What HAPPENED to Square Enix...

Let's discuss some recent issues Square Enix has been having and what's the solution going forward.

[Ukaran]

"FFVII Remake underperformance"

Source: Trust me bro.

[Skelterz]

Lost odyssey is a great example of what’s possible when you take tried and true gameplay and merge it with state of the art graphics it baffles me to this day Square-Enix haven’t seen that game as the perfect example of why they’ve been in the muk for over a decade now.

[theshadowdirector]

A lot of turn based RPG fans don’t just want 16-bit era, pixel, throwbacks, they would like some modern cinematic presentation to go along with it. Doesn’t have to be Final Fantasy 16 level budgets, but maybe something more along the lines of crisis, core, type 0 or some of those kingdom hearts side games.

[Zuhri]

Really have to ask, where did it said that FF7 Remake performed below expectations, considering that FF7 Remake was listed as one of the reasons the company made record profit in 2021? This is from their 2021 Annual Report.

[crunchyblend]

FF7R sold 5 million by August 2020 so in 5 months it sold 5 million since it came out in April 2020 so that sounds pretty good to me

[nyang]

Ff7 remake did not botch both critically and in sales. Maybe it did not hit Elden ring numbers but it still did good.

[KatanaRikku]

I hope FF16 is a really good game that sells really well

[TheSteelers]

VII Remake sold over 3.5 million copies in it's first 3 days and over 5 million in it's first 5 game did not underwhelm from a sales perspective. It took the OG multiple decades to get to 10+ million. If you thought the remake was going to do that in the first year of release, that's just not understanding the genre lol

[nevarinai]

Final Fantasy is the only video game anthology. They seek to shake things up every time in all aspects for better and worse. I think this is a very important staple for the franchise. That the fans don't seem to follow is ultimately a weak point of this creative vision in the gaming space.

I agree with Yoshida that just catering to turn based fans won't grow the franchise (I mean FF15 and FF14 are both the 3rd and 4th highest selling games in the franchise and neither of them are turn based), but I also think that breaking past the og FF7 sales barrier will be harder than just making a phenomenal game. FF7 sold that much not only because it came out at the perfect time, but it also had TONS OF cross-promotional media to support its long term sales, something also true for FF15 and 14. Every new piece of ff7 media produced only increased the sales of the og. Same for 15 and 14 in the case of expansions.

As a man who loved 3D Zelda and hates BOTW, I understand the trepidation fans have here, but I think that FF will always choose to roll this dice because it wants to be different, it doesn't want to stifle itself. You can see it in FF7 Remake, these modern devs want to take the franchise to another level - and I at least admire the ambition.

[DamienDrake]

The primary driving force behind SE's issues is Sony. Sony has almost abandoned the Japan's market forcing 1st and 3rd party studios they have influence over to develop exclusively for Western markets. Sadly when media companies want to gauge interests in America and Europe they go to social media.

[akiinmoonlight]

No one ever said that FF7R underperformed - they just never updated the numbers

But yeah let's hope that we can see a turn based modern spin off besides world of Final Fantasy which people just seem to ignore

[joerogers]

I don’t get when they complain about low sales of their title’s. And then keep releasing them on one platform only.

[idannyhtv]

Lack of awareness to their fanbase seems to be the issue im seeing mostly.

[dreamxhollow]

I'm hoping with this new president, we can see Square come back around. I've been shaking my head alot when it comes to the type of games they green lit and mismanaged. Along with the horrible idea of NFTs and blockchain...

[theholeyfoley]

"Dragon Quest hasn't had anything new for several years". My guy, Dragon Quest Treasures just came out a couple months ago and sold over 6 million copies. Good video overall, though. :)

[papasfritas]

Isnt Matsuda leaving a good thing?
Also, man are you really comparing Pokémon with FF?
Pokémon is the biggest franchise in the world, even bigger than Disney. Lol

[k.b.peterson]

5 million copies in it's first 5 months isn't under performing lmao. Turn base as been phasing out of FF since 10, it's actually weird seeing people still cry over it. Final Fantasy is literally about to start a resurgence and as people continue complaining, I'm going to be back in the glory days.

[wkonmtf]

RE & FF are completely different market demographics (as well as Luigi's Mansion & FF). Also Pokémon, while successful, literally every game that gets released is met with the fans' ripping them apart for sticking to the same formula for the most part - and when they're not, they're commenting on the games being broken or otherwise "unplayable" (whether legitimately or because the graphics aren't what they think they should be, or they didn't put in every single Pokémon).

Dragon Quest Treasure just released not long ago; you talk about different experiences (turn-based and action, etc.) and spin-offs & mainline, but you ignore a Dragon Quest spin-off?

As for Chrono Trigger: as you mentioned, they released a port of it (2018), it's still available to anyone who wants to play it that hasn't already (on PC, sure, but that's hardly an issue), as for it's "quality" by now it has been fixed, at least somewhat, and for everything else, I'm sure there's any number of mods. Why would SE devote resources to a remake/port of that when they've got other projects? granted, they could port it to consoles; though I think they might 2D3D it at some point in the future - the Chrono Cross Radical Dreamers release last year could have very easily been a "Chrono Collection" if they'd slapped on a CT Rom (at the very least). It's absence makes me think they may have bigger plans for it.

As for Forspoken should've been a "classic FF" instead of a new IP, why? So that the gaming market is saturated with the same 5 IPs per company? I doubt SE (or at least Luminous Productions) expected or wanted the game to fail. They probably wanted to create a new IP they could run alongside the others.

Also, SE is most likely in a transition stage right now as they shift focus back towards Japanese games, after selling their western studios last year. I think we'll see them "bounce back" or whatever in the future.

[jairekambui]

The Luigi’s Mansion comparison is a bit ridiculous. It’s a Mario game, pushed hard on a system with a gigantic install base and an extreme focus on first party titles. A lot of children play switch games and many of them probably asked for the game for the holidays or birthdays or whatever. FF7 remake is a console exclusive that targets older gamers and is from a niche genre to boot. Everyone knows jrpgs have stagnated in sales. There are simply too many alternatives to gaming these days for the genre to make a dent in the industry anymore. Japan themselves do not buy console games to the same degree that they used to, and these games are just not that popular in the west. 5-6 million for FF7 sounds fairly impressive when you look at that way.

[MassiveRican]

Such a shame SE hasn’t been able to consistently continue to grow their franchises, they don’t have to be all Final Fantasy either over reliance on just one IP is a problem as well. Their search for an internal game engine so that they don’t have to pay royalties has really hurt them for decades now, but it looks like they may have found it with the FFXVI engine.