In an interview with CNET Japan, Square Enix president Youichi Wada talked about his company's future strategy and the state of the game industry, saying all segments (software, hardware as well as the arcade business) are performing very well.
Asked about the three new consoles, Wada explained, "The Wii is the antithesis of the Xbox 360. (Xbox 360) is strictly for hardcore gamers. The attachment rate for the Xbox 360 is much higher than for the Wii. People who buy the 360 really like games... I think the current trend is that most people aren't buying the Wii as a game machine, but as a toy... It seems that Sony isn't sure what it wants to do. Is it making high-end electronics or a game console for gamers? I want them to clearly define their console."
Wada disputed his interviewer's suggestion that Square Enix had recently released a lot of sequels and remakes, "It's not that we are not investing in new franchises. It's necessary to do new games, franchises and remakes. With remakes, we're trying to expand the outlook of that world. If you look at our profits, franchises are 60 percent of our business, while new IPs are 40 percent. There's a misconception that we rely only on Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, while these titles only make half of our business. It's just that people keep asking for new installments."
In addition, Wada also talks about downloadable content, the future of the retail business, Square Enix's position in the game center business, Taito (a Japanese arcade developer owned by Square Enix), and the company's future.
[ Notes: The original source is Japanese. See RPGFans.com and alternative sources for different English summaries. Translated quotes are lifted from Kotaku. ]
Companies, particularly public companies like Microsoft, need to grow.
i mean its pretty simple, they spent close to 30 billion in acquiring activision, they thought they'd make it bk no problem, and that didnt happen.
its just shit that because of MS's miscalculation alot of people lost their jobs.
This is exactly what many people said would happen including the CMA and FTC. Lies lies and more lies and they allowed a $69 billion buy out to happen.
gold,
You can't be serious, right?
Do you think that MS thought they would make 80bill in a year & Half? They haven't even released titles under MS yet, lol.
But in fact, that A/B revenue is already paying off, look at the last earnings call. That $80 billion is long-term money, my guy, no sane person/company would think they would make that back in any short-term situation, it's a long-term investment.
Let's play silly then. If MS's reason for laying off staff and closing studios was due(which it really was not) to the A/B deal, tell me what Sony's reason was for past studio closures, the recent 900-person layoffs, closing Sony London, shutting down Dreams, and closing Japan Studio? Zipper? Psygnosis? cuts at all their internal studios.
Keep in mind, you are claiming MS's reason is because of the A/B deal; please explain Sony's reason.
this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt.
and of course not, but im pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. they didnt, and closed off some studios.
its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case.
(It really was) due to the Activision Blizzard deal and the loss of physical sales due to gamepass. You keep bringing up Sony in all your posts about this, stop deflecting and trying to change the topic, this is about MS and what they are doing.
once in a while you see someone too invested in their make-believe console war that everything happened has to be connected to said war…
a bit of banter between fans is normal, this crusade you’re doing now isn’t.
Wow idiotic. You bring up very old closures not that there haven't been recent ones from Playstations, but, seriously stop deflecting. This has NOTHING to do with Playstation.
Does Playstation got $3 trillion behind them and daddies wallet? No they don't so stop making a fool of yourself.
Xbox has never been profitable really and they just keep losing money so between their worst hardware sales, terrible 3rd party sales and now terrible 1st party sales.
Gamepass numbers that are no longer being announced shows their numbers after 3 years of missed targets has flatlined. Plus their recent gains up to 34 million were ONLY because they folded Gold members in too. Absolutely take your idiotic rhetoric out of here. Keep on topic without deflecting.
How dare you mention Sony! Everyone here knows when Sony closes a studio and lay off workers it was the right thing to do. Even when they bought Gaikai and fired almost everyone it was the right thing to do.
Gamers can be such hypocrites sometimes.
Drake,
"this is not a sony vs MS debate. dont make it something it isnt."
You are correct that it's not an MS Vs Sony Topic, but when exaggeration and imagination mix from a one-sided social group, similar examples are needed to ground radical thoughts; in this instance, the example was that shutting down 3,4,5, even 6 studios during a restructure/ buyout/acquisition is not some anomaly(it can suck) that has to be dissected or spell doom and gloom.
"But I'm pretty sure they thought they'd make more money after the deal. They didn't, and they closed off some studios."
But they did make more money, a lot, actually; the last earnings call showed a huge growth in profit, almost all due to A/B revenue.
"its pretty insane to think there is any other reason for the closure of studios in this case."
The fact that they did make money, kinda throws this out the window, and besides, you don't wake up and say, hey let's close a studio, you look at the output, you look at the dev as a whole, the long term and short term, you weigh it against all other studios and goals, you keep key members, ect..then you close if they are the weakest links...which by MS analysis they were.
Again, I will make a small Sony comparison, just so some of you can understand and see past the bias; Insomniac, ND, and Bungie have made some of the best games ever created, yet Sony saw fit to cut jobs in every of these studios, even tho Insomniac & ND are the biggest producers of PS games, leagues ahead better than Tango and Arkane, yet, they saw cuts, mind you, while being the TOP produces of PS first party. They were told to cut costs, and more jobs may be on the line, and Bungie is being threatened by a hostile Sony takeover. Put that in perspective, as I know that layoffs and dev closures are different, but if the best of the best is getting cut off, it is less than surprising, that lesser studios are closing.
@Cheva,
My response fits well with your comments as well. You even went on to prove that the dev closures are not just due to A/B acquisition. Then you point out Sony has less money than MS, inferring that MS should keep devs open that they see as lesser earners, while Sony having less money makes it okay to close them. lol...it doesn't work that way.
im not reading all of that. u have ur opinion, i have mine.
thats rly it.
but this aint sony vs ms.
You're trying to compare a 100 billion company to a company that has 3 TRILLION worth. SIE has to live or die on their own. And in turn, PlayStation has helped the main company again and again. Sony has to balance out what is working and not working in the company.
While Xbox has Daddy Warbucks footing the bill to keep the platform afloat. They have been bleeding money from Nvidia hardware in the OG Xbox, the RROD fiasco, the attempted 2013 DRM nonsense and the lies about being the most powerful console in the world and the losses of paying out millions to prop up a service hoping it catches on with enough subscribers to justify its existence.
They're not comparable if Xbox isn't allowed to live or die by its actions. It's subsidized. Revenue isn't profit. And if they were profiting on their own, they wouldn't be closing developers. If they were profiting, they wouldn't need Daddy Warbucks spending 80 to 100 billion buying up 3rd party publishers to sustain a loss leading platform.
They stopped announcing game sales, stopped announcing hardware sales, stopped announcing game pass subscribers, they are putting games on their competitors platforms but you're telling us that they are doing great even after killing jobs and closing developers at Xbox.
Stop drinking the Kool aid. You're drunk.
Again at which point did Playstation have a $3 trillion company shift the market with a giant purchase?
"But they did make more money, a lot, actually; the last earnings call showed a huge growth in profit, almost all due to A/B revenue."
Lol. No they didn't. Increased revenue was ONLY due to adding Activision Blizzard revenue in. Growth was only 1 percent. It's idiots like you that have no idea what they're talking about is why Xbox isn't better than it is. You guys just make excuses continually.
If Xbox got so much profit then why did they stop announcing hardware numbers? Why did they stop announcing Gamepass numbers? Oh right because they're NOT profitable. Their sales in every category has dropped off the face of the planet. It's why Spencer will be closing more studios and canceling upcoming projects too.
I am pretty sure MS knew this would happen and this was part of their plan. I mean if anyone with half a brain can see this happening I am pretty sure a multi billion company like MS knew this would happen
The whole strategy in buying Beth and Acti/Blizzard is for
1. Buy established games they can have under xbox because they have done a horrible job in building their portfolio internally for the past 15 years
2. Following from 1, try and boost xbox competitivenss against a dominat PS which MS after 3 tries still can't crack
3. Follolwing from 2, try and weaken Playstation dominance by taking out these massive multiplats from the PS
4. Following from 3, try and profit off from the PS domiance with selected games they will still have on the PS to make money like COD
5. Obviously get the IP's by buying them instead of creating them which again as I mentioned in number 1 they have been woeful in doing
None of these had anyting to do with keeping all the devs they accuried. MS has always been very shitty to Devs under them. Look at what happned to Bungie for example.
I believe MS in court truely mean it when they said they had to do something because PS was just too dominant. This was their last roll of the dice.
And from the looks of things. It has not panned out as MS had hoped. PS5 is still as dominant as ever and xbox is still behind. Worse still their MP's they got is not irreplaceable as they thought. Starfield? lol!. There have not been any major shift in momentum in this console war in their favor so now its time to start cutting their loses and it starts with the most expensive cost for any company. People.
for a comparison, sony laid of a bigger % of it's staff this year than ms, it's what companies sadly do nowadays. If you think with GP and Bethesda + acti aquisition they were looking for quick cash, you couldn't be more wrong. It hasn't even been a year, "they thought they'd make it bk no problem, and that didnt happen." shows you have 0 understanding of how a business operates.
They are going to use AI for a large portion of the game development process. Upper management need bonuses and the shareholders need more money. So, people will lose their jobs.
Maybe they were already using AI to make business decisions, which would explain why they closed Hi-Fi Rush's studio, then said they need more games like Hi-Fi Rush not long after that announcement.
They shouldn't have bought any studios. Some is okay...but they went on a shopping spree...stupid
The better question is why did Microsoft buy publishers for a service they were subsidizing they knew couldn't support.
And why are so many websites trying to make people feel sorry for Microsoft instead of truly criticizing the fact they are closing studios and killing jobs that would have been fine if Microsoft themselves hadn't gotten involved.
Quit feeling sorry for Microsoft and start feeling sorry for the industry and the all the gamers who are actually losing out.
THIS IS MICROSOFTS FAULT.
The first thing that happens after any major acquisition or merger is a consolidation of the whole new portfolio, which includes cutting any excess, bloat or portfolios that don't fit the larger MO of the big boy. So far, it's been par for the course with Microsoft and that's why gamers have been so against this acquisition. Tango Gameworks is the beginning. You think Microsoft wants to pay to keep small timers like Ninja Theory in business?
There is absolutely zero evidence to suggest that Microsoft will improve any of these studios, but plenty to suggest that they will get rid of what they don't need and hold onto the IP. The real agenda of the acquisition was always to acquire The Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Fallout, Call of Duty, Candy Crush etc. that will create millions in passive revenue stream for Microsoft regardless of where the games release. Microsoft simply wants their cut.
Because of Games Pass Microsoft has no interest in investing in new IP which is risky and requires creative talent they can neither nurture nor manage. Game Pass has also not grown in the way Microsoft expected it to, even post acquisitions. Therefore the logical thing to do, without serious money makers to release, is to cut as much cost as possible.
Backward compatibility works for many games on newer consoles, but titles such as The Simpsons: Hit and Run have been left out.
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He said: "It seems that Sony isn't sure what it wants to do. Is it making high-end electronics or a game console for gamers? I want them to clearly define their console."
I say: It's both!
From the interview, it seems as if he's saying that if the path each system is taking doesn't change...they'll start to develop much more for the 360 and much less for the other systems.
The flaw with that is that I think many of the "hardcore" 360 owners aren't into JRPGs nearly as much as the "hardcore" PS3 owners. (hardcore in quotes, because I think the term is overused and meaningless in most cases)
Also, I'm sure the PS3 will sell many many more units by the time the SE games start coming out on the system. And hopefully Wii owners support SE by buying the new FF:CC game (I really think they made it just to test the Wii waters).
I think this was true before. But now Sony it getting their game on.
I look around and I see Warhawk expansion coming for PS3 in December, I see Unreal Tournamnent III bringing some seriously online play for PS3 in December.
Prices are getting better. I say the PS3 is a gaming machine. The PS3 knows what it wants to be now and 2008 will further prove it.
Are you gonna hold it against PS3 because it allows people to have high defintion playback? It it a high Defintion console, to have the best experience, HDTV is recommended.
I'm sorry but PS3 is headed in the right direction now. In a way they were almost lucky that they fell off their horse so early with horrible sales. Got them grounded back to reality.
this is very old... He said the same thing back in Sep, right before TGS... so, either he's on repeat or this is old. Take your pick.
Social gaming is key" its just not hardcore gamers its the world arcade scene thats very popular with harcore and casual social gamers alike(Lots of hybrid AAA's don't hurt either).
Square Enix needs games that are somewhat grounded(western taste) and they need to show the West they want to please us instead of making half assed attempts for the west. Support Western markets even on western hardware thats the first step I'v read something like this before they wan't to expand.
Their Japanese arrogance is greater than their innovation(no ones going to buy games on pedigree and legacy anymore).