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.

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Furesis20d 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.

-Foxtrot20d 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 Hatake19d ago

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

blackbeld19d ago

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

TiredGamer20d 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.

TwoPicklesGood20d ago

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

blackblades20d ago

The loses came from cancelling games nothing else.

Tapani19d 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.

babadivad19d 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 19d ago
neutralgamer199219d 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

shadowT20d ago

Do not miss Final Fantasy 16. Great game!

raWfodog20d ago

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

PhillyDonJawn20d ago

Wth is going on with the gaming industry?

mandf20d ago

Corporate investors taking everything

TiredGamer20d 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.

wiz719120d 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.

Tacoboto20d 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.

Tacoboto20d 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.

wesnytsfs19d ago

sales and stupid practices like exclusives.

TiredGamer20d 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.

CS720d ago

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

CrimsonWing6920d 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.

rpvenom20d ago (Edited 20d 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_drake19d 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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90°

Take-Two Mandate on Microtransactions: Over-Deliver on Content and the Monetization Will Follow

Take-Two Interactive states their edict on microtransactions has been to over-deliver on content, and the monetization will follow.

lucasnooker1h ago

Warning. Boatloads of micro transactions coming for GTA VI

porkChop55m ago

To be fair, while GTA Online is monetized heavily both GTA Online and GTA V offer a massive amount of content without paying anything extra. Though I do think GTA Online's optional subscription is bullshit.

neutralgamer199228m ago

Can you please focus on delivering enough quality content to justify the $70 asking price? While I appreciate the idea of over-delivering, it's essential to ensure that the base content itself is worth it. I have concerns that GTA6 might have less single-player content because most of the focus seems to be shifting towards online play and microtransactions.

It's understandable why publishers are capitalizing on microtransactions when they generate billions with relatively little effort compared to traditional content creation. We, as consumers, are partly responsible for this trend. I've seen people spend on FIFA cards as if it's a normal part of the game. Previously, features like player cards and big head mode were earned through gameplay or cheat codes, but now gamers are willing to pay for them, so publishers have no reason not to monetize these features.

It's astonishing that the gaming industry is now more profitable than any other entertainment sector. Yet, despite record-high profits, the industry continues to see increasing levels of greed. It's baffling to hear about record profits followed by significant layoffs of developers. This disconnect makes no sense.

I know it’s unlikely given the size of the industry, but it might take a significant downturn for things to reset. Currently, there are too many decision-makers who lack a genuine understanding of gaming, focusing only on financial spreadsheets. A prime example is Andrew Wilson, the CEO of EA.

RhinoGamer8828m ago

It must be a nightmare working at Rockstar in a Production role...dealing with the team egos and those of the V suite. #soulcrush

180°

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 launch trailer will send shivers down your spine

Ninja Theory's latest trailer for their highly anticipated narrative action-adventure Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is absolute cinema.

Reaper22_4h ago

Like I said before, buying Ninja Theory was one of the smartest moves by Microsoft. Games looks incredible.

Rynxie56m ago

Unfortunately, their games aren't big sellers. Will MS shut them down if hellblade 2 sells below expectations?

Obscure_Observer39m ago

"Like I said before, buying Ninja Theory was one of the smartest moves by Microsoft. Games looks incredible."

Indeed.

Just a few hours to go

I can´t wait!

z2g4h ago

badass. already installed via gamepass. if its as great as the first one I will pay for the whole game.

jwillj2k43h ago

Here we go again. Is this a game or a choose your own adventure???

purple1013h ago

if you choose left, turn to page 39, if you proceed forward, turn to page 43, to turn right, page 209, you finished the book early,

no but seriously this looks like Microsofts first hit, or should I say, first game of standout quality.

jwillj2k42h ago

Never questioned the quality. Question is will there be a need for the controller.

Tedakin1h ago

If it's anything like the first game, you will spend a lot of timing walking and solving puzzles, with some fights thrown in.

Elda3h ago

LOL! Didn't send any shivers down my spine but I'll demo it after midnight tonight through Gamepass to see what it's giving.

Obscure_Observer58m ago

After the midnight? I see...

Day one as expected for another game that you said you had zero interest.

rlow13h ago

It looks amazing, I’m hoping the reviews are solid. You can tell the studio really poured their heart and soul into this one.

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