Square Enix has dropped nearly 33% in the stock market, and according to reports, the reason seems to be due to unrealistic goals and business structure. We will tell you more in this note!
Square EnixJapanese gaming giant behind Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and others, have seen their shares plummet after the past few months. It happens that while games like Final Fantasy 14 or Final Fantasy 16 are fan favorites, other games receive questionable reviews and do not achieve the sales figures the company expects. Having lost nearly $2 billion since the release of its last game in June (FF16), Bloomberg investigated the company, which reported several management issues.
How in detail Bloomberg CEO of Square Enix, Takashi Kiriwho officially took office in June of this year, “intends to cut back on smaller titles and reduce outsourcing to focus on big-budget games with high potential to boost the company’s bottom line“.
The report says that while it sounds like a good idea, the strategy can fail because it typically gives creative control over each project to a single producer. “Producers have complete control over the scope and direction of projects, and there is a lack of proper documentation and team structure. Contractors who worked for Square Enix describe an improvised process in which project goals can change without notice“, the report says.
This ends up being a creative challenge that many times lacks a clear direction, which the medium illustrates with multiple titles. Despite very strong initial sales and great reviews, Final Fantasy 16 is still not hitting the numbers Square Enix is hoping for, while its predecessor FF15 had a monumentally long development cycle and FF14 required a complete reboot to get things going . Added to this was the poor reception of Battle Royale for smartphones FF7: The First Soldier, as well as the lukewarm reception of Ever Crisis with an excess of microtransactions.
On the other hand, sagas like Prophesied January 2023 has passed unnoticed, and Marvel’s Avengers mega-project, a sort of Destiny of the Avengers, will soon close due to its failure to establish itself as a game-as-a-service. Time will tell if the Japanese giant can buck the trend, but here are some key tips: haganle caso a Yoshi-P.
