150°

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.

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siliconera.com
Snookies124430d ago (Edited 4430d ago )

*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.

AsimLeonheart4430d ago

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!

majiebeast4430d ago (Edited 4430d ago )

Snookies dont you want more of this?

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

Pyrrhus4430d ago

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.

zerocrossing4430d ago

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.

DragonKnight4430d ago

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.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 4430d ago
majiebeast4430d ago (Edited 4430d ago )

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-4430d ago

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.

Pyrrhus4430d ago

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

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170°

It Shouldn't Take Expedition 33's Success to Remind Square Enix That Turn-Based Still Sells

TNS: Expedition 33 was the wake-up call Square Enix needed, telling it turn-based RPGs are still popular, but that shouldn't have been the case.

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thenerdstash.com
Relientk774d ago

True, but if it does get it through their thick skulls, then that works.

Although, the Dragon Quest 1 + 2 HD remakes will be turn-based and (the worst kept secret) Final Fantasy IX remake should be turn-based I would imagine. Let's see if any newer games go turn-based too.

thorstein4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

DQIII HD Remake was turned based and very successful. Then there was a really obscure turn based game came Balder's Gate 3. I heard it might have done well.

Profchaos4d ago

I wouldn't be shocked if they switched ff to the vii remake combat system

PapaBop3d ago

It won't get through to them though, despite E33's success, they still won't risk going fully turn based for their big budget projects simply because they are still in the mindset that it needs to be action combat to appeal to the mainstream audience. I hope I'm wrong but don't underestimate just how stubborn Japanese execs can be

barom3d ago

Ya'll are hyping up Expedition 33 too much. Reminder that FF XVI sold 3 million in a week and it took Expedition 33 approximately a month to get to that (33 days to reach 3.3 million).

barom3d ago

1 platform vs 3 platforms
1 week vs 1 month

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 3d ago
DivineHand1254d ago

While it is true that Sqaure Enix has moved away from turn based games compared to how they were in the past, there is a good reason for it.

Older gamers will know this but during the ps2 era, we were flooded with turned based games from Japanese studios and this created a form of fatigue back then going into the next generation.

When Square released FF13, they received heavy criticism for making the game turned based like every other FF game and not doing enough to innovate. This is why they made FF15, FF7 Remake and FF16 have real time combat. It gave the series a fresh spin and has brought in new fans to the series.

I personally would be happy with either turned based FF or the real-time combat version we see today.

Shane Kim4d ago

Remake and Rebirth have "turn based" if you set it in the settings.

Lexreborn24d ago

Dang wish I saw your post before I made mine because we definitely feel the same way lol

Profchaos4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Yeah hit the nail on the head but its like ww2 games we get hundreds of them then a decade of nothing and people start missing them i think we're going to start seeing them return

Claire, dragon quest even yakuza have seen turn based return

Runechaz3d ago

Every Pokémon game is also a Turn Base RPG.. and selling millions

andy854d ago

Only need to look at their own game DQ 11 approaching 10 million to show there's a market. And that's not as big of a name as FF

Runechaz3d ago

you can also look at the Pokemon game number

Tacoboto4d ago

Another article about Expedition 33 and Square Enix and turn-based games? This is starting to sound like propaganda.

The game didn't sell because it's a turn-based game; it sold and is enjoyed because it's a really freaking good game that released completed at a good price without gamer drama attached to it. No Mtx, no wait-until-it's-patched, minimal bloat, a self-contained story, no multiplatform BS. Just a solid original game that absolutely nails what it intended to do.

Redemption-644d ago

I was just about to say the same thing.

anast4d ago

This comment should have a 100 upvotes, at least.

CrimsonWing694d ago

Maybe try actually listening to the fans who have supported the series for decades. This habit of ignoring your core audience just to chase people who were never interested in Final Fantasy in the first place makes no sense. And when that approach fails, doubling down on it is beyond baffling.

The battle system has never been the main reason non-FF or non-JRPG players stayed away. Gutting the series’ identity to chase a broader market doesn’t attract new players. It just alienates the loyal ones.

Keep going down this road and we’ll end up with Final Fantasy Fortnite abomination or a F2P Battle Royale game.. Oh wait…

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170°

Final Fantasy IX 25th Anniversary Lottery Announced

Do not miss the Final Fantasy IX lottery commemorating its 25th anniversary and see the new merch release by Square Enix.

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gamersocialclub.ca
jznrpg23d ago

It would be nice if they had the lottery in other parts of the world as well.

CrimsonWing6922d ago

I’m hoping Xbox Showcase will be where the Remake gets announced… freaking all this stuff with FF9’s anniversary and still nothing on the Remake…

50°

Square Enix Sales Drop but Profits Grow as it Aims to Shift from Quantity to Quality

Square Enix announced its financial results and the continued strategy for the Medium-Term Business Plan that will span two more years.

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simulationdaily.com
franwex46d ago

If Capcom managed to turn things around, I’m hoping that Square can too!