Summary
Square Enix’s most recent releases, includingFinal Fantasy 16andFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, failed to meet sales expectations. This is despite both games being widely critically acclaimed, praised by both fans and critics alike.
As reported byBloomberg, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu has admitted that the company had higher expectations for bothFinal Fantasytitles. As a result, he says that Square Enix is making ¥17 billion less than projected in operating income, prompting a change of strategy.
It was previously reported thatFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth’s sales dropped by 90 percentin just two weeks in Japan.
This disappointment with the sales of the latest Final Fantasy games is compounded by the poor performance ofFoamstars, Square Enix’s foray into the online shooter genre. This isn’t particularly surprising, as its launch was overshadowed bycontroversy surrounding the game’s monetisation, with the most expensive cosmetic sets going for $45. On top of this, the game was free via PlayStation Plus for its first month of release.
Square Enix’s New Strategy Following Poor Sales
Due to this string of poor performances, it’s reported that Square Enix is changing up its long-running strategy of releasing all of its games on PlayStation first and porting to other platforms later. Kiryu adds that this will include releases on Xbox, PC, and even Nintendo platforms, presumably its next-gen console, given that this iswidely believed to be launching early next year.
It was separately reported yesterday byVGCthat Square Enix is also planning to lay off workers in Europe and the US. If true, this will come into effect very soon, with sources saying that those affected in the US could be out of work by June. Square Enix has yet to respond to these claims, and the layoffs have not been announced publicly at the time of writing.
It’s unclear when this new strategy will come into place. If the Square Enix president is looking to turn around the company’s fortunes sooner rather than later, then it’s possible that the next entry in the Final Fantasy remake series will simultaneously launch across multiple platforms, breaking its temporary PlayStation exclusivity. In the meantime, we still don’t have PC ports of Final Fantasy 16 and Rebirth, and it’s not clear when these will launch.
