Things Look Bad For Square Enix

CCC says: "Stephane D’Astous, founder and former general manager of Eidos Montreal, resigned from his position due to “irreconcilable” differences. His resignation comes after a major restructuring of the Square hierarchy. His departure, combined with the departure of other Square Enix bosses and the massive financial loss the company’s claiming, reveals major trouble for the Japanese-owned developer."

[Need4Game]

Not surprising. The Question is, can they recover and avoid bankruptcy.

[Need4Game]

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or Let Square Enix go Bankrupt and sold its IP to better Developer/Publisher.

[BattleAxe]

Your plan would speed up the bankruptcy process.

[badz149]

SE is too big to just go bankrupt like that! it's still among the biggest dev and publisher in Japan even given their current state!

Wada was the virus that corrupted them and FFXIII was the disease that is hurting them! that's the only explanation on how 1 of the most respected dev/publisher last gen just drastically turn into turd this gen!

buying Eidos and all their IPs was a brilliant move on their part but somehow they screwed that one up too with bloated budget and unrealistic sales targets!

now that Wada is no longer at the helm, SE has the chance to get back their action together but the damage was severe and it will take them awhile to be back at where they were if that's even possible to begin with! stop milking XIII and make FFXV and KH3 available ASAP and start making awesome DQ for the PS4 and fans will love them again! as for the Eidos games, don't just spend money as you like on them and make them sell 3 mil to break even! that's ridiculous!

[saladthieves]

Well, what did they expect?

Things obviously turned for the worse when FF13 was released...then its sequels which to me screamed "2nd time is a charm!...3rd time's a charm!..."

The sad part is most of these companies tend to learn their lessons after realizing that their fanbase had been *shock!* correct from the beginning.

[voodoopickle]

things went bad when they merged, before then both companies produced solid experiences through games

[zerocrossing]

Sounds like they could do with another "Final Fantasy" a truely great one like the one that saved them from bankruptcy years ago.

[trafalger]

they should make it exclusive to the ps4 and have sony produce it.

[Mainsqueeze]

How would selling to less people help them make more money?

[levian]

If Final Fantasy XV is as good as it looks, myself and I'm sure many others will buy 2 copies each to help keep them afloat.

[trafalger]

they can recover. have realistic sales expectations, have a manageable budget and start making indie style games to create new intellectual properties. that will take some of the risk away if they are smaller games

for big japanese aaa games like final fantasy have them on nintendo and sony platforms only. stop wasting time on the xbox when the demand isn't there. for other games like tomb raider yes, it makes sense.

[Mr_Nuts]

What would happen if they did hit bankruptcy? Honest question...just a what if scenario, I'm curious

Would they have to sell their IP's to people ?

[Lovable]

Yeah I think so. I mean those are intangile assets

[LoaMcLoa]

THQ had to so I guess it wouldve been the same scenario

[Mr_Nuts]

Really?

I would love if Sony got their hands on Tomb Raider again. Give it to NaughtyDog and do their own reboot of the original Lara Croft we grew up with when her plane goes down in the Himalayas and it kills her mother, father and fiancé.

Most of their franchise deserve to be in other companies hands.

Like DragonQuest should be given to Nintendo...maybe Sleeping Dogs to Microsoft.

[Martywren]

@Mr_Nuts Sony do have some stock in SE so maybe would Sony would step in bail them out.

[theWB27]

Where would Deus Ex be best...Im waiting on the sequel to the beautiful Human Revolution.

[Mr_Nuts]

Hard to tell to be honest

Deus Ex and Hitman arrived first on the PC so I would like it if they continued to be multiplatform titles, same goes for Thief. Unless Microsoft wants to cough up some money for one of them.

Long as Sony gets their old PS franchises like Tomb Raider, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy then I would be fine

Having a rebooted Final Fantasy game where Sony could open a Japanese studio for it would be amazing. Least then they can start fresh and separate the online games from it. So one team will do Final Fantasy and the other will do Final Fantasy Online. However the other team could work on Kingdom Hearts games.

Then having NaughtyDog on a new Tomb Raider reboot where she's in the Himalayas would be fantastic. Seeing her be hardened by the plane crash, her parents death and even the death of man she loves would be amazing to see if ND was directing it.

Hopefully Monster Hunter will go to Nintendo since thats where it's probably best off at. A Wii U brand new Monster Hunter game....yes please.

[Mainsqueeze]

I don't think ND should do Tomb Raider since they have Uncharted.

[Mr_Nuts]

@Mainsqueeze

Why...they are totally different games...especially if ND go back to what TR was like where it was more about puzzles and tombs.

Besides ND has never let us down and they would be a perfect fit.

[kevnb]

what if mistwalker made the next final fantasy somehow, wouldn't that be epic?

[Mr_Nuts]

Since Lost Odyssey was, in my eyes, the true FF13 of this gen then yes...yes it would be

[kevnb]

the last story was also awesome and had some of the magic of old.

[theWB27]

While I agree ND would make a good Tomb Raider, I loved the last one. I'd rather ND focus on coming with something new, their own new IP rather than taking on an existing franchise. I do wonder if Micro would go after the Deus Ex franchise...

[jagstar44]

I thought they were doing well, every american studio title they have release has been awesome (deus ex, sleeping dogs, tomb raider ect)

[mydyingparadiselost]

I'm not sure about Deus Ex but Sleeping Dogs and Tomb Raider failed to make a profit, TR even had great sales numbers but I guess too much was spent on development and advertising. Add the XIII games and Sqeenix trying to release crap high cost mobile games and the results have been very bad.

[thelaughingwiseman]

Sony! Buy Edios away from Square and have Edios work on a new IP. Square would make a profit and they will also be able to do what they do best; work on JRPG's. That's what they were successful at. They aren't good at developing Western games, just let Sony get a hold of them. I really think that Edios would make a great studio that can do a Resistance reboot. I'd love to see their take on that series

[Antiddoser]

Square japan has 3 hard hitters coming within the next 2 fiscal years, Final Fantasy XIV: ARR, Final Fantasy XV, and Kingdom Hearts 3. I'm pretty sure they will turn things around.

[My_Name_BTW_Is_Dante]

One is a MMO that already failed so hard that they had to work on it again. The other is a action game that has even less to do with Final Fantasy than FF13 did. The last one you listed will be canceled and released on PS5 and whatever Xbox comes after the Xbox One under a new name (or a sub-name).

[trickman888]

Yup. Don't you know? FFXV being an "action" game certainly takes from it being a hard hitter or negates any chance of them possibly turning things around.

-_-

[greyhaven33]

In fairness, by most accounts they have remade ffxiv:arr extremely well and there are definitely fans ready to get that game

[Mainsqueeze]

I thought FFIV ARR didnt really bring anything new to the mmo genre at all from the beta I played. Just Japanese style visuals.

[Kidmyst]

They will turn things around, too big to be in that big of trouble. Kingdom Hearts 3 and the HD remixes I'm very excited for and they should sell well.

[CLOUD1983]

That's the result for going multiplatform ignore your fanbase & release 2 sequels of the worst FF in history, better start listening or the sales wont improve ever & that will be your downfall SE turds.

& in case some smart-ass say that going mp was a good move go check how much previous FF have sold & compare the sales with FFXIII the first mp FF game, FF sold more when they were exclusive if that doesn't tell u anything then u r a brain-dead nothing I can do about it.

[Corpser]

FF10 sold 6.6 million, Ff10-2 sold 3 million.

FF13 sold 7 million combining 360 and ps3, you may not like the game but it's not a commercial failure . It even outsold every ps3 exclusive except GT5

[Corpser]

So? 2nd best selling FF game sold 8 million, and FF13 sold 7 million, how is it not a big success?

[CLOUD1983]

FFXIII sold what it sold because no1 knew how much of a big crap it was, in few words because they have gr8 expectations that SE never fulfill, when fans saw for themselves they show their dissatisfaction in the next games, FFXIII fail to captivate the fans, it is regarded by almost every1 the worst FF that was ever made & the sales of the sequel was lower than half compare to FFXIII, is that not enough to understand that SE is the one who is responsible for their financial problems? they keep release sequels from the worst FF when no1 want them.. if they had stop with this bullsh1t sooner & focus more on releasing Versus as soon as possible things will be much better now but as I say they don't listen so they can go bankrupt for all I care.

[FarCryLover182]

Allow Eidos to have their independence!

Don't drag them into the drain with you, SE.

[Mainsqueeze]

Agree, I love Eidos and Chrystal Dynamics made a great game in the new Tomb Raider.

[tiffac008]

Square Enix is the current poster child for unrealistic sales expectations, that more than likely led to over budget development cost. When Tomb Raider, Hitman and Sleeping Dogs all sold in the millions and did not met their sales target (according to SE themselves) then you know something bad is going on.