Square Enix To Focus On Smartphone Games As Part Of Future Strategy

In order to combat their losses, Square have three major strategies in mind. One of them is to focus on smartphone games.

[Snookies12]

*walks away* Okay, I'm just about finished with SE now. Have fun with that. I won't be touching your stuff in that case.

[abzdine]

neither will i.

[AsimLeonheart]

I will join you too. SE is just so stupid! They never learn the correct lesson and always wander off in some other wrong direction after suffering because of their poor decisions. Why cant they get it through their head what fans actually want!? We want the old Squaresoft; its creativity and its quality games!

[majiebeast]

Snookies dont you want more of this?

http://i.minus.com/iv63bZq8...

[Pyrrhus]

Well given that their strategy is:
1. Overhaul large-scale, long-term development
2. Target smart devices as a game platform.
3. Construct a product portfolio tailored to consumer tastes in respective served regions.

They hit the mark generally, but if they do just primarily focus on the smartphone or the tablet market, then I am done with them.

While the news is pretty shitty, it is interesting to see that they finally see long term development cycles and not catering to a consumers taste as viable and important issues. I truly hope their Luminous engine will legitimately cut down Dev times.

[zerocrossing]

Surely this is BS, Squenix have made some offensively stupid decisions since their merger but this would be company suicide, there is simply too much competition in the smartphone sector, so much so that even if they created the spiritual successor to "FF7" it would probably fall due to the sheer amount of other games pushing it out of the lime light and into obscurity.

The only other possibility I can see is for them to pump out cheap shovelware and that is the case then I want nothing to do with them.

[DragonKnight]

I read a similar article that says that SE sees the console market as "oligopolistic." I've never heard that word before so I looked it up and the dictionary defines it as this...

"a market situation in which control over the supply of a commodity is held by a small number of producers each of whom is able to influence prices and thus directly affect the position of competitors."

Forgive me but, does that sound wrong to anyone else? They say the market is too competitive, but at the same time are saying that there aren't a lot of producers? Sounds like B.S. to me but I could be misinterpreting. Anyway, let's move on to their points.

"publisher reporting that most of its games had underperformed relative to expectations and that the company had lost a significant amount of money due to restructuring and re-evaluating its products."

Here's the thing SE, you base your expectations off of review scores and metacritic. I don't think you've paid any attention but, gamers these days have a huge disconnect with reviewers and metacritic. Too often reviewers have proven themselves untrustworthy and potentially bought, and metacritic is probably the worst place to base anything on as their system isn't really objective. So, your expectations are your own fault. Your restructuring comes from the fact that people lack faith in your games. Why is this? Simply because, like the rest of the Japanese publishers, you're telling the user base what it likes and not listening to them telling you what they don't like.

This is very much proven with the entire FFXIII series and the fact you needed to relaunch FFXIV because you refused to listen to beta testers. You have this mentality that you can do no wrong, that you know better and that's an attitude prevalent with other Japanese publishers like Capcom. Some humility will go a long way.

"1. Overhaul large-scale, long-term development."

Good. We don't need another Versus XIII situation. But you need to overhaul your employee allocation as well. Stop pulling people from other projects because you want them to work on something else first. When you announce games, finish making those first before announcing other games that you intend to re-allocate your developers to.

"2. Target smart devices as a game platform."

Bad idea. Just because you've gotten away with gouging the hell out of the poor suckers that bought that microtransaction mess you call a game, doesn't mean that smart devices are going to be your friend. The mobile market is where everyone is trying to make easy money, and if you think that it's going to be a walk in the park for you when faced with hundreds of clone games and pricing competition, you have another thing coming. Don't come crawling back when you fail at this.

"3. Construct a product portfolio tailored to consumer tastes in respective served regions."

This has been Japan's problem since the beginning of this gen. Stop trying to cater your games to different audiences. Just do what you used to do best and the fans will come. We don't need a half-Western half-Japanese Mass Effect. We want Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy in their fullest glory. Fans were drawn to you for what you did best, not because you're trying to appeal to different cultures. You don't see the Western world trying to cater to you, so don't try to cater to the Western world. Do what you know, and do it best. Success will follow when the core fans realize that FF and DQ and KH are back in full force.

I guarantee that this plan is a bad one and SE will continue their fall from grace if they follow it.

[majiebeast]

Just sell your franchises now square enix, when they are still worth a damn. If i look at those graphs its like they didnt learn anything from this generation. Mobile games market is clones,ripoffs,2% good games and redemakes.

Regional games: How about you just make stuff people want, like i dont know Versus,port and localize type 0,localize DQ7 remix,release KH birth by sleep and FF7 crisis core on PSN(FF7,9 have never left the ps1 classics chart on psn) i doubt you wouldnt make a profit from that. New IP's that arent westernized junk that noone buys.

The way square enix is going right now i doubt they will survive next generation, they need to learn how to keep a budget not lower a game budget and use those funds for marketing.

[DOMination-]

I can't find it now, but I'm sure quite recently I even saw an article saying SE were flogging or downsizing their mobile department because it wasn't profitable at all.

I hope this isn't a case of Wada actually finally making a good decision and then a new guy comes in and overturns it for the worse.

[Pyrrhus]

Remember that the article does not state explicitly that they would focus on the smartphone market.

[RmanX1000]

oh.... i see...

[Myst]

:(

[kaozgamer]

no no NO!

[Lone_Man]

i have an iphone 5 with lots of game in it but even when on a tour i had never been able to play game on my iphone for more than 15 mins (Infinity Blade 2 was very good though) ..i dont know how people can play games on smartphones or even tabs for 2-3 hours straight (really bad for eyes)... square enix will suck by the way..

[insomnium2]

LOL that pic says it all.

[Gamer-40]

"Square Enix To Focus On Smartphone Games"

End of Square-Enix.

[M-M]

When I read the article title, I seriously lost all hope for Square Enix.

[Agent_hitman]

Well that's a good plan SE, plus you should also target PC platforms like, you should release some of your top franchise like FFX or FF13 on PC. Especially Steam if you are afraid of Piracy.

[TheOneWhoIsTornApart]

None of this stuff is true. They already said that console games will be there priority.

[kostchtchie_]

ha ha, beyond sad

[animegamingnerd]

RIP square enix
(in my eyes)

[Kran]

Picture:

Omnomnomnomnom *click* nomnomnom :)

[MasterCornholio]

I guess i can call them MobilEnix from now on.

[HexxedAvenger]

~sigh~ so annoying. -_-

[grassyknoll]

Square Enix still don't get it. They've forgotten the most important thing: Make great games. Eidos is the only thing keeping them relevant.

[CEOSteveBallmer]

Agreed. They Think "Mobile Gaming" is the answer. They will give up Hardcore games and just make games that are less Engaging, complex and simple to play sigh. They forgot what brought them to success. The Hardcore game and that name is Final Fantasy. This would be square enix's Final Fantasy alright.

[grassyknoll]

Square Enix blame "the market" & Eidos for problems they've created in Japan: Final Fantasy XIII & XIV. A new quality Final Fantasy would help, but I think RPG's like Secret of Mana, Front Mission & TWEWY on PSN/WiiU eshop would be a good idea: Relatively inexpensive projects that fans would love.

[inFAMOUS_KRATOS]

Some companies survive some don't if not know next gen or one after, we saw what happen to midway, thq.

i think the stragety is very poor and it will killed em off, if the next ff dont live up, then i think only way is downward.

[CLOUD1983]

After I hear about Wada's retirement I was somewhat optimistic about the future of SE but in the end it was just me dreaming, Square would never be the same again not w/o Sakaguchi in the lead chair.

[Tei777]

I'm sure the days where they were most stable is when they just made good games...

Everyone wants to be a mega publisher... but more games does not equate to more profit. Its also just a shame to see considerations for lacking quality in their japanese titles as off late. Bravery Default is there only saving grace at the moment.

[Pyrrhus]

The worst thing about all this is that it signifies less localisations if the third point is true.

[CEOSteveBallmer]

Wow Square Enix has gone MAD!!, im so dissapointed. So they want to be casual game makers now like gamEvil, rovio, gameloft. Wow just wow if this is true. They thought mobile gaming will save them. What's to stop people from jailbreaking their phones and just download the games on the net??. I think if they really keep this up, there will be no more square enix. I remember the days in the late 80's where "final Fantasy" was their last game because they are going bankrupt. but magically it saved them and its a huge success!!. But right now, not even FF can save them if they keep putting out FFXIII games and holding back the games we want. This is just so sad. Mobile gaming?? I never knew Square Enix admitted defeat and stooped so low. Konami, Capcom, Atlus are the only big japanese company that is still relevant in my eyes.

[fsfsxii]

R.I.P Square Enix... or square soft :(
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[JadedWriter]

I guess there goes any hope of a new Parasite Eve game...Third Birthday does not exist to me.

[BlaqMagiq24]

That's why the only thing I will be buying from them this gen are their HD collections, games from back when they were actually GOOD.

[uuaschbaer]

R.I.P Square

[Eazy-Eman]

I'm so glad I discovered Atlus and the amazing Shin Megami series...don't even need final fantasy anymore!

[Rai]

and just a few months ago square said they were going to start focusing on the core again.

[LAWSON72]

Oh square maybe you should quit over charging for crap ports that have tons of issues. It seems all the ports have a 3new star on android because they dont work or work properly. I would love to buy ff dimensions and 3(port of ds version) but you want $16 and $20

[Nate-Dog]

You guys need to relax. First of all this isn't really anything new, when Matsuda stepped in he already alluded to the changes that the company will see due to their poor performances this generation on their larger projects (i.e. console and PC titles) and due to their decent performance on IOS games and things of a similar ilk.

Secondly this is only 'part' of their strategy. If you read the article you'll see that they're not by any means cutting off their targets for 'core' gamers (if that's the correct term to use), but they'll be looking to make more titles for smartphones. If you look at the graph you'll see that they have been doing the same thing for a few years, slowly increasing the amount of titles they make on smartphones while continuing to aim to put out the same number (if not more) titles on other systems.

This is what they'll do while they attempt to sort out the issues they have with their HD projects and getting out games of a higher quality and with a much quicker development time.

[leahcim]

I cannot understand Square come on WTF!! they are killing their own brand with stupid desicions, do they wanna be the second most hated japanesse brand next to Crapcom!

Square I used to love you seriously

Any game related to your brand was quality assured

Where the hell did your magic gone!?

Where the hell did Vagrant Story, FF Tactics, Soukaigi, Romancing Saga, Legend of Mana, Chrono Cross/Trigger, Einhander, Brave Fencer Musashi, Dew Prism, Bushido Blade, Chocobo Racing, Tobal, Front Mission, Parasite Eve, Xenogears/Saga, Secret of Evermore and good old Final Fantasy magic gone???

[Inception]

The only games i waited from SE are Bravely Default, Drakengard 3, and FF X HD. After that, i only say good luck for SE.

[GABRIEL1030]

Like THQ the bad management and excesive company burocracy could cause the bankrupcy. Square Enix must back to the basic policy: Make good games like: FF X, Front Mission, Vagrant Story, FF Tactics, Chrono Cross and support the new and good Ip's like: Sleeping dogs, Hitman and Tomb Raider. With PS4 Square has a lot of chance to reivindicate with its fans, the company only needs to launch an amazing FF game.

If the Square president is smart and wants money, then only he needs is to prepare a FF VII remake.

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