Private Stockholder Sells Entire Square Enix Stock,Poor FFXIV Sales Blamed

After several years of development Square Enix’s highly anticipated new mmorpg, Final Fantasy XIV, has been met with a negative reception from both gamers and the media. A recent review by GameSpot rated the PC version of the game with a 4/10 while Game Trailers gave it a 4.2/10.

Though it’s hard to find a review of FFXIV from the country, Japanese gamers have voiced their disappointment with the game on several retail websites. Now it appears that all of the negative publicity may be weighing on some Square Enix investors.

[Cloudberry]

.
What are you gonna do, Wada?

[SnuggleBandit]

versus multi :(

[Pennywise]

The should cancel Wada.

[Shadow Flare]

They should at least port Wada

to antarctica

[TheColbertinator]

@Shadowflare @Pennywise

loooool hilarious

[MrMccormo]

I really hope S-E wises up and fires Wada. He is the Bobby Kotick of Japan.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Except Bobby Kotick rakes in lots and lots of money for Activision.

Not that I like Kotick but he damn well know how to make money. That guy just keep dreaming up ways to empty gamer's pocket.

Wada seems to chase after leprechauns and rainbows for that fable pot of gold.

[DasBunker]

yay versus multi to make for the flop thats XIV -_-.

[THE MAX SPEED 21]

rip Square enix.

[badz149]

cancel? port? you guys do know that he's not a game, right? but I do hope he should stay exclusive to M$ for that matter!

[mirroredderorrim]

Hahaha. Wada is going to flop! Let's prepare the boot!

http://www.examiner.com/ima...

[Gago]

it sold like 500K the first week

[KillaManiac]

I bought the CE and with all this bad publicity...

I won't expect even 1/5 of total sales to stay past first month.

I am also thinking about not renewing and i've been so excited for this game. It has so many bugs and I bet SE will fix it over time, but how much time is the question.

[GrilledCheeseBook]

won't matter if they don't retain subscriptions or attract more people

[Redlogic]

"It should be noted that even though the brief plunge occurred during the peak of the trading session last week, Square Enix’s stock returned to stability for the rest of the day and has since crossed the 1800 mark".

[Kain81]

Abandoning your core fanbase and westernization have not payed off, he Square-Enix?

[jc48573]

How the hell does this has anything to do with westernization? (well, it's a matter of time.)

We're talking about FF14 idiot!

[Panthers]

No need to personally attack him. And SE should stick to what its fans love. There are a lot of people in the US that love Japanese games and we dont want our favorite franchises westernized.

Now I honestly dont know much about FF14 and I was willing to give it a look, but not now with all the negative publicity.

[Myst]

So what did we give Jc disagrees for what he said is right on the mark. He covered his basis on the first sentence and the second makes sense, what Kain said gave almost no indication of what he was talking about.

If he means westernization in the terms of the cool down [only so many hours between jobs] then that misses the mark as it isn't westernized. Lack of Auction House? Isn't westernized but an oversight. I guess I could sit here and try to piece together what your reply means in terms of FFXIV's case, but I frankly should not have to.

FFXIV is like FFXI - Some like it some don't and with FFXIV at the time it's between the fanbase of FFXI and the rest of the world - some like it some don't. If you are talking about the fanbase of FFXI then I can see where you are going, but quite a few things [such as Auction House] were stated before launch as being added in later [prior to launch].

So next time Kain list some reasons - then again this is the comment section so if one is to assume the natural flow [whether it be love or hate] it will be deemed worthy amongst the community :p.

[number47]

Hes talking about abandoning The Playstation for a quick buck with microsoft, which has resulted in nothing but sub par products, and resources mis-management that could have otherwise been used to develop good products. Like the one here. Products that reflect the titles Sony's first party/third party developers create, when given the freedom to. Compared to who "SQUARE" was, they are hardly the bar setters of this generation. But its due to the hardware & timetables they were working with. Sure, they aren't what they used to be, but this gen they are a laughing stock, and people are just remembering them for what they were, not for what they are today. Which is why there is hope for versus, but if that goes multiplat as well. Welp, it was nice knowing them.

Westernizing may be a stretch, but dumbing down wouldn't be too far off the point. Square invested a lot into Multiplatform and Microsoft. They sacrificed quality & their reputation for early money, but couldn't sustain the audience that they thought they could capture. The results speak for themselves. I for one didn't buy many square products due to the watering down of them. Its clear I'm not alone.

Way to prattle on about how thoroughly you missed the point.

[Myst]

What does it have to do with Final Fantasy XIV itself though? The core matter here is about Final Fantasy XIV, if it was about Square-Enix in general I could see that. Though since it says explicitly that FFXIV is to blame I would take it that because of FFXIV shareholders sold their stock, not because of current generation products aside from FFXIV.

As an added point to yours Even as we sit and type almost none of us know if the game is coming to Microsoft so can we really put blame for them in this one? Though their has been speculation on it and articles, nothing has been solid in saying "It's coming to 360.

Though I really agree with you in saying the game is dumbed down, it's certainly far easier than the current model of FFXI. At least from what I've heard, but at the same time without an instruction manual [in-game] of how things work it certainly brings the difficulty back up a bit.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is, why are we all talking about other square products when FFXIV is the one on the line. The one that is being exclusively blamed. Though I can see the connection that everyone is making.

[edit to your edit]
Actually re-read the article and you will see, states nothing about the time in which FFXIII came out did shareholders sell their stocks, nor when other changes were made. It was mainly FFXIV as stated in my earlier paragraph. You guys seem to be laying blame on other things when the blame should be placed on FFXIV.

Why wouldn't they go for Microsoft at the time [when the current generation began]? Many of the early games were on 360 because how big was the install bases for the PS3? The price was extremely high and the 360 was already establishing it's attachment rate. Now that the PS3 has a bigger one Square [ as well as other developers] are looking into the system more.

[lexington]

I don't blame this guy for sell stock in a company that leads it development on the LAST place console. I mean talk about idiotic.

[THE MAX SPEED 21]

I still lol at the people who actually still try to blame microsoft for square's shitty games. I guess it's microsof fault Final fantasy 12 on ps2 was bad and featured a flawed battle system. It's probably microsoft fault that Square enix arent good at making MMO's hence the bad scores FINAL FANTASY XI which was ALSO available on PS2 received. it's probably microsoft fault aswell square enix are putting a hundread of games with no originality on the market year after year. these guys over here are fanboys and they'll blame microsoft for anything bad that happends in the gaming industry. Disagreeing wont change nothing you people's logic is flawed and biased.

[maniacmayhem]

You're argueing with a brick wall. The fanboys here believe that FF started on the Playstation and should only remain on the Playstation.

They also believe that MS had a dirty underhanded plan to personally ruin Square by making FF multi.

They believe that by FF being multi it magically made the game gimped and sub par. That is why FFXIV had poor sales because MS had something to do with it...even tho it's for PS3 and PC.

Poor fanboys :(

[voodoopickle]

But it is Squares fault for trying to get the quick $ by making subpar games. they have been for a little while now, mainly since the Square-Enix merger. They spend way too much time on the visuals now and not enough on the gameplay. they keep changing the level system to be "innovative", when it was never broken. nothing they make now comes close to the gameplay or storyline of FFI-FFIX. and no, FF started on the original NES. Not the playstation
And I am a playstation fanboy stating this

[Light Yagami]

Last I heard, FFXIII sold more than 5 million and outsold FFXII already. SE are not abandoning the fanbase. they are expanding it.

[Stealth20k]

Expanding it and making there console games worse

[bustamove]

They're not expanding anything. They're making stupid decisions.

[Meisadragon]

83 metacritic game.

[UltimateIdiot911]

Expanding?

No point in expanding if that is quick to fall apart.

It's how many great empires have fallen, they grow too far and too wide and away from what is important. In this case, it's the fan, those who will always be loyal and will replenish SE's bank account.

The audience SE tried to capture truly had no strong interest in SE's product, and are less likely to return for more in the future like casual gamers. Now, you have a subpar product and after many lies and half ass products, fans no longer are willing to spend that $60 on SE the next time they have a choice between something from let say Level 5 and SE. If you have ever study business, heck even in social life, you realize the importance of trust and reputation. It might not be a tangible asset but by no means it's a powerful factor in making or breaking a company.

This is what it means to be short sighted. You lose sight of the what is important to make quick gains that may not return on long term investment.

[Homicide]

You guys are upset SE aren't making PS3 exclusives besides Versus XIII.

[The Meerkat]

Its such a shame that SE bought Eidos.

SE should be on trial for crimes against gaming.

[jc48573]

How the hell does Eidos have anything to do with this? (Well, it's a matter of time)

We are talking about FF14!

[The Meerkat]

Because SE will ruin Eidos too.

[raztad]

Eidos wasnt doing very hot either.

[Lovable]

"Eidos wasnt doing very hot either."

Lol. That's true.

[jetlian]

did ok since this gen started. Tomb raider games have been playable. I have all 3 released this gen. Underworld sold over 2 million too

[DOMination]

Just Cause 2 was great and Deus Ex looks like it's a contender for goty 2011.

[rebirthofcaos]

As kratos said in god of war 1: Destroy this village, burn it to the ground.

[wissam]

LOL. destroy SE burn it to the ground.

[jc48573]

Can't you just call it FFonline instead of FF14? You are really screwing up the series fool.

[Myst]

Nope since it still has the story of an Final Fantasy [Yes FFXI actually does have a story for each nation which is interesting.] and draws from a series of other Final Fantasies [ FFXI had jobs of previous FF games such as White Mage, Black Mage and the rest. Not to mention Chocobos and ships as well as various monsters]

So while it may not perhaps BE an Final Fantasy like the previous iterations it still holds many Final Fantasy qualities and content that can deem it with the name of Final Fantasy. Now whether or not it is good enough to hold such a title is entirely subjective.

[Myst]

This is saddening to hear more bad press around the game, I guess because I liked FFXI so much that I am still willing to give this a try. Only thing to make this hit home more is if they said they canceled the PS3 version.

[Lovable]

You can only be the judge of the game brother. Although I trust Gamespot's review, I'm the kind of person who will play the game if I really wanted to even if the scores are extremely awful.

[Myst]

I agree which is why I still haven't cancelled my pre-order on the PS3 version. The scores were certainly low but, I am willing to give it a try still.

[Trebius]

It's really best to ignore them and try it out yourself.

This game is definitely too early to have been released. It shows.

In a game like this though, patches are constant and evolution is inevitable.

It could release badly but become better than WoW a year down the line. Who knows.

[theafroman]

this game sucks a shame to the name FF ever since this new gen started the games got boring

[KillerPwned]

Maybe this will be able to get into their heads now and convince them to square up or they are gonna have some problems.

[FwanK]

Yes... im looking at you capcom

[Newtype]

Sony should sell their Square stock as well. Not worth the investment.

[Malice-Flare]

they can wait until the stock gets low enough to take over or get the majority share. then, fire Wada...

[Jack-Pyro]

The best hostile take over plan I've ever heard...

Would your name happen to be Gordon Gecko?

[Malice-Flare]

it wouldn't be considered a hostile takeover, Sony is already part of the board of directors. this would be a friendly takeover...

[blasian]

It really is a shame. Game had Storyline and graphics locked down. It was missing an important aspect called gameplay.

[Malice-Flare]

he must leave the western gaming market to the western divisions of Square-Enix. have SE Japan concentrate on expanding the HD market in Japan and, no you don't do this by not releasing games in the region's dominant HD console...

if Japan wants Last Remnant PS3 (as an example), give it to them. and, no more timed exclusives, they have to realise that that is not a long-term business model to depend upon...

[PS360fanboy]

This is Square's lowest point I can remember. Releasing an unfinished game, especially one in one of the most beloved gaming series ever...why?!

[TheColbertinator]

Hahaha nice way of screwing up Square

[Lazy_Gamer]

Dear SE,
How was business recently ( especially stockholds)? Did FF 14 do well? I appears that it is doing great! Did you read the GS review? Oh by the way, has westernising your games payed off? It's a great path for the Japanese developers to follow. It makes their games more successful in all aspects. Keep it up! The current-gen FF games were awsome. Wada is a great manager who knows how to get things done. He is very caring to his core fanbase and franchises as well. He is not greedy and he does not like the idea of milking his franchises as he appreciates his games more than money. He deserves to remain the boss for this company. SE fans love him too. Some even consider him to be a role model! That is very pleasing to hear. Please never change SE. Once again, I'd like to congratulate the company for what seems to be experiencing on of its best times in its long gaming history.
All the best,
One Lazy Gamer

TIP: Scarcasm

[kaos_fish II]

I don't read reviews - prefer to find out when I play the game (good or bad), but I'm curious - is 'FFXIV' that bad?

Might actually have to go read a review for it now.

[Leonesaurus]

This fucking game IS NO WHERE NEAR as bad as people are making it out to be. Yes (I'm speaking unbiased fact here), the game does have some serious issues with the buy/sell system for beginners and the game's interface and instructions can be a hassle at times, depending on how committed/ optimistic/ enthusiastic/ determined you are when entering this game.

Game's are meant to be fun and addicting, if they are good, and I'm certainly having fun with this game while leveling with my friends.

It's just sad that everyone's jumping on the bandwagon of hate and shitting all over something that can be fixed over time with a few patches here and there. I've seen PLENTY of shitty, boring games out there and this one is FAR fucking from it. So get the hell over it and give it a second chance for Christ's sake. =___=;

Everyone has a right to not like the game, that's fine, but don't beat a dead Chocobo with a stick dude....

[Fadetoblack69]

Unfortunately the constant stream of bad press isn't helping. These Anti-Ffxiv articles have been coming out since the beta so people read those and believe them instead of checking it out for themselves. People tend to run with the 'popular opinion' which is sad.

The graphics are simply amazing so if they can just fix the UI lag and get the main content added soon...... We'll see what happens.

*crossing fingers*

[Perkel]

it's not GS review is to blame. Players are main point of bad rep. Go to forums and you will see tons of post about how bad game is.

[Senden]

Can't say i'm surprised.. I've read a lot about ff14 and seen a lot of videos of it.. I was psyched for the ps3 release but currently unless the game undertakes a massive overhaul, I won't bother. My experience with ff11 was BAD and pretty much everything bad I remember from it, seems to be just as bad in ff14. I dunno how anyone at SE could play the game and go "wow that's so much fun".

[Fadetoblack69]

I'm not sure what to think at this point. I love the game a lot right now simply because they've done excellent on the graphics and their crafting system is amazing to me with all the elements and days and moons and stuff being taken into consideration. I actually prefer this gameplay to the "Log In - Give All" MMO's.

That being said, I was also a HUGE fan of FFXI so I am kind of disappointed in this one..., I was really looking forward to it. There is a lot that was in FFXI that I find better than FFXIV though. The monsters seemed "Smarter", the animations seemed more entertaining, the spell effects seemed better.... I could go on but I'm sure most people have already experienced it and can form their own opinions.

I see a lot of hate on this game so I donno. For me; I'm having a blast just crafting so I guess I'm gonna ride it out as they add more content and hope they can turn this thing around. We didn't get ffxi in the states until later in the game and a lot was added between the time of original release and the release we got. I know they're adding an AH system soon and moghouses, chocobos, etc.... but they really need to focus first on the UI lag, targetting system, etc. first.

Here's to crossing my fingers as I weather out the storm.... :(

[thelifatree]

I understand why you guys don't like SE as they do stupid things like imo most game developers... (I still love them). But it didn't even affect their stock for more than a few hours.
When the stock dropped it dropped a massive "3.6%" and then it later It went on to cross the initial 1800 yen stock barrier, that same DAY! Meaning the stock stayed the same or even went up!
From the article

"On October 7th, SquareEnix’s stock price on the Tokyo Stock Exchange underwent a precipitous drop in price. It is rumored this was due to a private stockholder selling all of his investment in SquareEnix — approximately 1% of the entire company — after citing profound disappointment over the failed release of FFXIV. SquareEnix share price tumbled to 1735 yen from 1800 yen going into the afternoon, before later recovering."

"It should be noted that eventhough the brief plunge occured during the peak of the trading session last week, Square Enix’s stock returned to stability for the rest of the day and has since crossed the 1800 mark."

[Perkel]

"Did you guys even read?
I understand why you guys don't like SE as they do stupid things like imo most game developers... "

most game developers cheerish their fans not cut of from them and try to westernize their games.

Is mainthemes from final faantasy were wrong ? Most of them were epic and to this day still are. Then why they use some LEona lewis stupid song ?

In this generation they release only ports of their past games (not even their sometimes but Squaresoft) and their new games don't hold a candle to past games.

My only hope is nomura...

[thelifatree]

The reason why was Hamauzu did the soundtrack, and didn't choose to use the themes minus the chocobo theme. Did you know that that song was on for a grand total of about 1 minute the entire game? Did you even listen to Hamuzu's song to see if it was better or fit better than Leona Lewis's Song. Granted That move is questionable but not a huge deal everyone makes it out to be, especially since Hamauzu's ending song wasn't very good.

These Are Great SE Games This Gen, IMO and Metacritic>80. That are not Superior Remakes of the Originals like DQV,FFIV,DQIV

The World Ends With You (One of the best DS Games) and my favorite game this gen
FF7: Crisis Core (One of the best PSP game)
Dragon Quest IX (One of the best DS games)
Chaos Rings (One of the best Iphone Games)
FFXIII
Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep (One of the Best PSP Games)
...
Plus Since Aquiring Eidos
They've Released Batman AA
And Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light (one of the best DLC) imo

Yes minus FFXIII imo they've sucked on consoles. But they've been awesome on handhelds, if that's not for you, then I guess it's not. But that's also what's most popular in Japan (hand-helds).

They've made Really bad games this gen like most everyone else

[PickAShoe]

come on free to play! *finger cross* lol

[OGharryjoysticks]

Wonder if the mystery person is actually Sony?

[Jack-Pyro]

If a company as large as Sony pulled all their shares, there would be no hiding it, it would be like trying to get rid of a whale.

...entertaining thought though.

[maruyuki]

thats why they had to merge with fuckign enix. they get a little bit happy with their money and they fucking blow it all up.

seriously, what the fuck? i mean ff14 isnt even real time, vindictus looks better, plays better, realtime and ITS FREE, HOW THE FUCK CAN YOU COMPETE WITH THAT?

they are just disrespectful to their customers, they just throw final fantasy at people's faces and they expect them to buy it

[ZBlacktt]

Private Stockholder = Bill Gates?

[midgard229]

dang well w/e when free games with amazing combat like vindictus are out (beta here) and games like tera, and Blade and soul are around the corner with new types of mmorpg gameplay it makes the otthers look stale.

its not about gear anymore, players want skill

[Beahmscream]

Serves them right. The game is trash.

[MadMan00]

How do does a Final Fantasy game get rated Lower then XIII? Seriously is it THAT bad?

This only feeds the fire of Wada going Super Sayian and putting Versus Multi to Milk out as much money as possible before he leaves, lol.

And yes Vidictus is AMAZING for a Free game, I mean it's so good..It's some what repeatable though...but it's still in Beta so I understand...I'm level 20 so far but I haven't played it for like 2 weeks now due to Divinity II not being as bad as I thought and playing Dead Raising.

[darthdevidem01]

Simple fact is FFXIII isn't even bad

Its very good.

FFXIV is the first bad Final Fantasy game according to critics and gamers.

[wissam]

FF13 Decent at best.

[YoungKingDoran]

lol this guy held out wayyyyy too long.