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News Bloomberg: Square Enix CEO told analysts that the company is overhauling how it makes games and plan is to announce new structure by spring this year.

Dardan Sandiego

Dardan Sandiego

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Article is only available in Japanese so far but here's the (imo) relevant part thanks to DeepL and some minor edits:

Kiryu, who became president of Square-Enix last June, has indicated that the company plans to reduce outsourced development and focus on developing major games in-house with the goal of improving game quality and profit margins. In a conference call held yesterday, he said, "We are reviewing from the ground up what the organizational structure is and what is best to embody the contents of the pipeline." As for the specifics of the new structure, he said: "We will make an announcement at least this spring."
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Wonder what this means for the development of games like KINGDOM HEARTS IV and Dragon Quest XII, wonder if anything will be internally delayed due to this structure change.
 
Square Enix is a mess of a publisher, but they do have some really good development teams. I hope those are safe from drastic changes.
 
Ideally they've learned to space out their AA releases and give them some breathing room. But they could also just pivot harder to big-budget development, which IIRC they already alluded to before.

I guess we'll see. I'm not too fussed as long as Team Asano continues to get to do what they like. Maybe throw us a Harvestella every now and then.
 
meatbag said:
Ideally they've learned to space out their AA releases and give them some breathing room. But they could also just pivot harder to big-budget development, which IIRC they already alluded to before.

I guess we'll see. I'm not too fussed as long as Team Asano continues to get to do what they like. Maybe throw us a Harvestella every now and then.
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They’re going to space out their smaller releases by making fewer of them. As you say, they’ve already indicated that they will focus on bigger games going forward and it only makes sense. It’s smarter to focus their internal resources on games like FFXVI, FFVIIR, KH4 etc. because that’s actually what people want.
 
Kartina said:
I can’t wait to see how they fuck it up.
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There's always a fuck-up in every SE Presidency, but nothing like Yoichi Wada.

Dardan Sandiego said:
They’re going to space out their smaller releases by making fewer of them. As you say, they’ve already indicated that they will focus on bigger games going forward and it only makes sense. It’s smarter to focus their internal resources on games like FFXVI, FFVIIR, KH4 etc. because that’s actually what people want.
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It baffles me why companies just can't go like: "we know Triple A games drive us revenues because that's what people are looking for, but we can have an ecosystem of video games by also making AA games"
 
Good, they have been pushing out like 20 games a year, barely market any of them, and then are surprised when they sell 2 copies. But knowing square this is probably them diving headfirst into an empty pool
 
ziggyrivers said:
It baffles me why companies just can't go like: "we know Triple A games drive us revenues because that's what people are looking for, but we can have an ecosystem of video games by also making AA games"
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I don’t think they will stop with AA games. Team Asano has multiple projects in the pipeline, SaGa is getting a ton of content, Dragon Quest gets tons of spinoffs between mainline releases… And the new Mana, while definitely a big step up from past games, most likely doesn’t come close to FF.

I just assume that they want to avoid releases like Diofeld Chronicle that disappoint both critically as well as commercially.
 
I remain cautiously optimistic on this "less, but higher-effort and higher-cost" shift.

Time will be the judge of it, as of now I can only think that the recent handling of SE's console releases hasn't been it. A smart change in strategy could be what they need.

And for the umpteenth time: Team Asano ain't going anywhere. Companies don't axe successful ventures. Their AA games that sell aren't gonna stop being made. They'll just take less risks on unproven ventures such as Diofield, Valkyrie, Balan, and so on.
 
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Dark Cloud said:
I hate when the majority of the posts here are just sarcastic posts. This is serious and could be really bad
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Sarcasm is a coping mechanism for this kind of situations where everything can go horribly wrong, I chose a really bad time to become a dragon quest fan it seems but what can I do, square enix loves getting the wrong message from the market every time so let’s just laugh instead of crying.
 
Dardan Sandiego said:
I just assume that they want to avoid releases like Diofeld Chronicle that disappoint both critically as well as commercially
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I do think they need to think harder about how to make their smaller releases pop. Like maybe change up the aesthetics and theming from medieval European fantasy. And tighten up the mechanics maybe.
 
Boy is it gonna be disappointing if this means less stuff like Harvestella and Paranormasight. Even stuff that they’re only involved with as a publisher like Little Goody Two Shoes has been great.
 
I'm actually a bit concerned. The games I've loved most from SE recently are the smaller budget, outsourced games. Dragon Quest Builders, Saga, etc. Even their bigger games like Dragon Quest XI are mostly outsourced. Some are partly outsourced, like Neo TWEWY.

I'm getting the feeling they'll mostly make Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts going forward and everything else is second thought.
 
YoboD said:
Boy is it gonna be disappointing if this means less stuff like Harvestella and Paranormasight. Even stuff that they’re only involved with as a publisher like Little Goody Two Shoes has been great.
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Partially, it will. No doubt. That's what reducing outsourced development and focusing on AAA means for SE when most of their outsourced/co-developed titles are those mid-sized productions like Harvestella.

The thing is for every Harvestella you get a Babylon's Fall, for every Paranormasight you get a Valkyrie Elysium. Their schedule these last few years was full of releases to the point of them clearly not being able to handle it. (By the way I have both Harvestella and Paranormasight wishlisted. I get it. It kind of sucks. It makes sense for SE the company though...)

Don't know about LGTS when that's kind of an indie title that they picked up for publishing, I think? Those are rare enough that it could go either way.
 
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Kartina said:
Sarcasm is a coping mechanism for this kind of situations where everything can go horribly wrong, I chose a really bad time to become a dragon quest fan it seems but what can I do, square enix loves getting the wrong message from the market every time so let’s just laugh instead of crying.
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Dragon Quest Monsters The Dark Prince sold really well to be fair, this Ip isn't going anywhere :)
 
We announce that we will rename our Series "Final Fantasy" in "Neverending Fantasy Tale" to make the series more suitable for our new audience.
 
My main guess is they’re going to restructure the business divisions again. Beyond that I have no idea. After the pileup that was last year and 2022 they really should take some notes from what Nintendo does and be more willing to sit on completed games rather than firing them into market as soon as they come out of the oven.
 
Also, it would be fine if they wouldn't totally "blame" smaller games for the problems.

If they want to focus on AAA games, they kinda also need to make sure not to have bombs like Forspoken.
Some focus on their main series would also be nice. It's kinda "embarrassing" that their big new mainline FF game only sells somewhat better than a remake of the Super Mario RPG ... you know?
 
shoptroll said:
My main guess is they’re going to restructure the business divisions again. Beyond that I have no idea. After the pileup that was last year and 2022 they really should take some notes from what Nintendo does and be more willing to sit on completed games rather than firing them into market as soon as they come out of the oven.
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Yep, it does sound like the initiative will effect the very structure of their development workforce. Seems like it will be flat out rethought once again. Luminous and TRPGF being dissolved and brought back into the fold was only the first step.

And yeah, 2022's pileup was a mess. No other way of describing it. Hard to see companies outside of Nintendo sit on titles due to scheduling conflicts though. Unfortunately that is.
 
Bonejack said:
Also, it would be fine if they wouldn't totally "blame" smaller games for the problems.

If they want to focus on AAA games, they kinda also need to make sure not to have bombs like Forspoken.
Some focus on their main series would also be nice. It's kinda "embarrassing" that their big new mainline FF game only sells somewhat better than a remake of the Super Mario RPG ... you know?
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A triple-A production like Forspoken vastly underperforming hurts, a lot, more than any Diofield or DQ Dai doing the same. But you can count way, way more bombas among their AA output than among their few mega-budget games. Ideally both shouldn't be happening.

Anyways, I've said my piece haven't I? Especially without an actual full translation to go off of ahaha.
 
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Let me guess... more Final Fantasy, less new IP's like Forspoken. They should have at least two teams for FF, one for new games one for remakes. And they all should be multiplat moving on...
 
I can only judge by results... but doesn't sound good.
Also, the change itself isn't news.

It's just sad when you realize it's all about money (I know it's a company, etc) but this reminds me of Yoichi Wada and it's "polimorphic content" "squeeze the juice" whatever talk. Where is the talk about the spirit, the legacy of quality RPGs that is the identity of the company. That's what we want, even if this means something less than AAA production.
 
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Forks said:
Does this mean we aren't getting a Triangle Strategy 2 anytime soon
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They're outsourced, this most likely affect in-house teams. Asano works with different studio with every series he has. I don't think this will change.
 
Definitely a bummer in that this recent stretch has been one of the coolest times for Square games. Huge hits, tons of excellent AA stuff, plenty of remakes/remasters/ports, interesting experiments, and some cool indie games getting funded.

Felt like the real problem was marketing and spacing out the games more than anything else even with a few notable duds.
 
I’m still hoping that Dungeon Encounters had a good ROI to warrant a sequel or similar project. Because that was one of the most WTF things to come out of S-E in forever.
 
shoptroll said:
I’m still hoping that Dungeon Encounters had a good ROI to warrant a sequel or similar project. Because that was one of the most WTF things to come out of S-E in forever.
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I mean, that game was prolly done by 2 people in the facility management room during their lunch breaks, so i doubt they bleed money there.

Or at least not enough to notice bleeding money.
 
I hope they pivot to doing what they're good at doing and what people love them for: colorful whimsical JRPGs, especially regarding their AAA entries.
 
Bonejack said:
Also, it would be fine if they wouldn't totally "blame" smaller games for the problems.

If they want to focus on AAA games, they kinda also need to make sure not to have bombs like Forspoken.
Some focus on their main series would also be nice. It's kinda "embarrassing" that their big new mainline FF game only sells somewhat better than a remake of the Super Mario RPG ... you know?
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this is exactly what i was thinking? seems odd to hedge your bets on a boom-bust mentality of spending insane amounts of money on these huge AAA endeavors that could flop and end up costing you way more than any AA title that flops the same. we've been seeing this happen all over the industry and SE is taking a look at it and thinks "huh... that looks like a great idea!" ???

aren't they famous for releasing PR that says they aren't satisfied with how their big titles performed? you'd think going bigger is not the solution. then again, they didn't exactly say that yet, just seems to be speculation in this thread. i hope we're all wrong.
 
Kartina said:
Sarcasm is a coping mechanism for this kind of situations where everything can go horribly wrong, I chose a really bad time to become a dragon quest fan it seems but what can I do, square enix loves getting the wrong message from the market every time so let’s just laugh instead of crying.
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Dragon Quest is probably the safest franchise in SE because it consistently sells well, is a majorly developer driven franchise, in that they will just make the games they want to make, and and because SE doesn't own it anyway. They have some kind of publishing contract with Armor Project that has been working fine for both ends, but if they start get in Horii's way he would probably just start looking somewhere else, and they know that.

Also you've picked basically the best time to be a DQ fan as we are getting pretty much everything localized these days, and there have been so many different spin offs coming out. We're still waiting on DQX offline, but I'm confident it will come eventually.
 
zumaddy said:
Sigh... judging by all that NFT/blockchain baloney they got into, this doesn't sound promising
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I think it’s 1000% related to the A/i bullshit they were discussing earlier this year.

can Nintendo just buy all the Mario RPG licensing already so I stop having to care about this awful company
 
isaacmaltes said:
I think it’s 1000% related to the A/i bullshit they were discussing earlier this year.
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Someone said in another thread that Japan's government gives out some sort of subsidy to companies that are working in various tech sectors so it's probably just corporate grifting government handhouts than anything that's actually going to come to market. I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock into it.
 
My soul will not rest if this somehow messes with the release of FF7R Part 3. I know Final Fantasy would probably be the last SE franchise to go, but if they go bankrupt or something before it comes out i will die an unhappy man.
 
Bonejack said:
Also, it would be fine if they wouldn't totally "blame" smaller games for the problems.

If they want to focus on AAA games, they kinda also need to make sure not to have bombs like Forspoken.
Some focus on their main series would also be nice. It's kinda "embarrassing" that their big new mainline FF game only sells somewhat better than a remake of the Super Mario RPG ... you know?
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The shitty part is FFXVI is actually great. They need to learn how to market their games. Debut trailer was great, every other trailer was nonsense. The Visions of Mana trailer was probably better than every other FFXVI trailer. Feels like most SE games come with baggage they can't get rid of. If it's not a bad trailer, it's a stupid name or nonsensical story tie-ins. I worry for Kingdom Hearts 4 for many reasons but considering this is going to go tie-in heavily with story established in mobile games and stay loosely connected to the rest of the saga is such unnecessary BAGGAGE. Keep it simple! There's no reason for this company to not have hits!
 
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