Square Enix seems to be on the verge of shaking up its improvement portfolio. In accordance to its president, we could quickly see fewer titles, however a extra various array of genres popping out of a developer and writer historically recognized for its huge RPG franchises.
In an investor Q&A that passed off again in November however which was solely lately printed in English, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu addressed a number of questions from traders about the firm’s portfolio going ahead. In response to a query about what Square Enix was missing that it wanted to obtain sustained development and meet its enterprise targets, Kiryu cited two factors: the restricted variety of the firm’s portfolio, and an absence of sturdy advertising. On the restricted variety level particularly, he went on to clarify the want to improve the totally different sorts of video games in Square Enix’s portfolio by strengthing inside improvement capabilities, or maybe even making acquisitions.
“As a result of we possess sturdy IPs like the Dragon Quest and Closing Fantasy franchises, I consider that we’ve got tended to be overly reliant on sure gameplay types or genres,” Kiryu stated. “In the meantime, the tastes of shoppers in the gaming market have diversified, and clients have come to take pleasure in content material from a wide range of genres. Furthermore, blockbuster titles usually are not the solely ones that take pleasure in reputation. For instance, our title Powerwash Simulator is considerably of an outlier in our portfolio in that it’s a sport nicely fitted to informal play, however we’ve got been ready to steadily construct up our earnings from it.”
Later in the Q&A, Kiryu was requested once more about the firm’s improvement efforts, and repeated that he wished to strengthen Square Enix’s inside capabilities and “tackle new challenges, partly as a result of we wish to add to the variety of our portfolio of titles, as I famous earlier, whereas additionally enabling our builders to develop their talent units.”
However, at the similar time, Square Enix additionally seems to be very conscious of its fame as the RPG firm. Elsewhere in the Q&A, Kiryu famous that the “quite a few entries in our lineup” had been making it tough to hold tight management over improvement efforts. “I would like to construction our improvement operate in order that we’re ready to guarantee greater high quality from every title by slimming down our lineup,” he stated.
In a follow-up query, Kiryu continued:
“As our clients’ wants and the kinds of units accessible have diversified, we’ve got tried to produce hits by growing all kinds of titles somewhat than by focusing solely on sure ones. I consider that this has resulted in the splintering of our useful resource pool. In the meantime, there have been clear winners and losers amongst the main titles launched lately in the gaming market, and it has turn out to be potential for even indies titles to make their presence felt. The market is more and more polarized between blockbuster and indies titles, however I really feel that we’ve got developed many titles that fell someplace in the center. I would like to make clearer distinctions going ahead.”
What the president of Square Enix appears to be indicating right here is that the firm has been a bit too reliant on simply making heaps and plenty of mid-budget RPGs that weren’t huge successes – see current efforts like Harvestella, Varied Daylife, or Valkyrie Elysium. Whereas the massive AAA swings like Closing Fantasy and Dragon Quest are unlikely to cease being hits for Square Enix, Kiryu is noting a necessity to spend some improvement vitality growing video games like Powerwash Simulator (developed by Futurlab) internally and capitalizing on title variety, as a substitute of simply reiterating the similar components throughout dozens of various, AA releases.
That is one interpretation, however we’ll have to wait and see what Square Enix is cooking up in 2024 and past to say something definitive about Square Enix’s plans. We do know it is on the verge of publishing Foamstars from Toylogic, and has Visions of Mana in the chamber for 2024 alongside a remake of Dragon Quest 3, the new Dragon Quest 12, and (perhaps sometime) Kingdom Hearts 4. We additionally know the firm is basically involved in getting AI to make content material for a few of these video games, as Kiryu acknowledged in a New 12 months’s Letter earlier this 12 months. it is also certainly one of the few corporations that hasn’t totally given up on blockchain tech, at the same time as different corporations seem to be abandoning the concept.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Received a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.