the investors and shareholders want to invest a lot and see square constantly growing. They need to use all the money the investors give them for game development. So unfortunately they need to make big games and try to sell them if they want to keep their business partners.
The problem is when payroll gets inflamed, game budgets will follow. Square Soft was smarter they split into divisions and built out instead of up.
This is it right here. The saddest part is that so many of their fans have been screaming into the void about this stuff for years (in some cases decades) and they just charge headfirst into obviously bad decisions. I wish I believed they could change but I really dont think they will
You can't make 10 year bets on a game, the market will move away before you finish and younguns won't know who the heck you are.
I worked at Bandai in Japan as a programmer and know a few people who worked at Square. Square will give you a contract as long as possible and pay very little. Bandai gave me above market salary for the games industry in Tokyo. Another key point is Bandai and Capcom require you to speak Japanese but Square will hire you without Japanese. That’s why Square is filled with foreigners and Bandai and Capcom and mostly Japanese people still.
Interesting insight, cheers. I wonder whether that employment culture at Square will change now they're retreating from their US/EU focused operations.
@@AlleywayJack I doubt it, they have a lot of foreign employees and have a mix of Japanese and English at the office. Lots of people want to work in games in Japan, less people want to work in a Japanese environment. Square can keep bringing them over.
There are also some interviews from some of the studios Square sold recently where they said they never really cared about the western games and tried to run things like a Japanese company. I think the biggest benefit of the western studios they bought was the knowledge that came with it because the Japanese game industry is playing catch up with the west. Square had devs from the west who could keep bringing knowledge into their studio.
In the book 人工知能の作り方 ――「おもしろい」ゲームAIはいかにして動くのか, Miyake Yuichiro (ai director for Square) talks about how the west shared knowledge and grew together but Japanese companies wanted to maintain a market advantage and kept everything secret. The west leap froged them and they feel behind with everyone learning the same things in different ways.
Anyways sorry for the long comment, if you have any other questions feel free to ask.
Wouldn't Japanese companies giving long contracts be normal? After all, their work culture is known to employ life-time employees. That payment & qualifications needed between Squeenix v. Capcom & Bamco are definitely very different though.
@@TheRibbonRed You can only give a contract for 5 years in Japan before you have to offer full time employment. Full time and contract are different in Japan and also come with different benefits. For example, until a few years ago contract employees could not take child care leave after their child was born as easily as full time employees. The life-time employees you are talking about are full time employees (seishain). It is very difficult to fire someone in Japan and changing jobs is still not the norm here so many people work at the same place their entire career.
Qualifications between them are not that different. Most companies in Japan prefer to hire right out of college and train someone for the job with the expectation they will work there a long time. They all recruit from the same top level Japanese universities.
@@frankie5205 the qualifications I was talking about was the one you clarified; where employees must be able to speak Japanese vs. Square Enix that doesn't require that. That's quite different from a typical Japanese company, but expected for say English teachers & international company branches in Japan.
That said, would any level of Noryouku Shiken certificates be required or good to have, to apply in companies like Bamco?
Bandai Namco has a lock on the anime license video game market. Those games can be of questionable quality, but they have a guaranteed playerbase they can pull from a massive fanbase of those anime.
Bandai is also Japan's biggest toy company (probably how their gaming division gets so many licenses) so they can always fall back on perennial merchandise powerhouses like Dragon Ball and Gundam. The amount of toys, figures and model kits Bandai sells absolutely dwarfs Square. I know this first hand as a builder of Gundam model kits (which I have spent way too much money on ever since I got into the hobby)
When it comes to their treatment of Gundam, Bandai exploits that IP to the moon and back with alternate timelines and additions to the original timeline. But they are very careful of how they treat the OG Gundam (0079) series and characters. You won't ever see a FF7R-style remake of Gundam 0079. There may be an anime remake of 0079 in the future, but it will most likely follow the manga adaptation from about a decade ago which stayed extremely faithful to the original series.
They also likely made a significant revenue from co developing games for Nintendo. Both Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros Ultimate were at least in part developed by Bandai Namco.
You're talking abt two different industries: gaming and the tv industry. Bamco itself is undergoing what squenix is currently experiencing. Few months ago, they also canceled a bunch of projects and focus on fewer AAA games (ala capcom).
@@Centrioless Bandai announced record profits last year while Square announced record losses. Bandai's other divisions are relevant in the discussion because it is the kind of multimedia empire Square aspires to be.
Cancelling live service games is happening all throughout the video game industry, even with extremely profitable publishers. They finally realized live service isn't the gold mind they tricked themselves into believing it was.
@@fattiger6957 but they're not canceling liveservice games. They're literally focusing on AAA games now, the same thing happens in squenix
Bandai outright owns Gundam (and Code Geass, Tiger & Bunny, Love Live, Cowboy Bebop) animation studio, Studio Sunrise
The nostalgia for FF7 is the biggest asset keeping them afloat
FF14 is a big part in how Square Enix still going as well, as it is very popular and you have to pay a monthly subscription to have access to it
Nah that would be FF14 imo
Rebirth is the biggest flop of the year 14 is keeping them in the black which means the director of 14 is way better then thay artist HACK
@@felixcolon599 Biggest flop of the year is quite an overstatement don't you think? Remember that this is the same year we got Suicide Squad, as well as Skull and Bones. Compared to those games FF7 Rebirth is very critically acclaimed, the biggest problem is that it is exclusive to a console a lot of people don't have and is part 2 of a series so a lot of people who haven't played part 1 won't be interested
@@spyrospy9941 I guarantee you even tho those games flopped the budget for rebirth os like what 200 mil while those other games are way under thay budget
I think everyone who was watching could see this coming. Don't get me wrong, ff7 rebirth was a great game and I think it vets more hate than it deserves, but Square's whole market strategy these last few years has caused a lot of this. The game should have been cross-platform and they shouldn't have invested so much money into NFTs, it just blew up in their face and no matter how much sales they made, it wouldn't help the hole they already dug for themselves
Square is currently killing it with FF14 and the upcoming release of Dawn Trail. Square has given even more funding to Yoshi P than he previously had because the MMO is their best product right now.
that won't last forever but will likely be viable for a few more years before FF25 releases and starts the MMO all over from scratch....give or take a few numbers...I mean FF16? it's not out of line to predict.....9 games? they could get there in 6 years easily....if they got all their studios on it lolz
but realistically 10 years minimum before FF25 online lolz
I avoided the MMO like the plague forever, but got completely sucked in during the free trial. First FF that really hooked me after the classics
Tbh that seems like a trend across the board. FFXIV gets funding, ESO basically had merger of ZOS with another studio to bring more manpower to focus on ESO, and even WoW had some shaking up and making more quality of life updates to bring it on par. Seems most companies with successfull MMO's brace for their main cashcows to improve their future.
@@sh1yo7 This is what i love about 14, it really feels like a modern classic FF in a lot of way, and the journey is one that'll stay with you for the end of times
FFXIV became one of those games I just accepted the subscription as part of my bills. Tbh, if I had registered properly, progress-wise I’d be on the free trial still, and I’ve been playing for 2+ years now. There’s that much to do there, no micro transactions needed.
What was once the most popular square game FF7 just as a brand isn’t as popular as it was in the 90s and 00s. That’s just a fact and square Is only now realizing this. The episodic releases don’t help cause most people don’t finish games and episodic doesn’t sell well
I feel like they should lean more into the Ivallice alliance games, or into the ff6/16/bravely deafult aesthetic for their next mainline ff game.
The ramake took way too long ,most hardcore fans dont care that much ,nore they like the battle system and the changes.
If they released the game for the PS3 just like their first tech demo, the game would sell millions of copies ,even if they made it in 2 parts.
But now the hype is done and most fans of the original have better things to do in their mid 30s ,than to play an episodic game streched over 7-8 years.
@@doriansz3130 I'm a hardcore fan and I love VII Remake, its battle system, and the changes. It's the best FF game since the mid 2000s.
@@NoctLightCloud
I said most hardcore fans .
I like the battle system in FF7 Remake.
You are saying since early 2000s, like we got any good Final Fantasy game after X and XII which came 2006
FF XIII trilogy was a mess, and XV was left unfinished in terms of gameplay and story.
Final Fantasy 7 remake is good compared to FF XIII and XV ,but compare that to Persona 3 remake.
A perfect remake of a game with only one game ,that can take you over 70+ hours to finish ,and the FES/ Epiloge content that takes about 20-30 hours is also being added.
And in FF7 Remake Nomura put his Kingdom Hearts bs in it full of fanservice and confusions that dont make any sense ,instead of just adding more depth to other characters ,no they added ton of unskipable minigames and the Phantoms.
@@doriansz3130 Does anyone care about hardcore fans? They are the 1% of the 1%.
They still won't allow Terra Branford out of Retirement. FFVI needs a full remake.
Nomura don't Like 6 bc amano was still running the show
I think some of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth developers mentioned they'd love to remake VI, but the thing is that they believe that it'd have to be even bigger than VII Remake. I personally don't agree with that, I'd rather have an HD-2D remake in the vein of Live-A-Live or the Dragon Quest Erdrick Trilogy, while it's a shame that not all Final Fantasy games can have the same remake treatment as VII, I don't think making these huge games like VII Remake and Rebirth is sustainable
@pablocasas5906 how would 6 be bigger no cluster f*vk complications and unless nojima wrote it
Imagine a world where they invested in xenogears
Squaresoft were absolute powerhouses in the late 90s and early 2000s and since the merger its been a slow steady decline and I think it will get worse now that flash is a harder sell because the substance is not there anymore with FF.
I went back to the OG FFVII after rebirth and was shocked at how much better it was in writing (especially characterisation and plotting), pacing, use of sound and overall design. It is no wonder it is so beloved by many. If it wasnt for games like Octopath traveller 2 and Dragon Quest XI I wouldnt bother with SE at all.
They really need to put people with talent in charge again and respect the craft and their customers.
Whatever they do now that they have botched their emergency button in FFVII remake its likely going to be a slow climb up from the hole they have been digging themselves in the last 20 years.
All I care about is the fact that ffvii remake part 3 is being worked on and will be completed. Beyond that, I don't care if the company goes bankrupt. I got my (amazing) ffvii remake with more production value than I ever could have imagined. As a consumer...I have been blessed. It was a fun ride. I knew it had to end sometime.
Their only way out is to rebrand from “Square” to “Circle.” This will guarantee success for decades to come.
The seeds of squares destruction were sown long ago when yoichi wada took over in the early 2000s and pretty much pushed Sakaguchi out. They went directly against Sakaguchi's philosophy and started recycling IPs and they no longer had a great visionary that could find and nurture creative talent.
I mean I guess your right that they wanted X then X-II and FF13 with sequels. Yeah I can see that.
I think that Square needs to learn with other companies. As many other people have said in this comment section, JRPG is a niche genre that doesn’t really sell more than 5M copies, with some exceptions here and there.
Let’s have a look at other successful JRPGs:
We have Persona, with a more visual novel experience, which does not have the best graphics, but has an amazing and unique art direction and a story that shows graphics and cutting edge technology are not everything.
Now, for a series that has gained a lot of prestige in the recent years and kinda feels like what an old FF game would be if it released today (after all Xenogears was supposed to be FF7 back in the day), Xenoblade Chronicles, which has massive sprawling worlds and great narratives. The worlds on this series are huge, with hundreds of hours of content and it didn’t cost a fraction of what FF7 Remake and Rebirth did. Of course, these games are stuck on the Switch and Wii U, so the graphics are much simpler, but it shows that a game can sell really well (for JRPGs anyway) and be critically acclaimed (Xenoblade 3 was nominated for game of the year at The Game Awards) without focusing too much on visuals.
Even the Square Enix owned Nier franchise does not have the best graphics in the market, but has such a good story, gameplay and stylized art direction that you don’t really think much of it.
We all know that, since the original release of FF7, the franchise has been associated with cutting edge graphics that pushes the boundaries of consoles, but we have so many games that do that that it doesn’t really feel like much of an incentive nowadays… I mean, the games are absolutely gorgeous and I’m currently playing FF7 Remake and really liking it, but I can’t really think that in the long run it will do any favors for Square Enix. After all, graphics evolve more and more with each passing year and, honestly, a lot of things from FF7R already look dated, like a whole lot of textures and specially the strange png skyboxes that kinda ruin the immersion and don’t really line up with where you are supposed to be (Sector 5, 6 and Wall Market all share the same skybox??).
When isSquare Enix porting Just Cause 2 to switch
I hope Capcom make another Devil May Cry, I enjoy them games.
Square's business decisions often feel like they're years way too late on trends. The NFT thing for them is an example in 2022. Making that FF7 Battle Royale in 2021, which barely lasted a year.
Another trend I have been noticing Square Enix does is that they barely give non FF franchises a chance or hardly any marketing. Neo: TWEWY had a pretty barebones advertising campaign and didn't sell that well. Other games such as Triangle Strategy, Octopath, and Nier really got sales from strong word of mouth back then. Something just seems off with how Square advertises upcoming releases for their IPs.
Here’s my take on that if someone cares to read it.
I don’t even think the triple A games are the problem here. FF7 Rebirth and FF16 are both games that actually have good reviews and if you look at the state of triple A games, they’re one of the best ones. Both games works well and are bug free.
High-budget games need strong sales, so launching on multiple platforms helps. Square Enix’s PlayStation exclusivity deals aren't beneficial. They expect Final Fantasy to match God of War in terms of sale, but God of War is more popular now and will sell a lot more. Sony prioritizes its IPs over Square Enix exclusives and that’s fair. Sony will not market your game all the time and at one point, it will be the publisher job to do it.
Final Fantasy 16 had great momentum at first but fell short afterward. It would have sold better if it had been available on multiple platforms at launch and this game definitely should have. It still can since the game will come to PC this year and probably Xbox later on.
You could imagine that Final Fantasy 7 doesn’t need to be ultimately multiplatform like FF16 should have because it’s FF7 and the name FF7 sells but no, it didn't met its initial momentum and is now falling short. It would have sold better if it had been available on multiple platforms at launch but since this game have an agressive exclusivity deal with Sony it’s hard to keep these sales up… plus being the second part of a remake trilogy is also a factor, as the story isn't finished.
FFXV had a mixed reception but it sold very well for what it was and you all know the shit show that was FFXV dev cycle and is still selling to this day. Available everywhere, if someone wants to play it they can.
I just don’t understand how BNE and Capcom have left the exclusivity deals looong ago (Capcom did make Street Fighter V exclusive to the PS4 and they said "never again") but SQEX still have them in 2024!
Square Enix needs better management, and that's what Takashi Kiryu is doing by restructuring, updating strategies, and ending exclusivity deals.
… and we don’t talk about Forspoken. When i said that FF16 and FF7 weren’t the problem, well this game is definitely everything wrong with triple A games.
Namco and Capcom have a far larger fanbase in the west. Its not a good comparison. Square-Enix's main problem is their base is split between the PS and Nintendo. Every game needs to come out on whatever Nintendo is calling the Switch 2 as the base version, with the PS5 version getting the resolution and frame boots.
FF7 Rebirth wouldn't be that much better off with Xbox and PC versions. People are vastly overestimating the number of players that play SE games on these platforms. Nintendo is the answer. Obviously the current Switch isn't running FF7 Rebirth. But for future games all SE projects MUST include a Switch 2 version.
FF14 is my favorite game of all time. Square better dont screw my game
While i personally like the 7 remake, i think it should have been a "real" remake. They should have left new stories and parallel timelines stuff to extra content, side quests and content thar the player could engage outside of the main story.
Best Series, Best Company, Best Culture, Best Creatives, Best Developers! Best Music!!!
Cry moar haters!!!
Point me to your favourite RPG Series from the 80s that has MORE than 16 Main Installments, and the ABSOLUTE BONKERS varierty of Side Games that FINAL FANTASY has (Turn-Based RPGs, Real-Time Turn-Based RPGs, ARPGs, Action Games, Rythm Games, SRPG, Racing Games, MMORPGs, Card Games, Board Games, Dungeon Crawlers, Automatic Runners, Farm Games, Animal Collecting Games, Fighting RPGs, Battle Roysles, Tower Defence Games, Picross style Gameas Visual Novels, Anime, Manga, Movies, Books, Shooters, Hunting Games, Diving Games, Real Time Strategy Games, etc.
They just need a Horror FINAL FANTASY, and the Series will have EVERYTHING!!!
THE best Series and its GOLDEN AGE currently.
I believe if they accept that its a huge ff8 fan base that would buy a remake more loyally than any other group of Final Fantasy fans it would at least postpone the drought in interest. For all the haters of 8 its just as many lovers and we will appreciate it way more than most as long as they don't screw up Squall's appearance, voice and give him the original cutscenes look not the Dissidia and Remastered look.
Stop this madness
People just love to complain. I enjoyed FF16 and Rebirth. Plus, they have been putting out good games recently. OT2, TS, Star Ocean Second Story, and DQ HD-2D is coming along with Visions of Mana. So relax and enjoy
Man too bad they would like not rerelease that snes game Secret of Evermore unless they did a Japanese translation. At the time in 1999 when I got my used snes I was able to get a copy of that game for 15 CAD when a video rental store was selling out all their SNES games. I wish I had enough to pick up secret of mana at the same time but was too broke at the time for some reason. I was kinda butthurt but in retrospec happy now. On CH. 12 of rebirth and looking forward to the temple thing in FF7 rebirth. I hope it''s as good a puzzle as that Egyption style temple in Secret of Evermore if not better.
Can Square survive?
Yes
first Square has more than Final Fantasy
even If you ignored other series FFXIV still here and is the reason why Square got tons of money to burn on Live Service in the first place
Fell in love with FF and Square Soft now Enix because of the well written stories and gripping characters. This doesn’t seem to be something SE is committed to.
10:09 Capcom also doesn't forget to make their older one off games avaliable and remembered. Like my fave Okami and recently Ghost Trick. It creates a feeling of respect for their games :)
honestly i'm just shocked final fantasy hasn't made a kingdom hearts budget game yet outside of like Crisis Core. like they tried to have the kingdom hearts guys do versus 13 with kh combat, but then suddenly the game became multiple versions and there was engine switches and bruhhhhhh...... don't fix something that proved itself
FFXIV will keep them afloat just like Monster Hunter kept Capcom afloat.
Great unbiased and diverse dialogue about the situation Square Enix is facing.
I want square to fail. They fucked over FF by making it an action rpg. Please make FF turn based again.
Excellent analysis. I do hope Square finds a strong ground soon, I really don't want to see them go.
The biggest thing that has helped Capcom financially IMO is the investment and use of their own RE Engine, that now powers all of their AAA games. Square sadly could not properly maintain the Crystal Tools nor the Luminous Engine.
Though historically this just happens, Square has some incredible bad spending habits since the days of The Spirits Within. I just hope this is not the end.
The ramake took way too long ,most hardcore fans dont care that much ,nore they like the battle system and the changes.
If they released the game for the PS3 just like their first tech demo, the game would sell millions of copies ,even if they made it in 2 parts.
But now the hype is done and most fans of the original have better things to do in their mid 30s ,than to play an episodic game streched over 7-8 years.
When FFVII came out in'97, it was my favorite game ! I bought a ps3 because I couldn't wait for the remake of that game. Of course, it didn't come out. But fast forward to 2024, I got to be honest but I'm kind of tired of the FFVII universe. I'm ok with any final fantasy remake as long as it's not FFVII. Give me FFIX or FF VI. I even take FFVIII. But anyway, for me FFXVI was good but the game didn't make a lot of money and FF VII rebirth made even less money. At least it wasn't a total "Flop." Seems like people care less about Final Fantasy even if the games are good. Maybe Square Enix needs to reinvent itself.
Why did FF15 sell so much? Like the hype trailers?
I'm sure they'll be fine. Multiplat day and date is gonna be a huge boost for them, especially as they start putting their big releases on PC. Steam, especially. I imagine Kingdom Hearts will do very well on there.
Well, today Square-Enix reveladed their initial fiscal year financial results and 68.4% of their profit came from MMO games, 31.1% from mobile games and 0.5% from non-MMO and console games. This results don't mention anything how well Final Fantasy VII Rebirth sold, but I think it shows Square-Enix doesn't have that much of a presence in the PC stage, outside of Final Fantasy XIV
@@pablocasas5906 Kingdom Hearts jumped nearly 400 places when it hit Steam. It's the number 3 best selling game right now, from 399.
@@pablocasas5906 Kingdom Hearts went from 399th best selling last month to 3rd best selling this month thanks to Steam, only being under Elden Ring and COD. I'm sure FF16 and Rebirth would do fine on PC. Square Enix has more of a presence on PC than you'd think.
@@pablocasas5906 Kingdom Hearts on Steam is actually doing extremely well for them.
I hope Square Enix survives because i can‘t see them go down because they brought us Games like FF10
they need to build back trust. The way to do that is focus on making Japanese centric RPGs on a smaller budget. F* Cutscenes, F* realistic graphics, F* Voice Acting. F* pandering to the west and F* Action combat. Go back to basics and make an RPG comparable to the PS1 golden age of games. If its going to take 1 - 2 years to develop then Bring back low poly chibi models, bring back text boxes, bring back turn base and just bring us the memorable stories.
I hate action combat. I lose turn based rpgs. Ps1 was the best
I mean, Square-Enix has done a lot of those things with smaller games like Octopath Traveller, Triangle Strategy, Bravely Default/Second, NEO TWEWY, etc. But it seems like they tend to give those kind of games less marketing importance compared to their huge AAA tentpole releases
Like someone else mentioned, Square is by far the best company who has released mid size games in the whole industry whilst releasing AAA titles also. For example: Octopath 1 & 2, Harvestella, Tactics Ogre: Reborn, DioField Chronicle, Triangle Strategy, Bravely Default series, Tokyo RPG factory games, Trials of Mana and so on. I'm not sure what do you want
But they can still release awesome action games. I mean, it isn't as if action = not japanese core.
And why the heck would they ditch voice action when that improves immersion.
Just because it a doable idea in the 90s for big rpg it doesn't mean it can be excluded. Trails series has a pretty solid fanbase and they would go as far as create a fan voice patch for three games. And people use it.
The fuck you mean by this? They literally be doing this.
Bravely Defult??? Oct Path Travel???
They just had to make a remake with turn-based battles. Same matérias and itens too.
How to save Square Enix. Easy.
1. No more exclusive Game.
2. No more lollygagging with super long development hell game. Have a vision, make it happen.
3. Have actual decent expectations. ( This hole entire situation is because of SE no keeping is head on the ground)
4. Make a actual good game. If you know the game is gonna be bad, pls just delay it and add extra content.
5. Pls just know your audience… Dawntrail is NOT gonna make numbers they hoping for, to save the company.
they ruined ff XIII versus, and made a shitty version with 15 they ruined the real prince Noctis. this is now karma
i just want a turn-based Final Fantasy game. i hate button mashing more than anything.
I prefer action games, but prefer turn based for FF
Mainline FF is never going back to turn-based.
If you're button mashing you're not playing the last few releases right. FF is headed towards more skill based instead of knowledge based challenge gaming. Arguably not good but still hopeful to see what's upcoming after 7R
FF hasnt been turn based since X. And suprise surprise, the games have been just OK at best since.
@@noiselesspain What skill? lmao
I don't have a PS5, so I cannot help them by buying FF XVI or FF VII Rebirth, and I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment.
i think the new 14 expansion dawntrail will give them a huge boost in revenue as a lifelong 14 player. then its up to them on how they should invest that money. personally im for the remake of 8 but make it for all platforms. as far as new IPs i think they can make a genshin/wuwa competitor pretty easily and they have had success with gacha games before with FFBE and WOTL.
8 is terrible though.
Art through adversity. FF1 was born out of a last ditch effort for Square to make it. FF3/6/7 were developed while Sakaguchi was mourning his mothers passing. FF7 was also developed during a turbulant relationship with Nintendo and uncertainty of a new console. They got too cozy and took their fans for granted
I'm confident that they're going to be fine.
Welllll, a lot of the commenters think they know everything about every single game ever made everywhere as well as how everything works in Japan … so I’ll just say I always thought the company got weird when it merged with Enix. We went from Spira to Vana’diel and I was like “huh?” Enix was good at shoving a lot of stuff into their games while Square’s were always more streamlined and story driven. Weirdest possible match ever, but I owe my sanity in a lot of ways to this “niche genre” (when nothing is niche anymore because internet) so Square I always wish you the best.
You are totaly right about the merge it made not much sense ,only thing they had in common was that they both produced mainly jrpgs.
I don't mean to be that guy ,but to be honest most of the commenters are right.
Its somehow ,that everyone knows what they should do to get their core audience back ,except for SE.
Final Fantasy started to fall down since they put Tetsuya Nomura in charge of Final Fantasy XIII Versus.
And dont let me start on Kingdom Hearts the series stared 2002 and and ended 2019
KH3 should've been a ps3 game .
I seriously don't know what they were thinking , instead of making KH3 and FF XIII Versus for the PS3 they made Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lighting Returns.
Final fantasy 7 remake came way too late ,and making it into an episodic game of 3 games through a span of 7-8 years is crazy ,like what is this Marvel Avengers or what.
Do they know that the original game came out in 1997 most of the fans are in their 30s or even older,and they have better things to do than to wait for 3 games to finish the story.
Ever since Squaresoft became Square Enix, a lot of the magic dissapeared.
On the contrary, we are now living the Golden Age of the Franchise, due to XIV.
Yes, only if Square Soft part ways from Enix.
I remember going in to grab ffxv, always getting the new ff for better or worse, and the cashier said ‘what about persona 5? You might want persona 5.’
Theres a very simple message im trying to get across here
Yep that's my thought exactly Atlus took over
I hope CAPCOM aware of this.
They must have a backup port if Monster hunter WILD is not so profitable for exclusive only PS5 and PC.
To have xbox and Switch 2 port as plan B
The problem with modern Final Fantasy is that it refuses to get with the times. Less so with FF7R but definitely with FF15 and FF16. FF15 and FF16 are shockingly dated in their game design and presentation. They don't do anything to push the medium forward and in many ways are actually steps back from previous FF games and other JRPG. FF7R does a lot of things very well and is probably the best FF we've gotten since FFX but it still employs a lot of very dated design principles with its open world structure and egregious padding.
I love the gameplay but the only thing that I really hate is the whispers and multiverse shenanigans
Unless they were insanely frivolous with and spent a few hundred K a day since their 3rd or 4th game release then they should definitely have their cabin on mount Cash overlooking their gold coin ocean front property where Hojo hangs out in Costa Rico. Just looking at the10's of k worth of items I can imagine just by early 2000's which is that X's how many others bought equals countless casholio
I think they need a new fresh IP. Final Fantasy/Dragon Quest are good and all but I’d like to see more. Harvestella was great in my opinion but it went nowhere.
More like "How many times these companies can make horrible decisions and still survive"
Not really caring about square enix anymore unfortunately but loved when it was square soft. A lot of questionable decisions made in both the games and company process 😅
Rebirth has no Jessie, so Cloud doesn’t have that special girl he visits. And Cloud’s aerial combat is just Air Slash spam 🤷 In Remake, Cloud’s sword swings had power, impact, weight, and authority with each swing ☝️
well i would like to play 16… bit its not out on PC sooo
Final Fantasy XVI (PC) apparently has a game ready driver profile in NVIDIA Game Ready & Studio Driver 560.81 released this morning
its been downhill for SE since FFX. Like, bro just make a story driven game with turn based combat and party customization. It’s not that hard
The people in these comments need to touch some grass and get of reddit. Not every FF "fan" is so hateful no wonder you guys cant have fun anymore 😂
I’ve had mixed feelings on the title’s post XII. I think that making a trilogy out of XIII was a massive mistake that they never recovered from. I did enjoy XV but mainly for how great the 4 friends were, say what you want about the rest of game but they nailed the male friendship angle of that game.
VII’s remake project should’ve been played straight for the story with minimal expansion. I think it’s safe to say that most people are on board with the combat but for the life of me I cannot understand why they felt the need to incorporate the multiple time line stuff. I think for a good number of people it turned them away and it was a mistake. The game also should’ve been done in 2 parts tops.
First time viewer I love this video and I love the name Ali way Jack I spelled that wrong, but I’m using speak to type
square needs to set expectations by making AA games again, instead of making people think every square game should be a AAA grand title. like they should make their AAA games events, not the norm.
I agree, I miss when they used to make great games like Parasite Eve. But most importantly, stop alienating your fan base and go back to produce bangers ff games like squaresoft did before the merge.
Crisis Corre Final Fantasy VII Reunion, Vision of Mana, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, even the HD-2D games and a couple of more titles from Squareenix this and last year almost all have underperformed and almost all those titles are multiplatform. The exclusivity yeah it sucks but if almost everything underperforming seems like something else is happening at Squareenix. For me is that every game I bought from them is feeling the same in the gameplay department, it feels like every game they made is a variation of the kingdom hearts gameplay with the western big open world for they feel boring a lot of times. Namco Bandai keeps their games on budget and everything looks the same for the exception of one or two games but the majority feel like $20 mobile phone games.
They should scale down production and go back to their jrpg roots with FF17. Make it available on all platforms at release. Focus on story and gameplay and pure quality.
I am not curious to see FF 7 rebirth doesnt make profit. The reason why is because 1/3 money is going into Sony's pocket, and Square Enix keep making mistake by investing on NFT and developing trash like Forspoken. Lastly, there are still people playing ps 4 than ps 5. The people now are losing faith on Square Enix, looking at how much it made during 2020 it remake version very first release the company gain attention from people around the globe. FF 7 rebirth is the best remake game I have ever play, but the major problem is the company itself. I did pre order ff 7 remake, ff 16 and ff rebirth because the best game I ever play and I hope Square Enix put more effort on developing games like this.
I just wished they did Remake as just a remake, none of that sequel stuff. Rebirth gameplay was great. Story is kinda meh though. I just want to finish the trilogy and see how SE moves forward post VIIR.
Remake and rebirth are masterpieces and the gameplay is phenomenal I hope they don’t go back to the outdated turn based garbage from the 90s shit is way too outdated only the boomers would like that
Funny how something like forespoken was meant to appeal to people with this type of mindset.
@@kalemz4495forspoken was written like complete dogshit. The game itself wasn’t that bad, but the main character and dialogues were unacceptable
I believe if they take the final fantasy 7 remake battle system and use it on future titles, with great storylines and worlds, the final fantasy series will survive. You are not looking at Dragon Quest series, which will always be a hallmark in gaming. Your not mentioning the huge success that is FFXIV, which has more than 2 million active players monthly. They have alot of revenue coming in, they just need to make common sense choices to revive their company. A remake of Chrono Trigger would severely sell in all markets across the board and would help gain the lost income of all the poor choices brought. Squaresoft and Enix will always be that company that brings stories no one dreamed of to the video game media... and lifelong fans, such as yours truly, will support them until we no longer have breath in our bodies. Kingdom Hearts became wildly successful and another reason they have done well in many things. They just need to focus on their successful IPs and stop trying to create something brand new. Work only with what they have for the next decade and push their barriers to the next level. A remake of FF6 would do well also. We cannot look at their mistakes, as they made a recent announcement they are going to focus on what works in the past and polish that only. New IPs will only be good if they use what has worked already. I have faith in SE... those who hasn't been on board since the late 80s will always jump off and say SE is failing... but for us gen X gamers... we are here for all their games... good and bad. I dont know if any of you remember that nightmare title, Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest.... but boy.... i dont think SE could do worse than that and SE survived it. As long as they hold the games to their JRPG heritage and stop pleasing westerners so much, they will be fine.
I hope Square survives they are one of the last bigger companies what are left who try to make new IP for better or worse^^.
And I love there Games.
Disney might buy Square to use them for KH for example.
If you don't support the devs and buy the stuff they make then you don't get to complain that they aren't turning a profit because you are the cause.
I think square Enix has shot themselves in the foot with the whole exclusive games ff7 remake and 16 should’ve been released on PC day one. But I think we can blame Sony as well for this as well
Squresoft was great, SqareEnix went down hill fast, not sure why
Fantastic analysis. As a Squaresoft fan going back to 1998, I've seen the brand value decline tremendously over the decades. I lose faith every time they announce something to do with NFTs, predatory gacha mobile games, or spin-off games that pivot ever further from their original vision. I was glad to see them sell off publishing rights to many of their western IPs because it was always confusing to see the Square Enix logo on so many different concepts, styles and genres. I used to be able to pick up a Squaresoft game and have a clear feeling of what to expect. Those days are long gone.
Yeah as has been mentioned elsewhere here the Squaresoft logo tended to communicate quality and a certain expectation of what kind of game you'd get. I actually remember the first time I saw the Square Enix logo on a western game (Hitman Absolution) it was a real jarring wtf moment.
Square needs to get Sakaguchi back. Its obvious after playing FF7 remake that the heart of the series is gone. Final Fantasy under Nomura and Kitase is all Flash no substance. Thats why i skipped FF7 Rebirth.
You think remake had no substance? When it took the characters from og and made them even better? Sure the plot changes are debatable, but the substance is there. The gameplay and music is amazing as well.
Sakaguchi Founded his own studio called Mist Walker I doubt he's coming back anytime soon.
Stop living in the past ffs get adapted to the modern gameplay 😂 turn based is shit and boring
Sakaguchi himself is washed
after leaving Square his games never get a good recognition
Maybe they can make FF17 a turn based game? Then I'd be interested! FF7 is my favorite game of all time and the remake was a kick in the teeth. I'm like 75% the way through Rebirth and I don't think I can finish it, it's so mid. I didn't even touch FF16 because I don't like action games. So a return to Final Fantasy's roots would be refreshing!
Remake was pretty good, they nailed the characters. Haven’t played Rebirth yet.
I don't know that they'd make a numbered FF turn-based again, but I always felt they're missing a trick by not having a department dedicated solely to 90s style turn-based FF games.
@AlleywayJack that would be fine too. I'm just starving for a good turn based game. I've played Octopath Traveler 1&2 and Bravely Default 1&2 and they just don't cut it. The world's are bland and boring and you can really see the shoestring budget.
@@Veiwer77 I somewhat agree with this but I enjoyed Bravely 1. Haven’t played 2 but yeah it looks kinda bland in terms of the characters and world. It’s a backlog game I may never get to. I always thought the idea of octopath’s visual style was great but it should’ve been saved for FF remakes.
@@AlleywayJack I mean, there was FF Four Heroes of Light for the 3DS, and you could argue that games like Bravely Default/Second and Octopath Traveller are Square-Enix's attempts to make some sort of spiritual adaptations of old-school turn-based RPGs, just not using the FF name
I also think that S-E doesn't feel like FF should go back to turn-based combat, since Dragon Quest exists. However, the development of mainline DQ has slowed a lot in the last 7 years
They've abandoned their original fans imo and thus get what they deserve.
I feel the same.👍
Say it louder for those in the back \o/
@@kellevichy You will just have to keep buying the woke stuff. 🤣🤣
lol yep
How ?
Don't worry about it, June 13th Kingdom Hearts's fan will save Square Enix.
I mean, Square-Enix with the two 7 remakes, and 16, 15, just refuses to give fans what they want.
If we’re wanting triple A mastery we will play god of war. Triple A production has been killing the RPG genre and they refuse to take the hint.
And that’s not even getting into the fan-fiction level writing of the remake games. Those are a joke.
The atrocious writing is my biggest issue. I blame Tetsuya Nomura, every project he is involved in turns into narrative nonsense.
@@kpsk8031The character writing is spot on in the remake saga, it’s just the plot choices that seem to be changed for the sake of it being different.
@@kpsk8031 I agree with you the writing is atrocious, but there’s so much more wrong.
Look at the resident evil remakes. They changed things sure. But they kept the essence of the game and just polished it up. All super successful, fans loved them.
Now take THESE remakes. They basically ripped out every mechanic, and made the story kingdom hearts/marvel movie.
It wouldn’t be as bad if they didn’t do it to what is their core fans very favorite game.
And now buy it 3 times because we padded it all. Insulting lol
@@erikreinhardt7955 Squenix are paying the price for their horrific mismanagement of this franchise (and their business in general).
@@kpsk8031 2 things, this has nothing to do with the writing of the games, because FFXVI does not have Tetsuya Nomura and is among the flops LOL and Tetsuya Nomura is not a writer, the one who writes the story of the games in CBU1 is Nojima. I think you guys first need to inform yourselves before you start talking nonsense. This is just another one of those opportunities where "opportunists" like you try to justify a bad situation of the company by the fact that you are not graced by the games. It is stupid and opportunistic.
You mean when FFXV sold 10 million and FFVII remake sold 7 million it was Nomura's fault too? Please stop talking nonsense.
The last great FF game, imo, was FFX. And what a truly great game it was!
Lmao this absolutely not true? 10 was meh. Alright movie but most boring RPG ever. 9 outclassed it in almost all way.
As for last greatest title? 12. I love Ivalice and what it give me.
there was no reason to give the VII remake trilogy a german dub, for example. You could save money on some stuff, besides introducing AI for debugging.
After what they pulled with the FF pixel collection and their terrible customer service for their online store it really has me questioning what i think of them. A decade ago if you would of asked me what i think of Square-enix i would of told you that they are the third party version of Nintendo, now a days not at all.
Squareenix is not skilled enough to make a 10 year bet. FFXV's development took 8 years and by then the market moved away. It's the same problem Suicide Squad has (they started in 2010 before Rocksteady restarted in 2016!) Frankly, no one business can predict what games will look like in 2034. So, STOP MAKING 10 YEAR BETS. Stop burning hundreds of millions of dollars you will never recoup.
Make smaller games. It used to be that you approve 10 games. 5 get to market. 2 of them flop. 2 of them make their money back. 1 of them is a hit and pays for the other 9 and makes enough profit to warrant a sequel. Problem is, everyone wants to be the next CoD/GTA/Fortnite/Minecraft and bets big on 1 project. Surprise, it doesn't work that way.
Big sequel gaps means everyone forgets about you. Final Fantasy no longer has the clout it used to have because it takes too long and is too niche to get attention. Make smaller games with modest budgets.
And finally, games aren't moneymakers. If you have the skill to make computer programs and you want to make money, build widgets for MS Office or Google Sheets and charge licensing fees to corporations. Games are art, and that should be the goal: make a modest profit building works of electronic art rather than cramming microtransactions and battle passes down our throats.
It's amazing how fast market trends can go.
They did it to themselves.. from how thry treat their staff , their overpriced merch. They crippling contracts they have on their composers to mediocre games.
Square died when they merged with enix.
Squaresoft used to stand for quality.
Squareenix standa for meh 😂
I’d just wish they would stop trying to make a movie (cinematics, graphics, cutscenes) within a game and focus more on story. Since FF13 I’ve notice how graphics improved, but quality of story went down.
Final Fantasy XII is the last great game square made. After that, "half-decent" has been the highest the company has reached for.
FFXIV carry the company
They have maybe 1 to 3 more more chances before their rep is as bad as Disney's. Ive been a squaresoft fan since FF it was quite possibly the first game I EVER really wanted. I lived through the ff3 or ff6 debacle, i played the og FF7 ajd still 0wm it today, ive tried to get Vagrant Story to be remade and get a sequel (mmo plz!) Yet FF 12 and beyond........ i mean i PLAYED it but something happened that really hurtt soul. I set my macros for the final boss started the fight, put down the controller and walked away. FF 13, i genuinely got fully BORED. I saw KingsGlaive and i just noped out of 15, the remake of 7............ part one, i actaully WAITED amd when i saw Ergheiz not ff7 fighting again i noped, i heard 7 part 2 is much better, but the fighting is still Ergheiz so im noped out. If Square doesnt rapidly pivot from pleasing corporate quotas and start rebuilding its games to a non partisan game, if 17 turns out as woke as 15 and 16........ i will happily buy the older games as long as they dont rewrite the dialogues or content, but their path isnt in innovation its in curation of its products.
Someone forgot tekken tag exists
The game industry has changed a lot since the golden years of Square (start of the SNES era to arguably the end of the PS2 era). I don't remember the exact number, but the entire team of developers that developed FF6 (SNES) consisted of 11 or 12 people and they did it in 1 year! Secret Of Mana (SNES) with the exception of the sound and some of the monster's behaviors, was programmed in assembly entirely by a single programmer, Nasir Gabelli. SquareEnix is a MASSIVELY bloated company nowadays. Thousands of people are working in these games which make it VERY HARD to make a profit, you have to have a very big hit every time, or you are losing tens of millions of dollars with each game. And furthermore do you think those 12 developers or Nasir Gabelli would be working for Square these days? With Steam, digital distribution, with the indie game success stories. There is just no reason to a very talented, "genius" level developer to work for a company like Square anymore. No matter how much they raise their salaries it would never be comparable to develop your own games and distribute them digitally, both in terms of creative freedom and finance, being independent is a better choice if you are extremely competent.
I find it really interesting that people consider Rebirth a comparative flop in regards to Remake when people seem to forget that it released when *a lot* of people had more free time than they'd ever had, on a console at the end of its life with the largest install base it could have had and later on PC. If there's anything very obvious about Rebirth and 7-3 is that it'll be re-released and ported countless times for the next 15 years at least, and probably released again 3-5 years after finishing as the whole thing stapled together as one game.
It'll make it's money back
I would have bought FFXVI and FFVII Rebirth at launch if they were available on Steam or GoG. I'm not buying a PS5 for games that will come to PC eventually anyway.
I hope somehow Nintendo steps in to buy squenix. Some of squares biggest numbers lately have been from smaller titles like octopath. Even some of their biggest games sold better on switch when ported like DQ11. I think nintendo buying square enix is possible in the current gaming economy. Plus, giving the keys to their characters to squares kingdom hearts series could make more money then the original KH series and have greater profits just on the fact of not paying royalties to disney for their characters
Well when they buy them they might as well port Just Cause 2 to Switch while there at it
The last Square game that I played was Final Fantasy 12. I tried playing FF13 when it came out to PC, but I just couldn't enjoy it. The game was too boring and linear. It was brain dead. I was a big fan of the old Squaresoft, before the merger. These are all the games I played from Square: FF1 (NES), FF6 (SNES), ChronoTrigger (SNES), FF Mystic Quest (SNES), Secret Of Mana (SNES), Secret of Evermore (SNES), Seiken Densetsu 3 (SNES), Legend Of Mana (PS1), Parasite Eve 1 and 2 (PS1), FF Tactics (PS1), FF7 (PC), FF8 (PC), FF10 (PS2), FF12 (PS2), Dragon Quest VIII (PS2), Kingdom Hearts (PS2). To me things started to go downhill before the merger with Kingdom Hearts (PS2), I thought that game was infantile and simplistic. It was just intellectually offensive to the audience, unless you were a toddler. I just couldn't enjoy it. Ever since, in my opinion, their games have just become worse and worse. And no, I don't think they will ever get close to what was peak Squaresoft again. They lost their ability to tell mature, profound stories, and they also lost their innovative gameplay/technical edge in the medium of video-games. I would say to this day their greatest games are FF7, FF6 and Chrono Trigger, the release of these games were massive watershed moments in gaming for the PS1 and SNES respectively.
7 Shot itself by changing the fucking ending of the 7 games. I LOVED the first part and enjoyed it right until the stupid end shit that came out of nowhere. Never bothered with the second part because of that.
they don't even know how to make pc games that work or have pc settings, you know they sold there western ip right?
I think the final fantasy games are cool very cool games but only reason I know of them is because of kingdom hearts 😭I’m just hoping they get there stuff together