Square Enix Faces 10 Billion Yen Loss in Restructuring Efforts

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

It is kind of fascinating how clownshoes SE has become, though it's mostly on the Square side. Eidos is doing fine with quality, but if the newest Tomb Raider selling 3.4 mil is considered disappointing then maybe they should scale back budgets a bit.

The Enix side is also fine quality-wise, but they only ever pump out Dragon Quest once in a blue moon and SE is so convinced the DQ is dead in America that they gave publishing rights to Nintendo...who proved that isn't the case.

The Square side is just a complete joke now. They only pump out FF games and the occasional KH title, but have completely crippled themselves in terms of diversity due to most of the creators of their other series (Mana, Front Mission, Parasite Eve, Ogre Battle, etc) having left due to the bullshit the company is doing nowadays. And that's before you get into the fact that its current pool of talent is PATHETIC. When Kitase keeps trying to cram a talentless hack like Toriyama down our throats as the next Sakaguchi, the execs clearly show they have no eye for talent. And poor Nomura keeps getting screwed over with Versus XIII delays from Toriyama yanking team members away from the VS XIII team so he can keep trying to convince us Lightning is some deep, revolutionary character (she's not, Toriyama). Square just really needs a refresh on talent and they could start by sacking idiots like Kitase and Toriyama.

 

[Smiley Face]

Oh, for crying out loud.

You know, thinking on it, I'd have to say that the Western-developed games that Square Enix has published have made it the publisher with perhaps the best track record I've experienced. I got a huge kick out of DX:HR, Tomb Raider, Hitman, etc. - haven't tried Sleeping Dogs, but I'm tempted.

It's preposterous that when they're making progress in diversifying themselves away from the anchor of the Final Fantasy Franchise, giving them room to survive any potential pitfalls there, they then take that progress and throw it under the bus so they can avoid lowering expectations - which, frankly, might be a good thing for them.

I mean, are they this self-deluded, or are they trying to look strong on the home front, or is there something I'm not seeing here?

Either way, they'd best leave their western IPs and devs alone. I like their stuff, dammit.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Can we stop pretending that Square Enix's troubles don't stem from having to make the same MMO twice? Sales for those games weren't as high as you wanted? Okay, now explain why you needed them to be so high.

While it may make sense to a more academic mind, as a business, you never, ever EVER publicize your weakness or operating figures unless you're absolutely required to (usually by law).

Savvy competitors can pick up on those weaknesses and exploit them in a number of ways.
It's why you always see companies eager to produce full sales figures up front when the going is good, but incomplete sales figures when something bombs.

Again, except where required by law.