Did you know that Square Enix is famous for making Japanese role-playing games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest? Especially after it sold off a bunch of other IP and the studios that made them? Well, publishers don’t want to rely on them too much in the future.
The idea makes sense in a vacuum, but considering that Square completely abandoned games like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex in May 2022 when it sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montréal, and Square Enix, it seems a bit hilarious. Montreal to Hug Group. But hey, there are other games the publisher can tap into to help expand its library.
iGamesNews
Company president Takashi Kiryu outlined Square Enix’s desire to reduce its reliance on existing mega-series during the Q&A portion of its recently released November 2023 fin ancial briefing (thanks, GamesRadar). In it, Kiryu (not that one) lists two areas where he thinks Square “lacks,” the first of which is the “limited diversity of our game portfolio.”
“Because we have strong intellectual properties like Dragon Quest and the Final Fantasy series, I think we tend to be overly reliant on certain game styles or genres,” the president said. “At the same time, customer tastes in the gaming market have diversified, and customers have begun to enjoy various types of content.”
So what made Kiryu notice the untapped potential of putting more focus on non-blockbuster games. It’s FuturLab’s PowerWash emulator because that’s wh at it is.
The president said PowerWash Sim is “somewhat an outlier in our portfolio because it’s a very casual game, but we’ve been able to steadily grow revenue from it.”
So, with that in mind, he’s looking to “increase our development proficiency by strengthening our internal development capabilities so that we can achieve greater diversity across our portfolio of games.” This sounds like a hint to Square itself Are trying to develop more games that may not fit into their typical MO, but have a chance to stand out like a third-party clean experience.
While this might still feel a bit strange after Square seemingly abandoned several established monetization platforms — even if it does provide some justification for making the move — with the Embracer deal, it’s at least a lot better than what publishers are doing in NFTs and/or Or it would be better to invest more in NFT. Metaverse themed game/platform that may or may not include Snoop Dogg.
In other recent Final Fantasy-related news, Final Fantasy 14 and 16 producer Naoki Yoshida believes a younger team could lead the charge for Final Fantasy 17 development.
