Square Enix Income Tanks 78%! Final Fantasy 16 Ruins The Future Of Mid Range Games?

Square Enix have had an absolute dumper of a fiscal quarter and the news is going in on it. About Final Fantasy 16, its sales, its success or failure, the reasons for such drop in share price. Following the drop, new CEO Kiryu announced that Square Enix would be pulling their focus away from mid range games to focus more on triple A titles. Right move? Is Final Fantasy 16 at fault? Or are Square just dumping some debt on a bad quarter from long built up history of failures.

[J___G_]

The mid range games in the 90s were some of best games ever made. We need more Xenogears, FFT and Parasite Eve or ideas like these

[AncestorEmpire]

FF16 didn’t ruin Square Enix.
SE’s obsession with NFT’s ruined their company.
But they will never admit they have a problem.
Just like Kupka would never admit that he was played like a fiddle.

[FinalFantasyPeasant]

TLDW: Hell no FF16 isn't the 'cause' of mid range games getting phased out. That's all on Square and their past failures/lack of vision in that department. I also don't think FF16 is to blame for this operating income dump. Between the MMO & mobile sector drop, paying off 16 dev costs up front, aswell as past amortised debts/investments being juggled. 
Placing this latest news entirely at the doorstep of FF16 like most articles are is silly IMO. Aswell as Square for their expectations clearly being out of whack when they took the game exclusive

[shirox]

It’s not 16s fault. 16 still met targets, but at the lower end of expectations. The absolute flop that is Forspoken hurt them far more. Along with a weak mobile sector (that should see a boost with ever crisis ) and lastly with there reliable money maker in Xiv being in a meh period (but that too should see an uptick over the next while with the recent Dawntrail announcement)


Just a side note: I wanna say first that i loved 16, but i agree on the very limited replay ability. Specially when i compare it to something like FF7 R where the HM significantly changed how i play the game.

7 R wasn’t multi plat at release it was ps4 only (which to be fair did have a much higher install base) Though by now i am sure its sales are fare higher as the last numbers we got where 5 mil 4 months after release so that doesn’t even count pc sales or ps5 sales.

[FinalFantasyPeasant]

I just can't help but think of all the juicy mid range titles we COULD have had, with all that western experimentation money they wasted. I GUARANTEE if they had spent the money in that department. On beautiful, intriguing, artistic, innovative mid range games to complement the BIG triple A titles in the franchises they are loved & known for. They would have made WAY more money... or not even just WAY more... they would have made money. Instead of huge losses.

The problem isn't about Triple A or mid range. Its about the types of game SE have been making.

[paledrake]

What caused them to tank this much was their NFT obsession and the failure of both Marvel's Avengers and Forspoken. FF16 did good despite being a next-gen console exclusive, I'd be surprised if it somehow did better.

[ThaNinjazTube]

What they mean by this seems to be that instead of doing 12 mid range games and 2 big games.
They'll do 8 mid range games and 3 big games.

If anything it sounds like they're nearing a better balance.

[MakoTenseii]

I really just hope this doesnt affect Star Ocean. It feels like the series is finally starting to stand on its feet with a new mainline title and a remake of 2. I really just want more from the series especially cuz its been a big gap since star ocean 5

[Enharmony]

Square's output in the SNES and PS1 eras was absolutely bonkers!
Fun fact: Their top 3 games on Metacritic were ALL released in 2000 in NA on PS1 -- FF9, Chrono Cross, Vagrant Story.
And then you have other masterpieces like FF Tactics & Xenogears..
The quality. The creativity. The awesomeness.

On mid-range games, I want more of them not less! They've been some of the best stuff they've done lately. Octopath, Bravely Default, Tactics Ogre Reborn, Triangle Strategy, Live A Live, Trials of Mana.. all of these were great, and all of them sold really well.

[SteelAngelVikki]

It's a shame, Star Ocean The Divine Force and Valkyrie Elysium came out in the same fiscal quarter, I played them both, I enjoyed them both. Both were slightly flawed (but forgivable because mid range) and NOBODY was talking about them. Sales were probably a flop and it's because Square made no effort to expose a wider audience to them.

[matthagen]

FFXVI is the first mainline FF since X I that I loved. This is such a dogshit situation that Square Enix delivers a great Final Fantasy game and it struggles financially.

[XWDK]

Should have made Jill playable as well. JP would have loved that.

[shaifs]

This is not Final Fantasy 16’s fault. The game wasn’t even outblast quarter. What is responsible is more like what has been brewing for the last 6-9 months.

[will-love-lvx]

I honestly think they need to focus on what they do/did best which are solid fun Role Playing Games. No NFT's, maybe SOME mobile games...I mean, look at the golden age of Square. Games like Parasite Eve, Xenogears, Chrono Series. Bring back IP's we all crave and focus on innovations in those systems. As soon as I can afford it, I'm going to get 16 because I'm a long time Final Fantasy fan but I want gameplay and from what I understand the game is lacking in actual role playing aspects, Dungeons and reasons to explore. I'm hoping that Dragon Quest 12 is going to scratch that itch completely though. I really hope that things turn around for SE in any case.

[Ridghost]

SE has had this weird strategy of blaming sales figures of successful franchises to pull attention away from the real culprits. Often the Laura Croft series would hit great numbers, but would take the blame for the poor overall performance of SE as a company... when it would be other games which weren't actually making money.

[afrocloud]

I love Square Enix. But this is a foolish move. Focusing on more AAA and shelving development on their AA games is going to hurt them more.

Just when you think they are getting their act together, they make reactive yet boneheaded decision like this. They would be fine if developed more mid range games and take their time developing them. And marketing them better.

[johndoh]

Matsudas time the past few years has really hampered the reputation of the company and quality of the games

[ferdk]

If they touch Octopath (or whatever project that team is working on) I'm throwing hands

[omarw]

I'm so worried that this means we won't get a Paranormasight sequel which would suck so much cause that game was damn near a masterpiece and easily one the most underrated games of 2023 (unsuprising since it's a visual novel).

[dreamer]

With FF14, FF7R and now FF16 - there’s no way I’m going to criticize Square Enix. As a long time fan, I feel FF is back in shape again. However I do believe they need a “Final Fantasy Classic” series, a mid range FF with traditional gameplay to please long time fans.