Ironically, I heard good things about the sales of their smaller games, like the team Asano stuff. But I guess all they care about now are those big numbers, even if it costs 10x as much for 4x the sales
It would be a shame if Square Enix tosses aside games like Octopath Traveler 2 & Star Ocean 2nd Story R in favor of a small selection of AAA games. AAA games that have been dwindling in sales, locked to one console, and increasingly time consuming to make.
That is my concern. The “smaller budget” games like Octopath, Star Ocean, Triangle Strategy etc have been more engaging and memorable than the far more expensive/longer to make AAA batch.
AA with more risks is absolutely the way ahead for these companies. They can take more risks and still put out great experiences, and maybe hit bit big. I just hope they are dropping their NFT games. Also mobile/live service games. Granted, mobile is such a huge source of revenue that's unlikely to happen.
Those "smaller titles" are why I love SE. If they abandon them, I'm abandoning SE. AAA has been slowly killing my love for gaming. I game way less than before, and that's not primarily due to decreased time. All these AAA games are so similar and open world design clashes with RPG design. I miss my JRPGs.
@Sigismund697 Triangle Strategy was so good, and there's plenty more they could do to expand on it further. Look at how much Oxtopath Traveler 2 was improved over the first one, it would be a bummer if Triangle Strategy didn't get similar treatment.
Really? Are you a businessman? An investor? Do you know how video game finances work in the long run? Do you know what they’ll even look like in the long run? You know you don’t know that, you’re saying that because it’s what you want. And I do too, but don’t act like you know how the entire gaming market works. It’s comments like these that make it so hard to agree with anything in the section.
The FF7 remakes are not doing super hot. I thought the first was mediocre and definitely not getting the second part. The second also dropped significantly in sales compared to the first and I expect the third to drop even more. Splitting the game into three was a dumb idea and they pushed themselves into a corner.
Back when Square Enix was two separate entities as Squaresoft and Enix, it seemed like they could do no wrong. These days, it feels like they can’t do anything right.
That's because Enix has never been good at making games. All the good masterpieces have always come from SquareSoft! I been saying this for years. They are lazy at making remakes & remasters & are incompetent at making games even run decent. Take Chrono Cross Steam version for example - They eventually released a patch to make it back to 60fps like original ps1 but absolutely broke the game after 1 or 2 years later (A fan fixed most of its issue's within 2 weeks😂). The launcher is black screen, the game crashes randomly, no proper 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio, half arsed port & still haven't addressed any of its worse issue's. The companies a joke man I'm glad they are losing money!
My biggest concern with Square Enix is how they manage their expectations. Every game they put out has to have some extraordinary figure otherwise it’s a great failure. So when a game does well but not extraordinary, they’re disappointed.
Yea, the fact gaming has blown up and caught investors attention is also an issue. As an investor myself, if there isnt an increasing profit forecast, investors will leave, so in an effort to keep the money coming in, they forecast increasing numbers YOY. So if FF7 remake did really well, they expect Rebirth to do just as well, plus 20% increase over what Remake did. Unfortunately gaming is not growing and has remained stagnent which is why many are "missing" their targets. They then fire people to inflate that bottom line for investors.
From what the reviews describe though, it sounds like it’s lacking a lot of what made the original Wii games worthwhile. Hopefully it’s not that bad, but heavy procedural generation could really suck the life out of a game like that.
The HD-2D games aren’t the games that take a lot of time to develop though. Would be a huge loss to the variety of games SQE has been putting out which I enjoyed a lot.
To be fair, this is pretty much exactly what the new President of Square said he wanted to do when envisioning the future of the company. It's not like it was an abrupt response to something specific. Square Enix stocks went up because of this news despite being fundamentally bad news at face value.
Nothing wrong with NFT incorporation, mate. 5 minutes of research for you to actually realise NFT, when utilized properly can be used as a legitimate asset. When tokenizing an asset like a house as an NFT on blockchain using crypto tech such as XDC, it brings forth greater transparency and advantages for the seller and buyer as clear transparency is irrefutable and embedded within the blockchain for all to witness. Gone of the days of sifting through paperwork or emails and buyers can easily view information of former owners, tax rates and any other legality issues that may arise via the use of NFTs and simple use of the NFT code. As long as they don’t develop NFT games, NFT as a piece of technology is something that will benefit industries like entertainment like it has done with real estate.
Square Enix made a lot of bad business decisions. Selling off major IPs, limiting the amount of exposure to their current games to Playstation on consoles and the Epic games store on PC, focusing on live service games and screwing up their IPs with bad story writing(, look on Forspoken). The main thing they have to change is their distribution model, combined with their IP management.
@@darkspartan566 Oh I see, you're ARE just a simpleton with nothing to say at all except: "Blame *them* for everything!" . 🙄 You're right, I should *never* have gifted you with the assumption you *might* not be as dumb as you sound. I won't make that mistake again, you are *exactly* what you sound like. Riddle solved lol.
I really hope SE doesn’t stop making AA size games. They just don’t need to make 30 and release them all at once which are all subpar. Just one or two a year that are really well crafted and polished.
yeah, AAA games are so expensive nowadays that you'd have to sell *a lot* just to break even, spiderman 2 sold over 10 million units and insomniac still got hit with layoffs, meanwhile AA games can be more experimental/riskier since it doesnt have to sell as much to make a profit plus they take far less time to make
remember when Square Enix released NEO TWEWY without featuring it in some sort of direct and blatantly did not show it off in their own live show conference for E3?
@@chasejackson7248 I think we do, fans been wanting a 1 to 1 remake of the OG FF7 for the past 20 years, there are ton of Moders who been doing just that but cant even get close to a full remake so the Demand and desire is there and I doubt they wont stop crying for one till they get it.
i dont think pc sells will move the needle as much as ppl want to believe here. ff7 remake sold 7m copys. 1m from steam and i guess much less on epic.ff on xbox doesnt sell at all and nintendo systems are just not strong enough for mainline ff games anymore.
I have never seen howlongtobeat be even remotely accurate. They report the time too low 100% of the time. All I can figure is they are basing the number on someone using a guide and knowing exactly what to do and 1 shotting every boss
Well, the time is based on account holders putting their estimated times in to do those tasks. Who knows how long it took them really, could be distracted while playing or using guides/walkthroughs/let's plays...
The AA games from Square Enix like the Mana games or the Star Ocean 2 remake are the ones I'm more interested in, so it's a real bummer if they end up abandoning those to focus on just the next Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. Should really get the SO2 remake team to follow it up with a Blue Sphere remake.
The problem w square/enix and any publicly traded company is that a financial loss is defined by "projected sales" which can be huge vs practical sales if they have a disconnect 2 their user base
With James Mccaffrey having passed away I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about a remake without him. His voice was so iconic that it was the soul of the series and without him it just won't feel the same.
I said this a month ago and all the Fanboys wanted to jump on me, I've been gaming for over 30 years so I'm very familiar with the numbers. If a game costs 95 million to make it doesn't break even unless it sells at least 5 million copies. Rebirth did not officially say how much it cost to make, but it's not hard to place it around 300 million, twice as much as part 1 where they did state that one was 140 million. The game struggled to sell a few million copies, equaling a massive net loss.
@@NuiYabuko My credentials is having enough experience to know how much it costs to make a game, how much of that goes into advertising, how much of it is a licensing fee, how much is paid towards retail fees, and how much the studio gets in return. A business is simple math, and I'm also a retired financial advisor.
It shouldn't cost twice as much making Rebirth just going on the fact the programmers should now: 1. Be a lot more familiar with the engine they are using. 2. A good chunk of assets were already created for the first part, even if a good chunk can't really be used again as is, but possible reskin. 3. Doesn't seem to be so much longer that the costs should have ballooned to fit that fact. Now it may have been more expensive to make since the pandemic messed up how it would have been worked on, a more reasonable estimated cost would be $200-220 million.
@@callak_9974 That's like saying it shouldn't have cost 300 million to make Spider-Man 2, but it did. Let's just say the estimate is way off and they actually did it for $200 million, the game would still have a massive net loss. Even if this was correct and it was the 200 to 220 estimate as you have stated, that would actually push it to around 300 by the time you include the other factors that I mentioned, because the 200 to 220 figure would be just the development cost alone. There are rumors that Sony could be funding half of these projects, but there's no way to prove it, and even then it's not good for either one of them with these kind of figures, it only softens the damage.
My interpretation of square enix recent post is that they’re going for quality now and not quantity. Funding for Forspoken could have gone to finishing final fantasy xv, recent flops also could have gone to targeted marketing for rebirth to help with sells.
Yeah I have no idea where they got that 15 hours to beat Stellar Blade thing. I'm like 25hrs in and just passing halfway. Not that I"m complaining, I'm loving it.
Hi Fi Rush is in this weird position of when it should come to porting the game onto a Nintendo platform. They can release it on Switch now but cut corners so it can run well there. They can also just wait for the next system, but given it might still be a long time before we it's revealed, the hype/interest in the game might have died down by then.
Anyone else notice that Game Pass is getting a lot of repeat games? I'm pretty sure I played Kona (the first one) and the Brothers game through GP before.
@@ObiWanShinobi67 honestly I forgot. The way this generation is I find it hard to distinguish what was for one or series x. Same with PS4 and 5. Another reason I think a Pro PS5 doesn't make sense.
Square needs to collab with Nintendo and make a kingdom hearts like game using Nintendo IPs. I'd love a Mario RPG but action based. Have bowser be an actual FF type boss.
@@byronbarrientos8471 They did make Super Mario RPG together, so what would be interesting would be a follow up game to that. Geno needs more screen time!
FF7 Rebirth performance kinda makes sense though, as they keep funneling down its potential audience... only PS5, only if you LIKED Remake, only if you PLAYED Remake, which is probably only if you liked the original FF7, and if you did, IF you like new action controls
I wonder if square moving away from smaller projects will mean they can allocate resources to the bigger projects and shave the development time down a bit
The only thing I really want to see from the Activision portion of the showcase is the Transformer games, Deadpool, and the Activision Spider-Man and Wolverine games hit Backwards Compatibility. Anything besides that will either be irrelevant to me or extra/bonus, depending on what other games they mention.
@@ZW_Zacattack99 The Backwards Compatibility program never had access to Activision games. It ended because they didn't have access to any more 360 games. Now... they do.
Regarding SE, my issue with Rebirth wasn’t them changing things from the original, but rather the multiverse stuff. I liked how at the end of remake they opened the idea of things changing, but the way things went in rebirth with the multiverse completely lost me. Adore the OG, love remake, lost me at Rebirth, will probably wait for a sale for the last one :(
I think it’s a really bad idea for any game developer to only focus on “bigger budget” titles. If one fails, you’ll see massive cutbacks and downsizing to appease investors. Two failures and the entire company may be at risk. Smaller games allow consistent income at a much lower cost. They are needed to bridge the bigger releases and soften any big failures. Square just needs to be more tactical with its release schedule.
Sounds like the same old crap " we projected to make *x* amount of money" then when they didn't make as much as they thought it was " oh no we lost *x* amount of money" no you didn't lose anything you counted your chickens before they hatched genius.
One thing that makes me think Hi Fi Rush will be the current Switch is that Limited Run Games announced months ago that they will be releasing a physical copy of it, but they never put it up for preorder. Whenever someone asks about it, they are told that it will be coming soon. My theory is they will put the PS5, Xbox, and Switch ones up for preorder together, as they never split up their games with preorder windows, so they are literally waiting on that announcement now.
Square Enix could single-handedly solve their financial woes if they reprinted physical editions of the Pixel Remasters lol. I would have bought a copy for Playstation and Switch and kept it wrapped, which means I would’ve bought a digital copy on both platforms as well.
They could be porting some of their older untranslated games. Or what would also be awesome, a collection of the Quintet games. Actraiser, Actraiser 2, Robotrek, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia/Time, Robotrek, Terranigma. Physical and for modern consoles. The first three in 1 collection, the other in another (those ones seem very related to each other if you've played them).
😅🤣😂🤣😅🤣is that why they dropped 10 billion , is that why they have closed studio's down , is that why they're having layoffs , is that why they're cutting budgets back , you can blame this on Jim Ryan but he new a majority of Sony's money came from Call of Duty a Live Service Game
@@charlesbronson1959 It just goes to show you wth is wrong with the management at Square. They got rid off the last CEO who cause these problems and now this idea. Some of their smaller titles were actually making money.
I'm not sure what IGN expected from Endless Ocean; it's pretty much just like the first one, but bigger and with more content. I believe the Wii version had a higher review back then. Oh well, time changes the perspective of anything.
The fact they continually pushed the series x as the most powerful console but are prepared to move on from it so soon shows a lack of faith in their products & also a slap in the face of gamers who put money down to purchase it only to turn around & ask them to do it again. I believe this would be their shortest console generation after the original to 360, but we gather they did that to get the jump on Sony & for the most part, it worked. I, for one, will not spend my hard earned money again, so quickly, especially if they charge the same or more for a box or speaker shaped console without a disc drive. I will admit the handheld holds an appeal, but i will wait & see.
What are you talking about? Square isn't Microsoft. Microsoft makes the Xbox. The irony of what you said is that Microsoft is making a massive profit this Qtr, Square isn't. A huge part of because MS ISN'T doing what Square is doing which is only doing exclusives. Notice that FF16, AND rebirth didn't meet expectations...and guess what? both those games are exclusive. The exclusivity practice is a Dying tradition, it has nothing to do with not having faith in Series X, MS will still make them. Even Sony is porting many of it's exclusive titles over to PC, so who cares if MS is doing the same
@@ragingtyga Many practices today have changed as Xbox care less about the device you use to play their games aslong as the games get out there whether you use gamepass on console or pc or now start to purchase select titles on the other platforms, profit is key . Sony has started to port over to PC but only after a year or two after release when the profit from selling on console has reached it's limit & then they have a second bump in profits from PC players. I don't think exclusives are dead but simply they are becoming less of a selling point for some. I understand square have underperformed with their recent FF releases due to a smaller player base & perhaps the nostalgia pool being smaller what with younger gamers not having the same excitment as those of an older generation. Perhaps it's the expectations they place on releases not hitting what they would qualify as a success considering the money they spent developing them. A more focused approach would be advantageous i imagine. Perhaps i am just from a generation when the console mattered more but i don't understand the need to move on so quickly, surely it would cost them more to develop & manufacture next gen machines than to continue with their current hardware. I imagine their quarterly profits would not greatly increase by putting out another machine but who am i but a consumer who is less knowledgeable about such practices as the companies employing them.
@@joet6434 right, and I'm glad Microsoft acts that way. You should want to buy a console because you WANT to, not because you're "forced" to. Only goofy ass fanboys think otherwise. I have an Xbox series X, a PC, and a switch. I prefer my Xbox, because of the ease of use, the interface, and how seamlessly I jump in and out of a game. I could give a rats ass about exclusives
SE just loves to go bigger and bigger with their games, but I'd love a proper JRPG Final Fantasy again, I think it would make so much more profit than the big open-world action ones.
Give me Square Enix, that company has so many properties that they could release their own console with no third party support and beat all the competitors!
I do wonder if Hi-Fi RUSH is coming to the current Switch to help fill in the gap after the "Switch 2" was delayed. Either that or Hi-Fi RUSH 2 is in the works for next year and there needs to be a bit more separation between the two releases for Switch/Switch 2.
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 it definitely exists. I don't think Nintendo's research and development team is just sitting there totally in their thumbs. It's definitely not called switch 2, but that's just the name everyone gives it. Kind of like in 2010 or so people were calling the next Xbox, Xbox 720.
yup, dragon quest is so big over there that they had to stop releasing the games on days where ppl are at work/school, cuz ppl kept skipping just to play the new dq game
I could see hi fi rush running at 60 if they heavily reduced the frame rate of the backgrounds, probably to the point of remaking assets to be 2D. Thinking about how games like Splatoon lock in 60 by making the backgrounds super choppy and low fidelity, I could see Hi-Fi retooling some things to make them just as if not more choppy. Thing with this though is as long as the choppiness matches the beat of the music it will look right at home.
It's a bit sad to hear about Square Enix because Star Ocean 2 R and The DioField Chronicle were some of my favorite games in recent times. I really liked this period for Square Enix.
When they announced the remake would be 3 parts it reeked of a cash grab like when the small book The Hobbit got stretched into 3 very long boring movies… and I’m so glad it blew up in their face!
The only thing I care about in regards to Square Enix is whether or not they will make a new Life is Strange game in the future. (Along with Don't Nod) We're still missing that finale with us playing as Rachel Amber the last day she was alive to tie everything together in the story.
Really enjoying stellar blade! Love that EVE is called an Angel almost like Gunnm (Battle Angel Alita), though Alita was given that nickname. If Speaking Zero doesn't hit this year..pretty sure this is my Game Of The Year
I agree a lot. Side quests are kind of bland, but other than that, the lore in combination with the actual gameplay is top notch. Technical wise, Digital Foundry also found this game to be near flawless- so there’s that. Just incredible.
I got the feeling that every time square report loss and disapointment on sales for the aaa games , they also report going to doble deep on that type off games.
The problem with polling anything about Stellar Blade is bc the game is so contentious, those who can't even play the game will vote and distort the outcome
If Square was smart they would build a main base game, make it bug free, generic and a blank slate but working 100%....and then create/branch off 3 ideas from there and and create 3 separate games. This would speed up development time and save costs. All devs should consider doing it.
If Square can focus on games like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, DQ and the Nier series and get them to release quicker, I’m all for it. Financially speaking, these are better prospects when it comes to sales.
@@stewarde17 I would want a bigger budget Parasite Eve, possibly a remake of the first one but let’s face it, game development is too costly at the moment and their huge AAA games didn’t sell that well and the smaller JRPGs are even worse - what they need to do at the moment is focus on releasing quality games based on strong IP first and in quick succession just like how Capcom did with Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter. When they have a strong financial stability, they can then tried new ideas and reintroduce the other IPs like how Capcom did with Dragon’s Dogma 2.
I think Square-Enix should just do what Nintendo does which is release one mainline Final Fantasy game each generation, sure they can still do spinoffs and remakes but just focus on one per generation, like how Final Fantasy 13 was on the PS3, then 15 was on the PS4, and now 16 is on the PS5, so I really think 17 should just wait for the PS6
Was looking over the Square Enix game list and I think they should focus on Final Fantasy, Dragon quest, Mana, Octopath, Kingdome Hearts, Maybe Star Ocean, Ogre Tactics, and I would love a remake of Chrono Trigger.
I still plan to pick up Endless Ocean over the weekend. I see it as a relaxing super chill game to just sit back and enjoy exploring (primarily 1 player/just myself). It has the same vibes for me that Islanders did and that was a super chill game for me and very calming for me. Even with its underlying Tetris vibes game play roots that I very much enjoyed too.
When the new guy took over he said the focus was changing we’re just seeing the financial impact it has had, kind of a nonissue because it has been set in motion for a while
The most am worried about for square, is their smaller titles that are really good like harvestella, octopath, triangle. Etc. I fear they may give up on those, even though they do really well.
Stellar Blade you should be able to finish within 15h, if you desire and just do the Main Story, don't explore, Side Quests, just go through with the Story.
I think a safe move from microsoft would b to have 2 versions of HiFi Rush, one for Switch with graphical and framerate cuts and one for Switch 2 with more graphical details and better framerate. If Switch 2 will be backward compatible with Switch 1 I dont think developers will have to invest too much effort in the second version and they could just take into account the brute force difference and dont bother with the new graphical tricks and features of Switch 2
Square Enix's "smaller" titles are what I consistently buy. If they're cutting out the likes of Star Ocean, Bravely Default (BD2 was horrid trash, but BD and BS were 10/10 imo), Octopath Traveler, LiveALive, etc., I will stop being a Square Enix fan after 20 years playing and loving their games far above all (I got my first "console" when I was 5, and it was the GBA). They're larger titles are what's failing them. Just look at FF7 Remake Trilogy, Forspoken, FF16 (it is dead obvious they were saving face with their report), etc. What a shame. Hoping this means they aren't canceling the DQ3 HD2D remake. I know you mentioned it's safe, but we've heard nothing about that game in years. If Square Enix abandons their JRPGs, I abandon Square Enix.
Square Enix is the perfect case study for the current gaming market. You think you make good games, you make money. The reality now though is people don’t have the money, spare time or attention span for the games that they make. Square is running a 1990s business model in the 2020s.
The old model still works; just look at Nintendo. But SE isn't working from the old model. They've gotten in trouble precisely because they're trying to run a "current" model. They've lost money on live service games and invested in NFT games that no one wants. The games that do sell and make money are claimed to be failures because they didn't make enough money to cover the losses of the "current" model stuff they're investing in. That's why publishers are in trouble right now, because of that "current" model and mismanagement of game budgets. Nintendo has it right. That's why they're the richest company in Japan. You make good games, you make money. That works. But then you get people like Phil Spencer saying that it doesn't work, but he doesn't know how to manage Xbox well and make good games, so it's not like the old model doesn't work; it's just that you got bad management all around.
For the record Sony paid Capcom for the RE Village and RE4 VR ports and funded other games like Legendary Tales and Song In The Smoke Rekindled so it's not like they haven't been supporting their platform with big titles. I admit I would like to see more output from their first party studios and it's a little worrying seeing what's going on over at Firesprite Studios with the game director of Horizon CoTM being let go.
I may wait to get Luminous. Not because of the gameplay but because it seems to be a live service game. I mean what are they thinking making the legendary animals appear in timed diving events?! I liked hunting for them in Blue World! What happened to video games?
I really think that these timed exclusivity deals are screwing Square. I'm sure there are a good amount of potential players that opted to wait fir the PC release but by the time the pc version is released, the hype isnt there anymore.
The problem with SE's management here is that all the games you rattled off could have done better with both a little more time in the oven and more spacing to be able to breathe in the market. They have been shoving titles out left and right, frequently within the same sub-genres, to the point where they are now their own competition instead of spacing out those projects so that each of them has their own window in the calendar and sales year. And I've been afraid of this outcome since their new president talked about a revision to their approach. The lesson they are learning seems to be that of the pendulum, swinging back and forth from minor projects to AAA without actually taking time to adjust your approach and strategy in a slower, more considered fashion that would allow all your developments to thrive. On that note, if they've cancelled the SaGa Frontier 2 remaster that Kawazu keeps hinting at, I'm gonna be pissed.
The most surprising thing Xbox can do at this showcase is show us that they’ve finally figured what Everwild even is (that’s if it hasn’t been silently cancelled 💀)
You really have to wonder when the "AAA" industry is going to implode under the weight of unsustainable budgets and consumers who are fed up with tiered releases from $70-$250 gating content unless you fork over more cash. Indie games get more and more appealing to people who just want to game, have fun, and not be constantly hit with micro transactions.
They should have made FF7 remake one game instead of 3. Also you shouldn’t lose your progression. It’s ridiculous losing your progression multiple times in a remake of the most famous JRPG of all time.
Hi-Fi Rush actually has an option for a 30 fps lock, but I'm guessing most people didn't actually need it so it got forgotten? But that's how I played it and I didn't have any issues staying on beat so I'm sure it'll be a great fit for the switch either way.
In regards to Dragon Quest's development, I wonder how the passing of Toriyama will affect that. Seeing as Toriyama was the art designer for Dragon Quest. Will they do what Dragon Ball is doing and have his apprentice take over the design duties for new Dragon Quest games?
Likely canceled NFT games they were developing. Couldn't be happier if that's the case.
NFTs are so 2020 lmao
Square is already two tech buzz words behind, we've moved on to the metaverse and AI since then.
The NFT was Square's biggest mistake ever made. Most folks forgotten about that nonsense.
This seems likely. Not even Squareenix can be this stupid to push a failed fad that died years ago.
Wonder if CHRONO trigger has any NFT’s
I was just remembering that they had that NFT get Symbiogenesis or something
whatever happened to that?
Genuine question: Does anyone remember the last time Square Enix said they were anything but disappointed with the sales of a game?
When they had to stop selling ff14 temporarily cause too many people were joining the game
I feel like the other frustrating part is when something does well they’re surprised
Ironically, I heard good things about the sales of their smaller games, like the team Asano stuff. But I guess all they care about now are those big numbers, even if it costs 10x as much for 4x the sales
Ff16. They told us how many they sold.
When they don't say how many they sold, it's bad. Like ff7 rebirth.
Proof that terrible leadership and decision making is the problem. Not the games.
It would be a shame if Square Enix tosses aside games like Octopath Traveler 2 & Star Ocean 2nd Story R in favor of a small selection of AAA games.
AAA games that have been dwindling in sales, locked to one console, and increasingly time consuming to make.
That is my concern. The “smaller budget” games like Octopath, Star Ocean, Triangle Strategy etc have been more engaging and memorable than the far more expensive/longer to make AAA batch.
AA with more risks is absolutely the way ahead for these companies. They can take more risks and still put out great experiences, and maybe hit bit big. I just hope they are dropping their NFT games. Also mobile/live service games. Granted, mobile is such a huge source of revenue that's unlikely to happen.
Those "smaller titles" are why I love SE. If they abandon them, I'm abandoning SE. AAA has been slowly killing my love for gaming. I game way less than before, and that's not primarily due to decreased time. All these AAA games are so similar and open world design clashes with RPG design. I miss my JRPGs.
they are not allowed to die until they make me Triangle Strategy 2 or they give Team Asano their independence
then they can die
@Sigismund697 Triangle Strategy was so good, and there's plenty more they could do to expand on it further. Look at how much Oxtopath Traveler 2 was improved over the first one, it would be a bummer if Triangle Strategy didn't get similar treatment.
If square is putting more focus on games like rebirth rather than mobile or live service garbage than it’s not a huge loss in the long run
Really? Are you a businessman? An investor? Do you know how video game finances work in the long run? Do you know what they’ll even look like in the long run?
You know you don’t know that, you’re saying that because it’s what you want. And I do too, but don’t act like you know how the entire gaming market works. It’s comments like these that make it so hard to agree with anything in the section.
The FF7 remakes are not doing super hot. I thought the first was mediocre and definitely not getting the second part. The second also dropped significantly in sales compared to the first and I expect the third to drop even more.
Splitting the game into three was a dumb idea and they pushed themselves into a corner.
@@lemonlime8949omg, gimme a break 🙄😮💨
@lemonlime8949 you're none of the above either... just an attention seeking kid 😂
@@lemonlime8949why would we care about those things as consumers
Back when Square Enix was two separate entities as Squaresoft and Enix, it seemed like they could do no wrong. These days, it feels like they can’t do anything right.
It’s as though they’re actively trying to forget the games that made them who they were.
This comment was based on nothing lol
That's because Enix has never been good at making games. All the good masterpieces have always come from SquareSoft!
I been saying this for years. They are lazy at making remakes & remasters & are incompetent at making games even run decent.
Take Chrono Cross Steam version for example - They eventually released a patch to make it back to 60fps like original ps1 but absolutely broke the game after 1 or 2 years later (A fan fixed most of its issue's within 2 weeks😂). The launcher is black screen, the game crashes randomly, no proper 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio, half arsed port & still haven't addressed any of its worse issue's.
The companies a joke man I'm glad they are losing money!
@@Kennosuke88 Dragon Warrior? Actraiser? Enix made good games.
The moment they merged together is the downfall of enix and squaresoft
I'm pretty sure Square lost money on the NFT game they were keep talking about in 22-23
My biggest concern with Square Enix is how they manage their expectations.
Every game they put out has to have some extraordinary figure otherwise it’s a great failure. So when a game does well but not extraordinary, they’re disappointed.
Remember when Mankind Divided sold millions yet it was considered a failure.
Thats the problem with stupid crazy expensive to make games, you have to sell extremely well yes or yea
Yea, the fact gaming has blown up and caught investors attention is also an issue. As an investor myself, if there isnt an increasing profit forecast, investors will leave, so in an effort to keep the money coming in, they forecast increasing numbers YOY. So if FF7 remake did really well, they expect Rebirth to do just as well, plus 20% increase over what Remake did. Unfortunately gaming is not growing and has remained stagnent which is why many are "missing" their targets. They then fire people to inflate that bottom line for investors.
Square Enix will make freaking Tetris into a live service game going forward
They don't own Tetris, at least, I don't *think* they do.
Don't give them ideas!
Nintendo technically beaten them to the punch with Tetris 99.
@@ZW_Zacattack99 And it's awesome.
@@patrickjyeah, except it hasn’t been updated in years, so you can’t get most of the past themes.
Reviews for games like Endless Ocean can’t be taken seriously. “Boring” is another word for “no shooty-shooty, bang-bang” for some of these people.
The game is supposed to be calming and honestly though they really caught my attention there
From what the reviews describe though, it sounds like it’s lacking a lot of what made the original Wii games worthwhile. Hopefully it’s not that bad, but heavy procedural generation could really suck the life out of a game like that.
I admit that I don't even know about endless ocean I however played subnautica and I loved it
That just sounds like cope that Nintendo released a mediocre game
very true
The HD-2D games aren’t the games that take a lot of time to develop though.
Would be a huge loss to the variety of games SQE has been putting out which I enjoyed a lot.
Live a live sold well and charted in Japan. Stuff like Forspoken loses all the money.
To be fair, this is pretty much exactly what the new President of Square said he wanted to do when envisioning the future of the company. It's not like it was an abrupt response to something specific.
Square Enix stocks went up because of this news despite being fundamentally bad news at face value.
Its easy for SE to solve this. stop making live service garbage, garbage mobile games, stop investing in NFTs, and start going multiplatform!
Nothing wrong with NFT incorporation, mate. 5 minutes of research for you to actually realise NFT, when utilized properly can be used as a legitimate asset.
When tokenizing an asset like a house as an NFT on blockchain using crypto tech such as XDC, it brings forth greater transparency and advantages for the seller and buyer as clear transparency is irrefutable and embedded within the blockchain for all to witness.
Gone of the days of sifting through paperwork or emails and buyers can easily view information of former owners, tax rates and any other legality issues that may arise via the use of NFTs and simple use of the NFT code.
As long as they don’t develop NFT games, NFT as a piece of technology is something that will benefit industries like entertainment like it has done with real estate.
@@cbgg1585Found the bagholder
@@SlowestGuyyCrypto bros are unsalvageable. You could put a mirror in front of them and they still wouldn’t see the stupidity.
Also, have your cake and eat it, too. Have your indie games *and* your blockbusters coexist with each other rather than prioritizing one or the other.
Final Fantasy VII is garbage. Just focus on the next FF. Not these trash remakes
Square Enix made a lot of bad business decisions. Selling off major IPs, limiting the amount of exposure to their current games to Playstation on consoles and the Epic games store on PC, focusing on live service games and screwing up their IPs with bad story writing(, look on Forspoken). The main thing they have to change is their distribution model, combined with their IP management.
They barely even sold their IP and studios. They got rid of them to break even from their debts.
Well from what we’ve seen with Embracer. Those studios and IPs they sold were worse off than what we originally thought
Good point, they fck up with selling their pc ports to epic, the limbo of pc games.
IPs with bad story writing (looking at you FF7 remake series)
SE for more than a decade has been poorly managed.
Square Enix are just upset they can't blame their loses on Eidos anymore.
It's about content creators too that ruin everything
@@darkspartan566 Wtf are you talking about?
@@jessekoepp3928 figure out the riddle
@@darkspartan566 Oh I see, you're ARE just a simpleton with nothing to say at all except: "Blame *them* for everything!" . 🙄
You're right, I should *never* have gifted you with the assumption you *might* not be as dumb as you sound. I won't make that mistake again, you are *exactly* what you sound like. Riddle solved lol.
I really hope SE doesn’t stop making AA size games. They just don’t need to make 30 and release them all at once which are all subpar. Just one or two a year that are really well crafted and polished.
yeah, AAA games are so expensive nowadays that you'd have to sell *a lot* just to break even, spiderman 2 sold over 10 million units and insomniac still got hit with layoffs, meanwhile AA games can be more experimental/riskier since it doesnt have to sell as much to make a profit plus they take far less time to make
Nice subtle “too much water” joke
remember when Square Enix released NEO TWEWY without featuring it in some sort of direct and blatantly did not show it off in their own live show conference for E3?
I also remember that S-E ordered some retailers in Japan to hide the fact that NEO TWEWY was coming to the Nintendo Switch for some reason
You gotta wonder how Square Enix even stays open given how often they complain about not making enough money.
I think Square just doesn't listen to their fans, for one example an OG FF7 1 for 1 remake, fan's been asking for it for 20 years.
The remake we got is a good game we don't need a one to one remake.
@@chasejackson7248 I think we do, fans been wanting a 1 to 1 remake of the OG FF7 for the past 20 years, there are ton of Moders who been doing just that but cant even get close to a full remake so the Demand and desire is there and I doubt they wont stop crying for one till they get it.
@@chasejackson7248Speak for yourself
I didn't like the combat so I didn't buy it
It's unfortunate that SquareEnix chose to go exclusive instead of going Multi-platform, i want to see the sale report again once released on PC. 🤔
A lot of people will have lost interest after that much time so they won't be that good
Thats why I haven't picked up FF7 Rebirth yet, I don't have a PS5 so I have to wait for PC release to play it.
i dont think pc sells will move the needle as much as ppl want to believe here. ff7 remake sold 7m copys. 1m from steam and i guess much less on epic.ff on xbox doesnt sell at all and nintendo systems are just not strong enough for mainline ff games anymore.
It may sell a million copies but pirated 5 times that on PC.
@@zonedaiatlas I thought the console exclusive players that think that every single PC player pirates games were a myth, guess not
I have never seen howlongtobeat be even remotely accurate. They report the time too low 100% of the time. All I can figure is they are basing the number on someone using a guide and knowing exactly what to do and 1 shotting every boss
Well, the time is based on account holders putting their estimated times in to do those tasks. Who knows how long it took them really, could be distracted while playing or using guides/walkthroughs/let's plays...
I love how spawn had to really clarify what he ment when he said he likes the visuals of Stellar Blade 😂.
The AA games from Square Enix like the Mana games or the Star Ocean 2 remake are the ones I'm more interested in, so it's a real bummer if they end up abandoning those to focus on just the next Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts. Should really get the SO2 remake team to follow it up with a Blue Sphere remake.
The problem w square/enix and any publicly traded company is that a financial loss is defined by "projected sales" which can be huge vs practical sales if they have a disconnect 2 their user base
Square Enix better not be getting rid of some good games we been waiting on. Doing larger games seems worse imo i liked all the smaller releases
With James Mccaffrey having passed away I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about a remake without him. His voice was so iconic that it was the soul of the series and without him it just won't feel the same.
When did he die?
@@MasterZebulin earlier this year. It was some type of cancer.
Think Square Enix is claiming these losses for tax purposes? 🤔 I don’t know how that stuff works in other countries
I said this a month ago and all the Fanboys wanted to jump on me, I've been gaming for over 30 years so I'm very familiar with the numbers. If a game costs 95 million to make it doesn't break even unless it sells at least 5 million copies. Rebirth did not officially say how much it cost to make, but it's not hard to place it around 300 million, twice as much as part 1 where they did state that one was 140 million. The game struggled to sell a few million copies, equaling a massive net loss.
So your credentials are "gaming for over 30 years"?
@@NuiYabuko My credentials is having enough experience to know how much it costs to make a game, how much of that goes into advertising, how much of it is a licensing fee, how much is paid towards retail fees, and how much the studio gets in return. A business is simple math, and I'm also a retired financial advisor.
It shouldn't cost twice as much making Rebirth just going on the fact the programmers should now: 1. Be a lot more familiar with the engine they are using.
2. A good chunk of assets were already created for the first part, even if a good chunk can't really be used again as is, but possible reskin.
3. Doesn't seem to be so much longer that the costs should have ballooned to fit that fact.
Now it may have been more expensive to make since the pandemic messed up how it would have been worked on, a more reasonable estimated cost would be $200-220 million.
@@callak_9974 That's like saying it shouldn't have cost 300 million to make Spider-Man 2, but it did. Let's just say the estimate is way off and they actually did it for $200 million, the game would still have a massive net loss. Even if this was correct and it was the 200 to 220 estimate as you have stated, that would actually push it to around 300 by the time you include the other factors that I mentioned, because the 200 to 220 figure would be just the development cost alone. There are rumors that Sony could be funding half of these projects, but there's no way to prove it, and even then it's not good for either one of them with these kind of figures, it only softens the damage.
Square losses Money? Wonder why... NFTs, Live Service ect. They need to wake up and make Games for the players, not for the Investors.
My interpretation of square enix recent post is that they’re going for quality now and not quantity.
Funding for Forspoken could have gone to finishing final fantasy xv, recent flops also could have gone to targeted marketing for rebirth to help with sells.
Yeah I have no idea where they got that 15 hours to beat Stellar Blade thing. I'm like 25hrs in and just passing halfway. Not that I"m complaining, I'm loving it.
Hi Fi Rush is in this weird position of when it should come to porting the game onto a Nintendo platform. They can release it on Switch now but cut corners so it can run well there. They can also just wait for the next system, but given it might still be a long time before we it's revealed, the hype/interest in the game might have died down by then.
Actually making it a launch title for the switch 2 might be a great idea.
and if they want a switch 1 version they can always release it along side.
Square should do nothing but NFTs and FTP. I’m sure it would work. Let’s get massive unattainable battle passes in FF Online.
Very funny that "too much water" joke 😊
Anyone else notice that Game Pass is getting a lot of repeat games? I'm pretty sure I played Kona (the first one) and the Brothers game through GP before.
Probably for the people who missed out last gen.
@@ObiWanShinobi67 last gen?
@@TheMysteryDriver weren't these xbox one games? Tomb raider and brothers
@@ObiWanShinobi67 honestly I forgot. The way this generation is I find it hard to distinguish what was for one or series x. Same with PS4 and 5. Another reason I think a Pro PS5 doesn't make sense.
Square Enix should sell the entirety of the Xenogears IP to Monolithsoft and Nintendo.
One can dream...
Square needs to collab with Nintendo and make a kingdom hearts like game using Nintendo IPs. I'd love a Mario RPG but action based. Have bowser be an actual FF type boss.
@@byronbarrientos8471 They did make Super Mario RPG together, so what would be interesting would be a follow up game to that. Geno needs more screen time!
FF7 Rebirth performance kinda makes sense though, as they keep funneling down its potential audience... only PS5, only if you LIKED Remake, only if you PLAYED Remake, which is probably only if you liked the original FF7, and if you did, IF you like new action controls
The reviews for Endless Ocean just described the game I already thought I was preordering.
SE logic doesn't make any sense. The smaller games are making them money. They are losing money on their bigger titles.
I wonder if square moving away from smaller projects will mean they can allocate resources to the bigger projects and shave the development time down a bit
The only thing I really want to see from the Activision portion of the showcase is the Transformer games, Deadpool, and the Activision Spider-Man and Wolverine games hit Backwards Compatibility. Anything besides that will either be irrelevant to me or extra/bonus, depending on what other games they mention.
PREACH MY GUY!
The Backwards Compatibility program was done a long time ago.
i just want a spyro 4 already.... its been 6 years since reignited and nothing has came out since
@@ZW_Zacattack99
The Backwards Compatibility program never had access to Activision games. It ended because they didn't have access to any more 360 games. Now... they do.
Regarding SE, my issue with Rebirth wasn’t them changing things from the original, but rather the multiverse stuff. I liked how at the end of remake they opened the idea of things changing, but the way things went in rebirth with the multiverse completely lost me. Adore the OG, love remake, lost me at Rebirth, will probably wait for a sale for the last one :(
I think it’s a really bad idea for any game developer to only focus on “bigger budget” titles. If one fails, you’ll see massive cutbacks and downsizing to appease investors. Two failures and the entire company may be at risk.
Smaller games allow consistent income at a much lower cost. They are needed to bridge the bigger releases and soften any big failures. Square just needs to be more tactical with its release schedule.
Sounds like the same old crap " we projected to make *x* amount of money" then when they didn't make as much as they thought it was " oh no we lost *x* amount of money" no you didn't lose anything you counted your chickens before they hatched genius.
With Square Enix canceling a bunch of games makes me doubtful that we will ever get PowerWash Simulator 2
Expect to see more SaGa games since they just released Emerald Beyond and potentially going to remaster Frontier 2.
One thing that makes me think Hi Fi Rush will be the current Switch is that Limited Run Games announced months ago that they will be releasing a physical copy of it, but they never put it up for preorder. Whenever someone asks about it, they are told that it will be coming soon. My theory is they will put the PS5, Xbox, and Switch ones up for preorder together, as they never split up their games with preorder windows, so they are literally waiting on that announcement now.
Square Enix could single-handedly solve their financial woes if they reprinted physical editions of the Pixel Remasters lol. I would have bought a copy for Playstation and Switch and kept it wrapped, which means I would’ve bought a digital copy on both platforms as well.
They could be porting some of their older untranslated games. Or what would also be awesome, a collection of the Quintet games. Actraiser, Actraiser 2, Robotrek, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia/Time, Robotrek, Terranigma. Physical and for modern consoles. The first three in 1 collection, the other in another (those ones seem very related to each other if you've played them).
Sony tried the same strategy to just concentrate in triple aaa games and so far its not going well for them.
Yeah that was Jim Ryan who squandered and wasted it all for over 10 lives games as a service which failed miserably.
😅🤣😂🤣😅🤣is that why they dropped 10 billion , is that why they have closed studio's down , is that why they're having layoffs , is that why they're cutting budgets back , you can blame this on Jim Ryan but he new a majority of Sony's money came from Call of Duty a Live Service Game
@@charlesbronson1959 I'm really questioning if like they weren't joking abt that comment about call of duty :/
@@charlesbronson1959 It just goes to show you wth is wrong with the management at Square. They got rid off the last CEO who cause these problems and now this idea. Some of their smaller titles were actually making money.
I'm not sure what IGN expected from Endless Ocean; it's pretty much just like the first one, but bigger and with more content. I believe the Wii version had a higher review back then. Oh well, time changes the perspective of anything.
Nice episode but just a heads up that I think you forgot to shoutout the Comment of the Day for Members 😅
The fact they continually pushed the series x as the most powerful console but are prepared to move on from it so soon shows a lack of faith in their products & also a slap in the face of gamers who put money down to purchase it only to turn around & ask them to do it again. I believe this would be their shortest console generation after the original to 360, but we gather they did that to get the jump on Sony & for the most part, it worked. I, for one, will not spend my hard earned money again, so quickly, especially if they charge the same or more for a box or speaker shaped console without a disc drive. I will admit the handheld holds an appeal, but i will wait & see.
MS's shortest generation was the OG Xbox release 2001-2005
What are you talking about? Square isn't Microsoft. Microsoft makes the Xbox. The irony of what you said is that Microsoft is making a massive profit this Qtr, Square isn't. A huge part of because MS ISN'T doing what Square is doing which is only doing exclusives. Notice that FF16, AND rebirth didn't meet expectations...and guess what? both those games are exclusive. The exclusivity practice is a Dying tradition, it has nothing to do with not having faith in Series X, MS will still make them. Even Sony is porting many of it's exclusive titles over to PC, so who cares if MS is doing the same
@@charlesbronson1959 yeah i mentioned that in my comment.
@@ragingtyga Many practices today have changed as Xbox care less about the device you use to play their games aslong as the games get out there whether you use gamepass on console or pc or now start to purchase select titles on the other platforms, profit is key . Sony has started to port over to PC but only after a year or two after release when the profit from selling on console has reached it's limit & then they have a second bump in profits from PC players. I don't think exclusives are dead but simply they are becoming less of a selling point for some. I understand square have underperformed with their recent FF releases due to a smaller player base & perhaps the nostalgia pool being smaller what with younger gamers not having the same excitment as those of an older generation. Perhaps it's the expectations they place on releases not hitting what they would qualify as a success considering the money they spent developing them. A more focused approach would be advantageous i imagine. Perhaps i am just from a generation when the console mattered more but i don't understand the need to move on so quickly, surely it would cost them more to develop & manufacture next gen machines than to continue with their current hardware. I imagine their quarterly profits would not greatly increase by putting out another machine but who am i but a consumer who is less knowledgeable about such practices as the companies employing them.
@@joet6434 right, and I'm glad Microsoft acts that way. You should want to buy a console because you WANT to, not because you're "forced" to. Only goofy ass fanboys think otherwise. I have an Xbox series X, a PC, and a switch. I prefer my Xbox, because of the ease of use, the interface, and how seamlessly I jump in and out of a game. I could give a rats ass about exclusives
SE just loves to go bigger and bigger with their games, but I'd love a proper JRPG Final Fantasy again, I think it would make so much more profit than the big open-world action ones.
Give me Square Enix, that company has so many properties that they could release their own console with no third party support and beat all the competitors!
I do wonder if Hi-Fi RUSH is coming to the current Switch to help fill in the gap after the "Switch 2" was delayed. Either that or Hi-Fi RUSH 2 is in the works for next year and there needs to be a bit more separation between the two releases for Switch/Switch 2.
The switch 2 was never delayed because Nintendo never released or announced the switch 2 actually exists
@@haruhisuzumiya6650 it definitely exists. I don't think Nintendo's research and development team is just sitting there totally in their thumbs. It's definitely not called switch 2, but that's just the name everyone gives it. Kind of like in 2010 or so people were calling the next Xbox, Xbox 720.
Dragon Quest is HUGE in Japan that the working class consider a DQ release day a holiday.
yup, dragon quest is so big over there that they had to stop releasing the games on days where ppl are at work/school, cuz ppl kept skipping just to play the new dq game
I hate that modo of subscription service
And on tomorrow's headlines..... CONTROVERSY HITS THE INTERNET!!!!!
I could see hi fi rush running at 60 if they heavily reduced the frame rate of the backgrounds, probably to the point of remaking assets to be 2D. Thinking about how games like Splatoon lock in 60 by making the backgrounds super choppy and low fidelity, I could see Hi-Fi retooling some things to make them just as if not more choppy. Thing with this though is as long as the choppiness matches the beat of the music it will look right at home.
"WAYYYYY too much water. 4/10" - IGN
FF would sell millions if they chose a new art direction for each game like Nintendo does with Zelda. The "Ultra realism" of FF can get boring.
It's a bit sad to hear about Square Enix because Star Ocean 2 R and The DioField Chronicle were some of my favorite games in recent times. I really liked this period for Square Enix.
When they announced the remake would be 3 parts it reeked of a cash grab like when the small book The Hobbit got stretched into 3 very long boring movies… and I’m so glad it blew up in their face!
The only thing I care about in regards to Square Enix is whether or not they will make a new Life is Strange game in the future. (Along with Don't Nod) We're still missing that finale with us playing as Rachel Amber the last day she was alive to tie everything together in the story.
Really enjoying stellar blade! Love that EVE is called an Angel almost like Gunnm (Battle Angel Alita), though Alita was given that nickname. If Speaking Zero doesn't hit this year..pretty sure this is my Game Of The Year
Console warrior found only Xbox exclusives are good.
I agree a lot. Side quests are kind of bland, but other than that, the lore in combination with the actual gameplay is top notch.
Technical wise, Digital Foundry also found this game to be near flawless- so there’s that. Just incredible.
@@jcdenton41100you're even worse = a console warrior hiding behind a fake account 😂😂😂
For me the platforming is kind of meh still a good game.
@@jcdenton41100 You better be joking.
And I don't mind you preferring MS, but the attitude you usually show people is very different to that.
It's gonna end up as a cloud based handheld.
Wow its almost like when you change a turn based franchise into an action franchise you might lose people who liked it the way it used to be.
I think SE is talking about those gacha games that where cancelled back to back, they haved TONS of gacha games now in EOS.
For clarity, Max Payne 1 and 2 run at 4K on Series X. Doubling the frame rate likely causes issues.
I got the feeling that every time square report loss and disapointment on sales for the aaa games , they also report going to doble deep on that type off games.
I want a Dragon Quest 9 remake from Square Enix.
I really hope Bahamut Lagoon wasn't one of the cancelled projects by Square Enix. Really hoping it gets the HD-2D treatment.
The problem with polling anything about Stellar Blade is bc the game is so contentious, those who can't even play the game will vote and distort the outcome
I wish Square Enix would go back to putting out smaller, more experimental games. Bangers like Einhander come to mind.
If Square was smart they would build a main base game, make it bug free, generic and a blank slate but working 100%....and then create/branch off 3 ideas from there and and create 3 separate games. This would speed up development time and save costs.
All devs should consider doing it.
If Square can focus on games like Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, DQ and the Nier series and get them to release quicker, I’m all for it. Financially speaking, these are better prospects when it comes to sales.
Yeah man. They were too greedy with a …not-so-stellar gameplan.
Perhaps to you but what about the ones that would like the tactics, star ocean, octopath traveler or parasite eve.
@@stewarde17 I would want a bigger budget Parasite Eve, possibly a remake of the first one but let’s face it, game development is too costly at the moment and their huge AAA games didn’t sell that well and the smaller JRPGs are even worse - what they need to do at the moment is focus on releasing quality games based on strong IP first and in quick succession just like how Capcom did with Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Monster Hunter. When they have a strong financial stability, they can then tried new ideas and reintroduce the other IPs like how Capcom did with Dragon’s Dogma 2.
I think Square-Enix should just do what Nintendo does which is release one mainline Final Fantasy game each generation, sure they can still do spinoffs and remakes but just focus on one per generation, like how Final Fantasy 13 was on the PS3, then 15 was on the PS4, and now 16 is on the PS5, so I really think 17 should just wait for the PS6
You know that you just explained that they already do that right? (7Remake and Rebirth were the weirdos since they are as big or bigger than mainline)
Was looking over the Square Enix game list and I think they should focus on Final Fantasy, Dragon quest, Mana, Octopath, Kingdome Hearts, Maybe Star Ocean, Ogre Tactics, and I would love a remake of Chrono Trigger.
Endless Ocean is a day one purchase for me! I just want to swim under the ocean and look at fish. This is perfect.
Stop trying to make games of services. Focus on making a great game. Stop trying to nickel and dime your customers.
I still plan to pick up Endless Ocean over the weekend. I see it as a relaxing super chill game to just sit back and enjoy exploring (primarily 1 player/just myself). It has the same vibes for me that Islanders did and that was a super chill game for me and very calming for me. Even with its underlying Tetris vibes game play roots that I very much enjoyed too.
When the new guy took over he said the focus was changing we’re just seeing the financial impact it has had, kind of a nonissue because it has been set in motion for a while
Final Fantasy 14: Keeping the lights on at Square Enix since 2013.
The most am worried about for square, is their smaller titles that are really good like harvestella, octopath, triangle. Etc. I fear they may give up on those, even though they do really well.
Stellar Blade you should be able to finish within 15h, if you desire and just do the Main Story, don't explore, Side Quests, just go through with the Story.
I think a safe move from microsoft would b to have 2 versions of HiFi Rush, one for Switch with graphical and framerate cuts and one for Switch 2 with more graphical details and better framerate. If Switch 2 will be backward compatible with Switch 1 I dont think developers will have to invest too much effort in the second version and they could just take into account the brute force difference and dont bother with the new graphical tricks and features of Switch 2
Square Enix's "smaller" titles are what I consistently buy. If they're cutting out the likes of Star Ocean, Bravely Default (BD2 was horrid trash, but BD and BS were 10/10 imo), Octopath Traveler, LiveALive, etc., I will stop being a Square Enix fan after 20 years playing and loving their games far above all (I got my first "console" when I was 5, and it was the GBA). They're larger titles are what's failing them. Just look at FF7 Remake Trilogy, Forspoken, FF16 (it is dead obvious they were saving face with their report), etc. What a shame. Hoping this means they aren't canceling the DQ3 HD2D remake. I know you mentioned it's safe, but we've heard nothing about that game in years. If Square Enix abandons their JRPGs, I abandon Square Enix.
Square Enix is the perfect case study for the current gaming market. You think you make good games, you make money. The reality now though is people don’t have the money, spare time or attention span for the games that they make. Square is running a 1990s business model in the 2020s.
The old model still works; just look at Nintendo. But SE isn't working from the old model. They've gotten in trouble precisely because they're trying to run a "current" model. They've lost money on live service games and invested in NFT games that no one wants. The games that do sell and make money are claimed to be failures because they didn't make enough money to cover the losses of the "current" model stuff they're investing in. That's why publishers are in trouble right now, because of that "current" model and mismanagement of game budgets. Nintendo has it right. That's why they're the richest company in Japan. You make good games, you make money. That works. But then you get people like Phil Spencer saying that it doesn't work, but he doesn't know how to manage Xbox well and make good games, so it's not like the old model doesn't work; it's just that you got bad management all around.
For the record Sony paid Capcom for the RE Village and RE4 VR ports and funded other games like Legendary Tales and Song In The Smoke Rekindled so it's not like they haven't been supporting their platform with big titles.
I admit I would like to see more output from their first party studios and it's a little worrying seeing what's going on over at Firesprite Studios with the game director of Horizon CoTM being let go.
I may wait to get Luminous. Not because of the gameplay but because it seems to be a live service game. I mean what are they thinking making the legendary animals appear in timed diving events?! I liked hunting for them in Blue World! What happened to video games?
HiFi Rush is coming to the Switch after all. Shame about square Enix, I’m gonna get all their games on Switch while they’re still affordable.
I really think that these timed exclusivity deals are screwing Square. I'm sure there are a good amount of potential players that opted to wait fir the PC release but by the time the pc version is released, the hype isnt there anymore.
Things I'm hopelessly waiting for:
1. DragonQuest 3 HD2D
2. Silksong
3. Any news at all from Nintendo
The problem with SE's management here is that all the games you rattled off could have done better with both a little more time in the oven and more spacing to be able to breathe in the market. They have been shoving titles out left and right, frequently within the same sub-genres, to the point where they are now their own competition instead of spacing out those projects so that each of them has their own window in the calendar and sales year. And I've been afraid of this outcome since their new president talked about a revision to their approach. The lesson they are learning seems to be that of the pendulum, swinging back and forth from minor projects to AAA without actually taking time to adjust your approach and strategy in a slower, more considered fashion that would allow all your developments to thrive.
On that note, if they've cancelled the SaGa Frontier 2 remaster that Kawazu keeps hinting at, I'm gonna be pissed.
The most surprising thing Xbox can do at this showcase is show us that they’ve finally figured what Everwild even is (that’s if it hasn’t been silently cancelled 💀)
You really have to wonder when the "AAA" industry is going to implode under the weight of unsustainable budgets and consumers who are fed up with tiered releases from $70-$250 gating content unless you fork over more cash. Indie games get more and more appealing to people who just want to game, have fun, and not be constantly hit with micro transactions.
You could just pick subnautica over Endless ocean luminous
Abzu is better
They're not the same.
They should have made FF7 remake one game instead of 3. Also you shouldn’t lose your progression. It’s ridiculous losing your progression multiple times in a remake of the most famous JRPG of all time.
So I guess we won't see Bahamut Lagoon officially in the West? Or the Star Ocean 2 sequel Star Ocean Blue Sphere?
Hi-Fi Rush actually has an option for a 30 fps lock, but I'm guessing most people didn't actually need it so it got forgotten? But that's how I played it and I didn't have any issues staying on beat so I'm sure it'll be a great fit for the switch either way.
In regards to Dragon Quest's development, I wonder how the passing of Toriyama will affect that. Seeing as Toriyama was the art designer for Dragon Quest. Will they do what Dragon Ball is doing and have his apprentice take over the design duties for new Dragon Quest games?