New FFXIII and Versus trailers are new

[Makoeyes987]

Well I'm not arguing how they do their trailers. I'm not denying the fact they emphasis their FMVs, story and character designs first, and then show the gameplay afterwards, however your own perspective and anecdotal evidence is hardly a criterion to judge if suddenly their method of advertising is somehow losing its edge here.

Every franchise is going to lose fans because of change or some other arbitrary reason, especially today when gamers now have to be very selective in what games they buy, due to their lightening wallet. But new fans also come in too. For every one fan that loses interest there could be two to take their place because they actually *like* what's going on. Why do you think they keep innovating their games and trying to attract a more main stream audience? You can't really judge a specific complaint like that without actually looking at some more concrete proof, like sales of Final Fantasy suddenly plummeting or Square-Enix suddenly hemorrhaging money like they did when they were still Squaresoft and "Spirits Within" became the second greatest animated film bomb in history. That would be an example of them doing something terribly wrong and suffering the consequences. A quarterly loss due to the ever widening global recession isn't quite "proof positive" of what you're saying.

 

[Max Payne]

You people say this shit like SE needs to advertise their shit.

SE did lose a lot of money this year though, I wouldn't attribute it entirely to the economy though, they just didn't release as many of their products as usual imo.

I am looking forward to seeing Dissidia's sales however.

 

[Cthulhu]

[quote author=Dacon link=topic=115.msg4287#msg4287 date=1230245544]
SE did lose a lot of money this year though, I wouldn't attribute it entirely to the economy though, they just didn't release as many of their products as usual imo.
[/quote]

Oh I'm sure they did, especially with them developing at least two very big titles at the same time, probably more unannounced ones. But I'm also fairly sure there's still a lot of people still playing FFXI, which can be a pretty big and solid source of income for Square.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Well that's the thing Dacon, you're probably right. Most companies in the electronics sector didn't see the consumer base suddenly shrinking back, credit getting harder to secure and cost increases coming over the horizon. Square probably thought they could produce less, focus more on their projects for 2008-09 and kinda relax in 2007 with lesser projects. But that plan didn't work, at least in the US.

Square Enix can have several commercial successes (which they did in 2007)that earn a shitload of money but due to market factors, increases in the cost of production, and the difficulty in maintaining or gaining more credit, end up having profits that shrink and thus they don't meet their projected profit goal. Even if all their games sell like hotcakes, they could still lose money if they're still not getting more of a return than what they put in making the actual product.

I do think (and hope) 2008 and 2009 will be a better year, since they have *a lot* more new stuff coming out and are branching out beyond Sony. But with the way things are for all game and electronic companies, it's not really assured. Several major companies *are* gonna take a hit, but the strength of a company isn't in how they keep perpetually going, its in how they're able to handle difficult times and then bounce back when its over.

 

[Max Payne]

SE also covers a lot of it's losses thanks to all the anime and manga they help produce I'm told.

 

[Makoeyes987]

Yup, its all about being able to take the hit

They can recover their losses in their many subsidiaries that are not part of gaming.

Why do you think they merged with Enix in the first place and continued their other non-video game subsidaries? To be fair though, Enix needed the help too, they were both up shit's creek, but Enix was chosen for a reason. And why else would they get involved in manga, merchandise, and the like? It's all a careful balancing act XD

That's very, very true too.

 

[Max Payne]

No shit Mako.

Want a medal?

 

[Makoeyes987]

Only if I can stab you with it first, smart ass

 

[Cthulhu]

(...) and are branching out beyond Sony.

I like you know like totally think that's a good idea. Currently, Sony sucks arse for having a system that's far more expensive than its direct competitors, and because of both that and not as much games getting released on it, people are less likely to goan get one, even if the few exclusive titles they have could be worth it.

Seriously, I've heard enough stories about games being released much later for the PS3 because it's apparently a lot more difficult to develop for than 360 and PC, and even about PS3 versions getting cancelled for the same reasons.

If I was Square, I'd give up on national pride and port some of their games to the 360, screw console exclusivity in favor of getting a lot more sales. Although I'm kinda sure they've already set the exclusivity of XIII for the PS3 in stone, being the first next-gen FF and all, :/.

Speaking of, I'm actually a bit surprised Square decided to do XII for the PS2, being one of the last big titles for that generation of consoles, instead of taking the chance of being one of the first major titles for next-gen consoles like they were with FFVII, if I remember correctly.

 

[Makoeyes987]

LOL, Square knows this but old habits die hard.

And they knew the PS3 wasn't gonna sell that well at launch, hence they put XII on the tried and true system. Why risk and jeopardize their Final Fantasy franchise with a PS3, when they can put on what works and is in households already, and thus reap the gilz?

The PS3's lackluster performance is one of the reasons why ACC is being delayed too. They felt no rush to get ACC completed in 2008 due to the PS3's weak performance and Blu-Ray not being the definitive HD medium. Now that it's been settled and HD-DVD is gone, and PS3 sales are getting a little better, they're gonna give it a shot now.

But Sony really needs to get it in gear. They're gonna have to step it up and realize not everyone's made of money in order to get their product to sell.

 

[Max Payne]

Actually it's been stated by several Developers, from EA, and Capcom that's it's not hard to develop for at all.

It's mainly the price of the console holding it back.

 

[Nancysing]

Aaaagh...I'm addicted to the FFXIII Versus trailer...
I can't stop watching it. Prior to seeing it, I had little interest in the FF13 Fabula thing, but now, I can't get enough.
Even though there's only cutscenes.
And that nothing is coming NA-way for a very, very, long time.
And I do not even have a PS3.
Hopefully I'll 'recover', soon.