E3 2015 is rapidly approaching, and publishers and platform holders are beginning to announce their conference plans. GI will be updating this schedule as we get closer to the show and more details are revealed.
In a town hall that took place on Monday, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu reportedly confirmed imminent layoffs in the U.S. and Europe.
@Outside_ofthe_Box,
So that Microsoft can close down the studio after doing nothing with them? Right...
Sad but true. It's the consequence of a shift in player habits, massive overhead, and out of control budgets across the industry.
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.
Actually, you are correct they play a hand in localization especially in Europe with the many languages. That and marketing.
Square Enix is shifting its strategy to aggressively pursue multiplatform releases and focus on quality over quantity.
Yup, it's official. FFXVI and FFVII Rebirth didn't sell as much as they expected.
- 1% increase in net sales compared to a year with Forspoken and Octopath Traveller II, which didn't sell more than 3 millions combined (and I'm being generous).
- A 38.3% decrease in operating income despite the release of 'High-Definition' titles namely FFXVI, FF Pixels Remaster, Dragon Quest Monsters, and FFVII Rebirth.
- Aggressive multiplatform strategy one year after saying that exclusivity with PlayStation was mutually desired.
Sure, it's all in my head.
Probably for PC and the upcoming Nintendo Switch 2. Square Enix games doesn't sell to well on Xbox
Square named Drops Xbox as part of their multiplatform approach in their quarterly reports.
Like it matters MS will probably find away to close them down to.
I can see them going for PS5/Switch/PC for the most part, it'll mostly likely be the Switch 2 by the time their next game enters development, which is probably a good thing since the Switch is struggling with 3rd party games. If they're hurting for money/sales, I don't see them bothering with Xbox, that's just wasted time/money for them.
I mean, maybe? They'll want as much as possible and I figure they could have been hoping for greater impact on PlayStation, but that's good reason to reflect and realize the resources and development cycle of these games aren't very sustainable. The solution is to make more affordable games with shorter dev cycles, then once in a while bring out the big guns.
I think Final Fantasy VII Re make and Rebirth would do really well if it was multiplatform. Specifically, if Nintendo gets their hardware up to snuff, and the rumors are promising. I don't really have much faith in its performance on Xbox, but Nintendo gamers really commit to buying their games. At one point, Breath of the Wild for Switch outsold the Switch itself.
Granted, Zelda always solos everything except GTA, but Nintendo folk are avid Final Fantasy fans. I think it would do exceptionally. Nintendo just needs to make porting easy and inexpensive and they'll get more games.
I don't think the exclusivity hurts them as badly as they think, I think it's a range of factors, like the quality of the games, high sales expectations, ESG/DEI, censorship, development costs/time... I also suspect that Square-Enix is extremely inefficient with their resources, they struggled/avoided towns in the FF13 trilogy, and FF14 was mostly wilderness with little to do apart from derp about in the wild (they also avoid towns and making a lot of characters there too). But FF14 also went through development hell, I think Square-Enix just needs to overall how they do everything, because the way they manage that studio just isn't working.
The two most profitable games for them didn't sell as much as expected. Yes. Make it make sense.
I interpret it as - they want to be multiplatform, as they will sell more copies.
Square finally realized what Sony figured out recently, their installed base is not enough. We are going to see a lot less exclusives from everyone moving forward.
PS5 is nearly at 60 million only half-way through its life-cycle, but sure, the install base is not enough.
Good exclusives always sell despite install base. Look at Nintendo's recent Zelda.
Its just 16 was awful.
Hopefully the next Nintendo system isn't a potato and it can contribute to FF sales in future as well, in addition to PC releases. If this ensures the long term health for SE and franchises than like FF and KH then I'm all for it.
Adding Nintendo and PC customers is the best way to increase sales and long term success. Not going to get that from Xbox.
Hof,
You must not have heard they are launching new hardware and have already committed to a Next-Gen Xbox.
But, for some reason, I think you already knew that and wanted to spin a silly narrative; besides, why wouldn't they release games on the SX/SS? You do know these consoles will still be here, right?
Optics. They have a STATED plan to do so. Thats not commitment. The shareholders and board are calling the shots now. Lets see if they have the appetite for hardware because they are owed 80 Billion Dollars already. Investment in hardware, R and D and marketing is how much again? That cost with the history of their hardware performance....at most maybe a handheld. What I am certain of XBOX is finished, the writing has been on the wall before the studio closures. Its MS Games and they are not hardware. They are software because MS is a software company. Expect them to be folded in the Surface team.
*hardware
I believe they committed to hardware.
I hate to nitpick, but that's kind of the company they are. You have to.
@hofstaderman the board and shareholders have always called the shots or had a huge impact on decisions.
Xbox finished lmao, the writing has been on the wall? mate they just spend 70 BILLION dollars, and you see the writing is on the wall that they're done. 0 idea what you're talking about. They grafiti'd on the wall and you still can't see it.
"They have a STATED plan to do so. That's not commitment."
Huh? What are you talking about? They announced they would be unveiling new Hardware this holiday season; how else are they supposed to commit to it?
" Lets see if they have the appetite for hardware because they are owed 80 Billion Dollars already"
What a silly statement, you think this deal was approved so they could make 80 billion in less than a year? This is a long-term commitment, a future-proofing of profit.
"What I am certain of XBOX is finished,"
No, you are not certain of this lol; as you stated, if they make even a Handheld in the form of a Steam-Deck that can dock to a TV/monitor, wouldn't that be just changing the form factor but still XBOX?
Closing these studios has really got you guys delusional; that is what happens in companies, in a changing market: you acquire, and you trim; like it or not, that is the way things are done. Lets look.
Where is the new Psygnosis with a new wipeout?
What happened to Japan Studio? Pixl Opus? London Studio?
Where is Zipper Interactive?
I can list more, but you see, closing devs doesn't mean your company is finished, especially when you have like 30+ dev teams.
They won't be unveiling the hardware this holiday season it will be like the series x and s they got a tease at the game awards 2018. But no details until year of their release in 2020 lol
Please tell me the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is still coming. I feel like I've been waiting forever for that game.
i think the juggernauts kingdom hearts (disney provides the money for that one) final fantasy and dragon quest are fine, the rest not as much
I'm kinda worried about the future of DQ though, Toriyama and the composer both passed away. Huge blow to the franchise.
@Michiel1989,
Akira Toriyama had an understudy though, he emulates his style, so maybe he'll do the art for Dragon Quest games, I would love to see Nobue Uematsu do music for the series though, that could be fun if they could convince him.
I'll be so p*ssed if that doesn't go ahead, also, where's DQ12 at? They've been silent on that for so long, and it was announced years ago.
@gold_Drake,
I'm pretty sure they can siphon some profit from A Realm Reborn to keep FF and Dragon Quest going too. I think the company would have gone bankrupt if it wasn't for that cash cow.
Another sign that dedicated consoles market is in trouble, while PC seems more and more attractive to big publishers.
Having a good gaming PC and a PS5 myself, given current trend form both Sony and MS I am less and less playing on PS5, waiting for exclusives to release on PC, so I understand the logic behind the new strategy.
Ants,
I get that we don't know exactly without numbers, but come on, man, we can clearly see what's happening.
The console market has not grown much, the highest-selling console in history is still the PS2. You can play the " prove it" game all you want, but Sony's more aggressive PC push, SE completely rebooting their company/business, after being mainly exclusive to one console and showing a sizeable profit loss is telling.
PC is a high seller, and your doubtful PS5 dominant stance does not change the clear writing on the wall, straight from Sony's mouth, that they need to be, and will be more aggressive in the very lucrative PC market.
So, in other words, PC market is indeed looking more and more attractive to Pubs.
@730
Numbers?
I'm willing to bet the farm that ¨PC gamers are not the dominate number compared to console, but I don't know because I don't have numbers. However, the price point of entry can allow us to infer what I had just stated.
What an ironic thing to say on a link-agreggate site like N4G. Explains your comment history perfectly.
asks for numbers. receives numbers and then continues to say I don't wanna click a website (because it might shatter my illusion)
@All the people with that good 'ol folk wisdom
It's ironic how I clearly asked for the site and people still can't even answer this simple question.
Tell me how many people click on random links on forums?
Tell me the site and I will look. I don't mind being wrong and I'm barely intelligent enough to change my mind with something substantial.
All the numbers I have seen is that PC doesn't even come close console gaming in revenue, and nothing touches mobile gaming. More people touching something doesn't mean anything. It just means more people own PC for work and touch Steam every now and again, those numbers mean even less.
Anast I wasn’t expecting more from you and I haven’t be disappointed.
Don’t believe any number if you want, but things cannot be more evident that most of games companies are pushing to get the most they can from PC market.
Hell, we have both MS and Sony that are releasing their biggest franchise on PC with no or less and less delay vs console release, that is never seen before in the industry.
What is surprising me is that PC is not cheap in term of hardware cost, a rig close to PS5/XBX perfs may be close to double the price I guess, and close to 4x for a good gaming PC.
Plus, PC gaming does not have physical release anymore.
So a lot of supposed advantages from console market are not there but PC market is successful anyway, it would be very interesting to understand it.
Maybe one big argument is that we are more likely to need a PC at home, were we can work with, browse, and game, than a dedicated gaming machine. That why handled console market have been crushed by smartphones, we could see a repeating pattern here.
From what I can ascertain PC is a smaller market than PS. There are occasionally times when PC looks to be stronger but overall it's still behind.
PC also has a lot more competition, especially when people can easily buy and play older games from 20 or so years ago on it.
You probably need to worry about yourself and your own expectations.
You still haven't even complete the simplest task in telling me the name of the website. Let that sink in. I asked for the name of the website so I can look at it and you couldn't even complete that task.
EA senior staff has been investigated for sexual misconduct involving female coworkers, and these said people have been named publicly.
Aye just call Phil, i mean he somehow made Bobby Kotick's scandal disappear and gave him a few million dollar high five on the way out.
Microsoft did, Phil Spencer played a minor part. He instigated the buyout that led to Kotick escaping all his controversies while getting a golden handshake.
Someone on Twitter calculated that the people hired in Tango and Arkane Austin could get a decent salary for roughly 17 years for the money Kotick was paid.
Yeah some thing tells me Kotics $ was already guaranteed before MS made the deal. As for the studios... Let's be honest here... none of those studios made system sellers.
EA about to go down like Activision and then Phil saves the day saying.this is good for the industry and consolidation will help create competition. /s.
Then they shutdown Codemasters and studio behind Jedi Survivor.
Atleast they could hardly do much damage that EA hadn't allready done. EA has shut down most of their studios by now.
What's up with all these horny creeps. You gon be horny, fine. Just not at work take care of that shit before you go in. Rub one out if you have to. Don't be a creep at all. ESPECIALLY at work. But don't be one AT ALL.
You think deviants care where they are? Work sometimes makes it an even better situation for them because they can abuse their power.
"it seems that according to EA, given the events transpired outside of work between two adults, and the fact that once investigation has started that the alleged perpetrators didn’t do it again, the investigation is considered closed. [...] The victim still has to work with the people that harassed her."
Yep, EA is disgusting.
I mean the fact stuff happened outside of work puts EA in quite a difficult position legally. These women don't seem to have reported the matter to the police which kinda ties EA's hands on what they can do. If they don't file reports of the crimes then yeah from EA's perspective it is stuff that happened outside of work. The only exception is the guy that apparently referenced things in the slack channel for work, spending on what he said proving it may be very hard and he may well be able to get away with plausible deniability. I don't like EA and I think these people need to be dismissed but without any legal action being taken, EA can't really do much without risk of being sued themselves for unfair dismissal etc.
Stupid grown up things are keeping me from attending the first year Bethesda, Square, and PC all doing their own bit shows. Sigh.
Sony best for last again :)
EA going on the 15th means Ubisoft, Sony, & MS will probably also go on the 15th.
Seeing a lot of these 3rd part devs having their own shows, I hope that means the big 3 will only focus on their own exclusive games for their systems at their presentation.