SE cancels several in-development games

[Russell]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110058-CEO-Square-Enix-Has-Become-Weaker-Than-Expected

Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada explains why the company lost so much money last year and how it hopes to recover in the future.

Square Enix recently published a revised financial forecast where the company projected a loss of around ¥12 billion ($148 million) for the financial year ending on March 31, 2011. Not good. CEO Yoichi Wada explains that the company's methods had unexpectedly become weak, and may take a year or two to bring back up to speed.

Speaking at an investor's briefing (via Andriasang), Wada admitted: "Our game development has become weaker than expected. Revamping it will take one or two years."

¥4.5 billion of the losses were partially related to the development of Final Fantasy XIV, which received such a poor response that Square Enix still still isn't charging a monthly fee for it more than 6 months after release, and the cancellation of multiple titles. Wada revealed that Square Enix suffered from poor internal communication between project leads and subordinates, in addition to a work environment where employees weren't able to properly divide tasks amongst each other.

To bring the company back into profitability, Wada laid out a plan that includes the development of 5 brand new IPs. These IPs would join established franchises such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, and Hitman. Two would come from Square Enix's Tokyo branch, one from Eidos Montreal, one from IO Interactive, and one from Square Enix's Wimbledon studio. Wada also hopes to expand Square Enix's presence in social networking and mobile markets, taking advantage of external developers with more experience in those realms, as opposed to current staff that's used to working on packaged products.

Development on the new brands could take 3 to 5 years, Wada predicts. Square Enix does have a strong lineup of titles announced for the near future, which include Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman: Absolution, the Tomb Raider reboot, Dragon Quest X, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Final Fantasy Type-0, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and more. Perhaps these titles, combined with its brand new IPs, can help Square Enix make a recovery in the future.

I'm surprised by this:

Final Fantasy XIV, which received such a poor response that Square Enix still still isn't charging a monthly fee for it more than 6 months after release

6 months after release and they still aren't changing because it's still so bad? When are they just going to admit it failed and kill it?

 

[Elisa Maza]

Wada revealed that Square Enix suffered from poor internal communication between project leads and subordinates, in addition to a work environment where employees weren't able to properly divide tasks amongst each other.

So, it's all the fault of the decoration of the working area? And a rearrangement will fix this? Who knew.

Final Fantasy XIV, which received such a poor response that Square Enix still still isn't charging a monthly fee for it more than 6 months after release

6 months after release and they still aren't changing because it's still so bad? When are they just going to admit it failed and kill it?

Ego.

 

[Hisako]

Square Enix is only publishing the game, and I think helping out technology wise with some of the cutscenes.

I was under the impression that there was a specific Square Enix team working on the cinematics.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/110058-CEO-Square-Enix-Has-Become-Weaker-Than-Expected

Colour me cautiously optimistic about this news, actually.
At the very least, they know there's stagnation and they're going out of their way to improve the issue, which is more than can be said for a lot of big-name publishers.

 

[Alex Strife]

http://www.ffdream.com/news-13311.html

Haeresis is one of the games that's been cancelled.

 

[Tetsujin]

It hasn't been canceled, the trademark was abandoned because Square-Enix didn't file an extension request.

It's never even been in development.

 

[ForceStealer]

Ego.

I'd wager its more to do with the amount of money they've put into it that they hope to recoup than mere ego. If it were just ego they'd probably be charging for it.

 

[Alex Strife]

It hasn't been canceled, the trademark was abandoned because Square-Enix didn't file an extension request.

It's never even been in development.

No u .

You could put it that way

 

[Shademp]

"To bring the company back into profitability, Wada laid out a plan that includes the development of 5 brand new IPs. These IPs would join established franchises such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, and Hitman.
...
Development on the new brands could take 3 to 5 years, Wada predicts."

I get the impression that if FFVII is not part of this plan, we won't see any new FFVII titles for a looooong time.

 

[Tifabelle]

What's an IP?

Well, it says that the plan includes these new names. Not that it excludes the others.

 

[ForceStealer]

intellectual property

 

[Tifabelle]

Thanks.

Also, I don't think adding new brands is a bad thing. In fact, it'll be nice that they're putting out things other than the same old crap. Hasn't everyone been complaining about all the KH spinoffs that have been showing up? I mean, I'm not saying I don't want to see KH3 or FFVII or anything like that, but it's about time they're expanding their lineup a bit.

 

[Hisako]

The very fact that they're attempting to release new IP rather than rehashing 3-5 somethings for the purposes of a cash-in says volumes.

 

[MaliciousMisery]

Give it to Mistwalker.



If they have any share, it's less than 1.77% (which is the lowest on the list of S-E's principal shareholders).

Keep it that way -___-

 

[Lumina]

They should cancel Versus already. Besides its kind of non-existent. Even XIII's sequel came before Versus. Just say it SE, fans are already angry at you anyway.

 

[Tetsujin]

Sure, cancel Versus right after saying all effort has been turned toward it.

 

[Scias]

In any case, I seriously doubt Versus will be well-received by fans. Half a decade has passed since we got word about this game for the first time and there's still no word about a possible release date, not even for Japan. The unholy amounts of hype and waiting will NOT play in the game's favour. Even if it turns out to be SPECTACULAR, in the end many gamers can just simply say it wasn't worth the wait.

And, you know what? SE deserves it. Fuck that pretentious shit.

 

[Geostigma]

Maybe, it was a really long time before we got FF12.
It was first announced around the time ACF started getting attention and released just a few months before ACF's closure and imo FF12 was one of the best games SE has ever made, and was incredibly well received too.

It was a long wait, but well worth it.
Then again it wasnt made by fucktards.

 

[Scias]

Then again it wasnt made by fucktards.

You already said it all

But also, each day that passes the videogame consumer grows more and more exigent, the standards are higher and higher. The developers in turn promise more and more AND MORE and they not always fulfill such promises. Things are kinda different now, not to mention that this is actually taking longer (and probably this game won't have the same quantity/quality of content that XII had, but that's impossible to know right now).

Will Versus live up the hype AND satisfy the picky masses?

 

[Alex]

Sure, cancel Versus right after saying all effort has been turned toward it.

Surely this is standard Square-Enix fare?

 

[Blade]

Question: Why hasn't Valkyrie Profile 2 been ported to PS3? Did it not do well or something?

 

[Umatbru]

Bye Bye SE.

You made good games, once upon a time.

Bye Bye SE

You should have diversified away from JRPG's long ago.

FTFY

 

[Umatbru]

The very fact that they're attempting to release new IP rather than rehashing 3-5 somethings for the purposes of a cash-in says volumes.

Wait, They're going to make more new IP's?

 

[Ⓐaron]

You do realise that all the posts in this thread are almost four years old, right? Because a lot of the complaints people in this thread had with Square Enix at the time no longer apply. (Who am I kidding; of course you don't realise that).

 

[Umatbru]

You do realise that all the posts in this thread are almost four years old, right? Because a lot of the complaints people in this thread had with Square Enix at the time no longer apply. (Who am I kidding; of course you don't realise that).

D'OH

 

[Hisako]

LOL reading through this thread again makes for some fun times in hindsight, though.

New Star Ocean, though?