470°

Games like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth aren’t sustainable, and the Sony layoffs prove it

Do you want mushroom-picking minigames or a healthy industry? You can’t have both

phoenixwing59d ago

Halfway through their article I realized they're being stupid. They criticized ff for being a big game and introducing card games collectibles and side quests like ff never did it before. They've always been like that. Also I'd like to point out the fallacy of using ff 7 rebirth as an example of the wrong game to make. The game is so revered its bound to make bank. Also I and many others bought a ps5 just to play ff. Polygon are morons. As for the layoffs by Sony it's nothing to do with their third party agreements more to do with companies being cheap ba$tards as a whole. They even pointed out sony made a profit and playstation 5s are selling well. They mention it because they already know the counter argument but stating the counter argument alone doesn't change that it's right. Polygon made a nothing burger article.

Nitrowolf258d ago

They made a nothing burger of a game that just released this past Friday with no sales data or way to gauge it's success, all because they clearly wanted to bank on the games hype

Cacabunga58d ago

After all these years Polygon is still not clever enough to differentiate between a third party and first party game..

senorfartcushion58d ago

It's so dumb.

So they made online games for years on the Xbox 360 and PS3 with no microtransactions. Now they make more money than ever? This is despite the fact that every game HAS to have features that the majority of the public only prefer per CERTAIN games i.e. live service money wastes and microtransactions? And it's not sustainable?

How about if companies - Square Enxi for example - make games like The Avengers in the same way they would a Final Fantasy game? Makes sense. You won't lose any money. You'll get exactly what the public thinks you're worth.

chronoforce58d ago (Edited 58d ago )

Rebirth is part 2 of a remake of a game that in 1997 was released complete. The next part is at least 3 years away. Spiderman 2023 will have much worse margins than Miles Morales and their next games would have exceeded 300m a piece if not for cuts. Shrinking margins are a concern for all the developers making cuts so where is fallacious thinking on the part of polygon?

Rebirth has a giant open world packed full of content; we can assume the budget is much higher than Remake. Even if Rebirth opens to 3.5m units like Remake did, it will still most likely represent a degradation of margins even if the game makes a profit.

The fact that they could not make a single game speaks volumes about how much development costs and timelines have increased.

senorfartcushion58d ago (Edited 58d ago )

It's their choice ultimately

It could have been an exact copy of Kingdom Hearts 3's build with new assets. That game is full and runs on PS4 with Disney licenses being paid for.

phoenixwing57d ago (Edited 57d ago )

Ill bite. First ill pretend that ff7 has shrinking margins for companies even though they are priced more and have dlc. Let's not even get into all the merchandising. Ff7 rebirth has shrinking margins for Square Enix ergo Sony has no margins because they paid square enix a set amount on exclusivity. Which makes your whole argument moot. Do you understand that? Basically polygon used the most hyped game of the month and tried to force a circle block in a square recess. They used next to no brain power when it came to critical thinking and this article.

But even then sony doesn't make games like ff7 rebirth anyway. I've yet to play a Sony game with a bunch of mini games. Also Sony very rarely makes jrpgs its not their style. Also practically every big dev fired workers this isn't a sustainability problem this goes back to dev companies only focusing on instant cash for shareholders and being greedy companies like I said.

Edit: they padded the story that's why it isn't in a single game. If they wanted to they could have made it a single one but why would you when they know they can release it a bunch of times and make 3 times as many sales

DOMination-57d ago

Margins for games shouod he at an all time high, especially for platform holders. Digital games are considerably cheaper than physical games

The reason why Spiderman has low margins is because Sony have to pay a huge percentage to Disney for licensing

phoenixwing57d ago

I'm also never reading a polygon article again. If this is the braintrust polygon has working there then I'd rather not catch a case of their stupidity

MrBaskerville57d ago (Edited 57d ago )

You forget that Remake alone is longer than the original Final Fantasy VII. Rebirth is double the length of the original game. Who knows how long the third will be.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 57d ago
The Wood57d ago (Edited 57d ago )

polygon be polygon'ing. Their anti (ill say no names) rhetoric/milkshake used to bring a certain demographic to the yard. They're pretty much irrelevant nowadays....arh well

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 57d ago
Sciurus_vulgaris59d ago

Sony doesn’t develop Final Fantasy, which is something that should be obvious with the most basic of research.

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Knightofelemia59d ago (Edited 59d ago )

As far as I remember Sony sold off their shares they had in Squaresoft at the time. Sony did not and has not made FF7 they published the old FF7 game outside of Japan. But Sony's lay offs have nothing to do with this two different companies.

Hofstaderman58d ago

They resold the shares back to Square. Sony assisted Square after the Spirits Within fiasco.

purple10159d ago

websites like this, arn't sustainable,

and with this article, you just proved it.

Kekewei58d ago (Edited 58d ago )

But small or even indie studios are closing and laying off these days too , the studio behind Life is strange true colors lay off 20% just days before Sony did, what does that prove then?

Skuletor58d ago

That these so called journalists cherry pick information to support their own agenda.

58d ago Replies(1)
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80°

SteelSeries Reveals Arctis Nova Pro White Edition

Looks like a great headset and it will be interesting to hear how they sound. From the makers of Arctis, the most awarded audio line in gaming, SteelSeries, the original esports brand that fuses gaming and culture, today introduces an all-new white version of the award-winning Arctis Nova Pro series headsets.

270°

Microsoft Survey Asks About Handheld

A new survey from Microsoft has further hinted at the possibility of an Xbox handheld being in development.

Read Full Story >>
twistedvoxel.com
EasilyTheBest1d 4h ago

This is definitely happening, I just hope they have 2 versions one with a much bigger screen.

GamerRN16h ago

I'll be happy with this, and a PC console hybrid that rivals anything we have power wise

Number1TailzFan13h ago

The problem with bigger devices is playing them on your side in bed, Vita and before that was fine. Since the Switch you gotta have a gooseneck holder & controllers detached so you can lie down holding them, or your arm will quickly get tired.

KicksnSnares1d 3h ago

Day One buy for me if they'll make a dedicated handheld device.

darthv7217h ago

i have that logitech g-cloud. Its a sweet little piece of kit. I like that it can also install games from the play store unlike the other android based handheld.

mudakoshaka16h ago

It sure is! Don't understand why you get the down-votes. Whoever does not like the G Cloud must have been dropped down a well, head first, when they were of a younger age.

PassNextquestion17h ago

I wonder if Microsoft will perform better in Japan if they do actually make a handheld since everyone says handheld and mobile are king over there.

TiredGamer17h ago

This looks like the future of the game industry... all three platforms with a handheld option.

I wonder if the Playstation Portal is a technology test-bed/prototype for a future Playstation handheld?

rlow115h ago(Edited 15h ago)

It’s a possibility but I can’t help but think would that be the best way to go about it? Though it would give you data on how much it is used and game type. It’s still not a true portable device and so people approach it differently. I think that data on phones, tablets, and of course the competition would give a better indication.

But I really think if Sony is considering a new PSP that could play ps5 games, now would be the time to dive in. Honestly, if they do this, it would be huge.

Traecy13h ago(Edited 13h ago)

Doubt if Sony PS wants to support a new handheld with first party games. Something they lacked with the Vita. What they should do is have a handheld that is like the PS Portal which can play all games but play those games on the go as well as at home. Something like that is a better investment.

TiredGamer10h ago

Agreed that you will probably never see a separate line of games specifically for the handheld (a la PSP or PSVita). The modern economics and expectations of game development make that cost prohibitive. What makes more sense is if the full-fat game on PS5 or PS6 has a special "handheld" profile that is automatically optimized for the lower spec handheld. There would be some significant compromises compared to the bigger console variant, but it would be the same game overall and would only require a single purchase.... somewhat what the Switch does with a lower resolution when playing handheld versus docked.

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370°

Square Enix Declares $140m Loss Amid Game Pipeline Shakeup

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth publisher Square Enix has declared a $140m loss based on a shakeup of its internal development pipeline.

Read Full Story >>
techraptor.net
Furesis1d 1h ago

What are they doing over there? Sounds like they canceled something big. I read a rumor a while back about ff9 remake . Here "Final Fantasy IX has gone through a very challenging development, the game is still in progress but may undergo changes drastic enough that we won't hear about it for a couple of years."
This could be one of the reasons if the rumor is true. That was Silknight i don't know how credible he is but it's something and it would make sense.

-Foxtrot23h ago

I hope IX is still on the cards

Just a straight up remake which they expand a little bit nothing over ambitious

If IX dosent happen then VI and VIII will never be thought of.

Kakashi Hatake13h ago

6 and 8 were way more p popular games despite today's cult following of 9.

blackbeld57m ago

I want my FF8 remake! Can't believe they cancelled it.

TiredGamer22h ago

What are they doing? Sales are falling and the costs are out of control. Big releases need to be absolute sales home runs now, and Final Fantasy sales have stagnated.

Now we know why Square didn’t fall over themselves to remake the original FF7 all these years ago. It certainly wasn’t a license to print money, at least not with what the expectations were. Each of these full on remakes drains an enormous amount of company resources for a razor thin profit margin.

TwoPicklesGood22h ago

Breaking the game up into multiple parts was a mistake IMO.

blackblades20h ago

The loses came from cancelling games nothing else.

Tapani3h ago

They lost the magic in the remakes. And the story is incomplete. The original FF7 is still way better. The Remake / Rebirth are just fan service. Like an Anime/Manga with "optional" filler content. FF7 had pretty much zero filler, it was paced extremely well, and still today flows much better than the grindy story and spongey enemy battles in the remakes.

babadivad43m ago

If they released it at once on all platforms, they would have made all of their money back. Could have been on to an FF8 or 9 remake. Ready to cash in again on nostalgia like Capcom. This is their fault for trying to milk the title.

Once I head they were breaking it up into parts, I lost all interest.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 43m ago
neutralgamer19922h ago

I hope people understand usually when a loss is declared it means a game which had been in development got cancelled. For example Sony Santa Monica before GOW-PS4 had cancelled a project which Sony had spent 7 figures on

As far as square is concerned they release a bad game once a year. Forspoken anyone?

For those making comments on remake not selling well, I hope y’all realize that Sony is the only reason this remake is happening. If Sony didn’t fund it the remake wouldn’t be happening. Just like Konami didn’t want to remake SH2 because development costs of 100 plus million

shadowT1d ago

Do not miss Final Fantasy 16. Great game!

raWfodog1d ago

I'm waiting for them to release the complete edition bundle, but it's definitely on my list.

PhillyDonJawn23h ago

Wth is going on with the gaming industry?

mandf22h ago

Corporate investors taking everything

TiredGamer22h ago

Not rocket science. Compare sales numbers, development cycles, and budgets to the previous gens. We are all collectively burning up the industry from the inside out. Expectations are ludicrously high now for every release and sales are dropping for even the most prestigious of series.

We used to be satisfied paying $50-60 for a game that took 1/100th the budget and staff to make. Now gamers feel cheated if they have to pay the same for a game that took 100x the budget. We may be reaching the end of the line for this model of gaming.

wiz719118h ago

@tiredgamer I think your point is one that ppl don’t understand and you hit it on the nose .. some gamers don’t want to take accountability but it’s some of the gamers fault the industry is where it’s at .. we as gamers set the standards for the industry not the shareholders , ppl forget that the shareholders and the industry want and need OUR Money. Both the Xbox and PlayStation are seeing a drop in hardware , the industry is very stagnant right now.

Tacoboto19h ago

Speaking to Square:

Turns out their mismanagement wasn't related to the western studios they dumped to Embracer, but their own fault.

With regards to Xbox - a good way to kill your brand is to pull support on high quality titles and only dump B and C-tier titles to it

With regards to PC - Epic Games Story exclusivity for any duration and piss-poor optimization will hurt you.

With regards to FF Pixel Remasters - y'all messed up by barely releasing them on physical, like wtf that was free money!

And lastly, you don't help a franchise by releasing a mainline title that undermines every title that came before it. FFXVI was a DMC-like with bottom-of-the-barrel side quests and I can't imagine that helping Rebirth at all considering its marketing is directly tied to how big that game is.

Tacoboto18h ago

Sony is getting their best titles and with the most polish, so what about it? Nintendo gets their top properties too, for titles that can run on Switch hardware.

It's the other fanbases that get the second- and third-class treatment from Square. If that's due to agreements with Sony, that's not a Sony issue but a Square one for accepting those terms. Sony is doing its best to look out for Sony.

wesnytsfs1h ago

sales and stupid practices like exclusives.

TiredGamer23h ago

The industry implosion is continuing. Sky high budgets, prolonged development windows, stagnant sales numbers, and falling currency values (inflation) are wreaking havoc on the legacy industry. AAA games will slowly become the rarity.

CS723h ago

Sad. Rebirth was one of my favorite games in a long time. Should have sold more.

CrimsonWing6922h ago

Oh I’m with you. What’s worse is they can say, “Well we tried to make this amazing game and spend all this money on, but not enough people showed an interest. So no more of these since we can’t take a hit like that.”

The industry is going to take a dramatic shift. Mark my words on this.

rpvenom21h ago(Edited 21h ago)

I think there is quite a large portion of individuals like myself who held out on buying it on PS5 because I can get it on PC eventually. To be able to mod the game and also have custom graphical settings to my liking

gold_drake11h ago

same

but im not sure if it matters at all. im sure they made sony pay a hefty sum for the 3parter to come on ps5 exclusively. so watever they made in sales, might have come bk in profits for square, but i dont know
and we dont know what "underperformed" even means for square.

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