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130°

Is $29 For 'Final Fantasy Dimensions' Insane, or Exactly What The Mobile Market Needs?

Publisher Square Enix gave fans a case of sticker shock last week when they announced the price of their original, episodic Final Fantasy RPG for iOS and Android. At $28.99, it’s the most expensive game in the publisher’s mobile catalog. Yes, Final Fantasy Dimensions is a nostalgia-tinged 16-bit entry in an insanely popular franchise, and hardcore fans are going to buy it regardless of price. Yes, each episode (or chapter) will only cost $1.99, and it likely won’t be a short experience. However, it’s not the quality or length of the game that merits debate. It’s that $29 asking price.

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Tigerfist4319d ago

It's okay. I'll keep paying them less and less while writing more and more...

Godmars2904319d ago (Edited 4319d ago )

No really, that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Unless you're paying Square to write articles for them?

As to topic, if people want to pay for it is one thing. Its another if it gets a discount shortly after release, and then Square talks up sales. Use that as the basis for rising their iOS prices from then on.

Edit:
And I know my direct comment to the subject at hand may sound confusing, but that the problem: the corporate mindset is very confused at the moment. To the degree its counter-productive to what used to be called common sense.

Tigerfist4319d ago (Edited 4319d ago )

It does make sense, I suppose you missed my point. In other words, I'll buy less of their products while further vocalising my discontentment for their quality.

Voting with my wallet, feedbacking with my voice.

Godmars2904319d ago (Edited 4319d ago )

Part of the thing is your point of voting with your wallet is rendered moot if Square makes the initial price announcement, then gets your sale to show to stockholders. Insanely the new higher price point will become the norm regardless. That just seems to be how things work now.

The other part is that it takes two to three reads of your comment to understand it. No offense, just a criticism meant to improve your writing and ability to communicate. Hopefully.

Tigerfist4318d ago (Edited 4318d ago )

By "voting with my wallet" I mean that I am not buying anything at all. So no, they won't get my "sale".

And honestly, I'm not sure if my writing is the issue here. I'm inclined to say that your reading comprehension was a bit weak there.

Say, out of curiosity, how would you write my comment? It's just that many people have actually told me that I am quite articulate with my writing.

Godmars2904318d ago

"That's okay, so long as the actual quality of their games continues to drop, they remain fixated on graphics, they wont be getting any of my money.

I sure as hell wont pay extra."

Don't really see a point in mentioning writing comments in forums and the like, since they aren't paying any attention.

hellvaguy4315d ago

Gunna have to side with Godmars. They way Godmars re-wrote it was far less confusing. Tiger the use of the word "paying" makes it seem like they are an employee of yours or some other weird setup. You usually BUY products and you PAY your employees. Well anyways back to playing GW2.

Burning_Finger4319d ago

You deserve to be rip off if you're that stupid. People lack common sense now a days.

kcuthbertson4319d ago

Yes...it's insane. If you are stupid enough to pay $30 for a mobile phone game, then I truly feel bad for you.

As the current technology stands, mobile phone gaming is better left to small, inexpensive games that entertain for little bits at a time.

There is a chance for that market to expand, but not until a GOOD universal controller with ACTUAL buttons is produced and used as a standard for game creation.

JBSleek4319d ago

The current technology is either on par or better than the Vita which is the most powerful dedicated mobile device.

You really only need buttons for games such as FPS or that other than that other genre of games can touch screen and as it goes to show mobile gaming is the fastest growing market of gaming besides F2P and social.

$30 for an addictive game that you play countless and countless hours is fine. I call people who play $60 and over priced DLC stupid but they are supposedly "hardcore"

Zechs344319d ago

Mobile technology may be on par or even more advanced than the Vita but the quality of games, hardcore or not, can almost never match up. Yes, my iPhone has 20 gigs of games on it (downloading TWEWY now!!!) but I will take a game like Sound Shapes or even Escape Plan (the latter of which can be easily ported as a touch game on android and iOS) over minimally designed games made for the casual market.

I used Escape Plan as an example because the following:

It would seem easy to port it over and make a quick buck. Why haven't they? Because they don't want to be overshadowed by lower quality games at a much lower price made to strive off In-app purchasing.

I have every FF game offered on the App Store and will probably end up getting this, but the old FF games there are easily available on my PSP, PSN, or Vita for a fraction of the cost, look better, sound better, and more importantly, play better.

Hardcore doesn't necessarily mean having 2 sticks and buttons for my games, it can just mean gaming as it was intended and not this crap we are going to with cheap apps and in-app ripping off.

Lol_Lmao4319d ago

Yes, let the rich buy the game and the poor suffer from jealousy and envy.

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150°

Fear Effect coming to PS5, PS4, Switch, and PC in 2025

Limited Run Games, in cooperation with Square Enix, will release action adventure game Fear Effect for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, and PC via Steam in 2025, the company announced.

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CrimsonWing693d ago (Edited 3d ago )

What!? That is freaking great!!!! I really loved this game back in the day and was so pissed the Remake got changed and then eventually canceled. This is such great news that it’s the original. Will definitely get the plat for it.

Mr Pumblechook3d ago

The article mentions:

* PC
* Nintendo Switch
* PlayStation 4
* PlayStation 5

But why isn’t there a mention of the Xbox Series version?

CrimsonWing693d ago

Yea that’s a Limited Run Games thing like what @Scissorman showed in the article. They’ve tried selling the physical versions of Xsex games, but they just don’t sell. But I’m fairly sure this should be digital for Xbox, if not, then it’s time to drop Xbox and come to greener pastures.

wesnytsfs3d ago

@CrimsonWing69, greener pastures.. Yep moved to mainly PC now myself get all the good games from both companies now if only Nintendo would release games on PC too.

RiseNShine3d ago

so a ps1 game launched in modern platformos, mmmkay. I can play it already in emulators with high res, retroachievements support and more, doesn't make much sense.

140°

Square Enix Is Going Multiplatform; The Layoffs & Its Past Don't Inspire Confidence

After its latest games didn't meet sales targets, Square Enix is going multiplatform but the company's track record isn't convincing.

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Scissorman39d ago

Square Enix been multiplatform for decades, a few exclusively-deals doesn't make them any less multiplatform.

fr0sty39d ago

Nor is selling their games on a console with only 25 million install base going to bring their sales to where they hope they will be... Unless they somehow manage to dumb down FF7 trilogy to work on switch, they aren't going to have much luck. They already released it on PC, after all.

anast38d ago

Where are you getting that number?

SegaSaturn66939d ago

It kind of does, giving preference to a certain platform by timed exclusivity. Console ports generally feel superior. Legend of mana PC port extremely broken

neutralgamer199238d ago

Sega

It doesn’t when square themselves didn’t want to fund the development of remake. It’s only after the success of the 1st they realized their mistake but now contract is signed. If it wasn’t for Sony there would be no FF7 remakes. Same goes for silent hill 2 with Konami. They don’t want to fund AAA budget. Companies like PlayStation and Nintendo get blamed when in reality they are saving some of these franchises

Remember sega didn’t want to fund bayonetta and epic games didn’t want to fund another gears of war. It’s easy to blame console makers but they are the ones taking the risk and paying huge upfront costs without seeing the final product. FF7 remake trilogy won’t be coming to Xbox now or in the future. PlayStation and PC is what square signed up for. Sony paid them more than they would make from Xbox sales.

ravens5238d ago

I just wonder when everyone is going to demand that the Square Enix exclusives with Nintendo come to PS and Xbox. Or it's just the PS exclusives that matter lol

phoenixwing38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

I'd love for the nintendo exclusives to come to pc or ps5. They'd actually be playable then.

neutralgamer199238d ago

Raven

Exactly and that’s where square enix does more exclusive than any other platform. Gaming is square has always been very unrealistic with their sales expectations. Remember when tomb raider reboot sold 7.5 million and square said it wasn’t enough. They need to spend less on development and have more realistic expectations from sales.

And those thinking games being not on Xbox makes a difference don’t understand we have a decade plus of data showing square enix games having less than 20% of their multiplatform sales on Xbox (final fantasy series) and Nintendo consoles aren’t strong enough to run any current games. Nintendo switch should be as strong as Xbox one x atleast but we all know that’s most likely won’t happen

RoadRacer38d ago

@raven

thing is, as neutral said in their comm, the switch isn't strong enough to run flagship SE games
i think what SE does is, it makes unique games for switch only so that it has something for that console too. Thats where all the "underlined sans" rpgs go to mostly

maybe things will change when Swtich 2 drops cuz that's gonna be as strong as ps4 afaik from the rumors flying around

TheGamingHounds38d ago

@Scissorman

Your point is valid enough but when the icon of this company is limited to one console in timed-exclusivity, it means the company has crossed the line. By some degree at least

All things aside, Square itself stated "aggressive multiplatform strategies" so we all know what it's talking about

Scissorman38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

Then the headline should read "Square To Drop Exclusively Deals in Pursuit of A Sweeping Multiplatform Strategy". I don't recall this argument when Square Enix released Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler, and Triangle Strategy on one platform. And even if FF is the icon, not all of its titles have gone to one platform. We're talking about three games, one of which is already on PC. Did Square suddenly go 'multiplatform' after it released subsequent Tomb Raider sequels on more than just the Xbox? It's just a silly way of putting it.

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TheGamingHounds38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

SE needs to go all in optimization. Broken PC ports won't help its case, especially with big releases like mainline Final Fantasy

Asterphoenix38d ago

It's actually simple. What doesn't inspire confidence is Square allocating their budgets on the wrong projects such as Forspoken, Avengers, Babylons Fall and Foamstars.

Square has always been multiplatform since PS3/360 days which 80 % of their games are. People kick up a fuss over PS exclusivity but not Nintendo which has more exclusive projects console exclusive from Square.

FF16 has done ok but not enough to fix the blunders that the past mistakes Square has made with some of their projects. FF7 Rebirth is unclear we'll see a PC release for sure so it's hard to say so far not as good as they would of liked.

Then again unrealistic expectations. If it weren't for Sony these games would at least had another 2 years development time. So some people need to be realistic in that regard.

Scissorman38d ago (Edited 38d ago )

It's the blunders that set those expectations so high. If you remove those from the equation, I bet the sales numbers would be more than stellar. Square believes it's okay to release a pile of risky, middling, garbage because the big boys will ultimately subsidize the cost. Don't worry if Forspoken sells poorly, FF16 will surely sell 10 million copies to balance that right out. Oh wait, it only sold like 4 million. Well that's a disaster. Meanwhile games that sell 2 million units with comparable budgets are deemed successful.

thorstein38d ago

I would also add that FFXVI, which I loved has a hint to one of their biggest problems: the number 16.

It's a great franchise, but that's all they've become known for. Dragon Quest is my favorite all time series but it's like they don't know what to do outside of those two IPs.

Valve never makes trilogies. The idea is that they don't want to become stagnant. Gabe Newell hates the number 3.

I can't imagine their talent wouldn't want to try a new RPG.

RoadRacer38d ago

Square Enix just really need to revise its expectations. Maybe consider a change in strategy on dev end as well. Multiplat will help for sure but only good games that are marketed well will sell

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350°

Square Enix Preparing for Layoffs in U.S. and Europe Amid Heavy Restructuring

In a town hall that took place on Monday, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu reportedly confirmed imminent layoffs in the U.S. and Europe.

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lelo2play42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

Square should ask Sony for more money...

Outside_ofthe_Box42d ago

Square should ask Microsoft to buy them out...

FinalFantasyFanatic41d ago

@Outside_ofthe_Box,
So that Microsoft can close down the studio after doing nothing with them? Right...

Outside_ofthe_Box41d ago

@FinalFantasyFanatic

That's exactly my point...

gleepot42d ago

Sad but true. It's the consequence of a shift in player habits, massive overhead, and out of control budgets across the industry.

blackblades42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

What did NA and EU did anyways? Just translate or something? I would say it might help them get back to there roots but DK.

Hofstaderman42d ago (Edited 42d ago )

Actually, you are correct they play a hand in localization especially in Europe with the many languages. That and marketing.

nommers41d ago

Marketing for SE has been poor lately so these layoffs make sense if true.

Profchaos41d ago

Yup videogame crash 2024 edition

_Decadent_Descent41d ago

Hope so. Industry needs a good crash to shake it up again.

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