Square-Enix Q3/13: ¥5.7b/$61M loss amid console market, praises social/mobile/browser
- Thread starter Blablurn
- Start date
I will feel bad for Enix when they will do Soul Blazer 4
and then ruin my childhood memories
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
So is it AFTER Tomb Raider bombs and FFXIV flops again that we get to witness the public execution of Wada?
Chuck Norris
Banned
Time to sack Wada
Wow that bit about market conditions being difficult is rich. Square-Enix has fumbled so many times this gen it's a wonder their financial situation isn't worse. We used to get 3 major FFs per console generation.
What did we get this gen? FFXIII games and an MMO SE is desperately trying to save. This is coupled with questionable quality in their products and it's no surprise they're not doing too hot.
What did we get this gen? FFXIII games and an MMO SE is desperately trying to save. This is coupled with questionable quality in their products and it's no surprise they're not doing too hot.
Conrad Link
Member
Reading this title just made me think "...... eventually they're gonna just end up making cellphone and website shit aren't they?"
Then I got sad.
HD TOWNS ARE HARD!
CONSOLE MARKETS ARE HARD! (now apparently?)
Then I got sad.
HD TOWNS ARE HARD!
CONSOLE MARKETS ARE HARD! (now apparently?)
Captain Tuttle
Member
Feel terrible, that game is going to bomb.
UberTag
Member
Hard to believe it's only a month away.
Let's see how this release schedule will impact things...
February 19 - Crysis 3
February 19 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
March 5 - Tomb Raider
March 12 - God of War: Ascension
March 19 - Gears of War: Judgment
March 26 - BioShock Infinite
Hmmm...
At least make it available on every possible platform, I don't know like Wii U?
like that would help in the big picture, the game is going to bomb
Both. Its no secret that this gen has been rough on studios. I really shudder to think about this upcoming generation and whether things will truly get better. I'm not at all sold on the idea that development costs are going to be the same even though all the hardware is improving a great deal.
Sounds like nonsense to me.
Not sure how they expect to counter costs of rebuilding an MMO, a game that has been in development as long as Versus with no return in cost and more with games like Hitman: Absolution, Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Sleeping Dogs.
With the brand and ip recognition that SE has, they have no one but themselves to blame for the troubles they have had. Even in a tough market SE games would sale if they were good games and the games consumers have been asking for.
I figured he would have been sacked by now but he somehow is still there.
DQX? Although it probably doesn't help they it is a MMO with a month fee and released only in Japan. Anyone know what the current subscriber base is for DQX?
With the brand and ip recognition that SE has, they have no one but themselves to blame for the troubles they have had. Even in a tough market SE games would sale if they were good games and the games consumers have been asking for.
I figured he would have been sacked by now but he somehow is still there.
DQX? Although it probably doesn't help they it is a MMO with a month fee and released only in Japan. Anyone know what the current subscriber base is for DQX?
bigboss370
Member
so much for going multiplatform being a good thing >_>
No, their games have been selling. Their last report was very positive. As I said in my last post, they are spending waaaay too much money on developing projects that have not seen any fruition yet.
Diablo Rosso
Member
Banking on Tomb Raider. What could possibly go wrong there?
metalslimer
Member
Over/under Dragon Quest 7 outselling Tomb Raider worldwide?
Tomb Raider isn´t their biggest problem, the game is probably going to sell decently. FF 14 and Lightning Returns on the other hand...ouch.
Sho_Nuff82
Member
Pretty obvious that Hitman and Sleeping Dogs underperformed, both were supposed to sell millions. Hitman had one of the most bizarre and alienating marketing pushes of the year, they obviously have to rethink who they allow to talk over at Eidos.
metalslimer
Member
If Wada continues to be president, I honestly see a THQ like future for Square Enix. They have so many huge IPs that are all mismanaged to hell. I just hope they get my next gen Deus Ex out shit hits the fans because FF14 is about to bomb all over again.
If?
Delusibeta
Banned
Evidently, we can also conclude that Eidos games are flopping on consoles. That is presumably why the Japanese side seem to only make mobile games these days.
RurouniZel
Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
Square-Enix.
A word.
Don't fire Wada JUST yet. There's a possibility that Satoru Iwata may resign from Nintendo in a year and a half's time.
Wait until then.
A word.
Don't fire Wada JUST yet. There's a possibility that Satoru Iwata may resign from Nintendo in a year and a half's time.
Wait until then.
Cornbread78
Member
Could that loss be from next gen R&D for actual console games available at launch?
Guerrillas in the Mist
Member
Weirdly, Hitman was one of the top selling retail games of the year in the UK, although the game was discounted very quickly, and the UK retail market has shrunk rather dramatically except for key titles like FIFA and COD.
Do they really have many huge IPs? None of the Eidos stuff is huge. Mid-level at best. Kingdom Hearts is dependent on Disney - so that's not SE's property.
At this point, Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest seem to be the only properties with any shot of reaching 5M+.
yeah, it fell to £20-25 within a week or two when the advertising was still on every channel. I wonder what the thinking behind that was?
Riposte
Member
Here is armchair analysis: They should consider releasing videogames.
Releasing XIV: ARR will probably remove a burden on them. I don't know if it will do as well as they hope. Even though they look really hungry with it, I don't see that ambition showing up in terms of how the game differentiates itself. At least with Guild Wars 2, even before considering it was "pay once", tried to be fresh.
Releasing XIV: ARR will probably remove a burden on them. I don't know if it will do as well as they hope. Even though they look really hungry with it, I don't see that ambition showing up in terms of how the game differentiates itself. At least with Guild Wars 2, even before considering it was "pay once", tried to be fresh.
I'm an expert
Formerly worldrevolution. The only reason I am nice to anyone else is to avoid being banned.
Fuck it, if it helps, I'll buy some 13-2 dlc. Maybe even some ATB dlc.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
It really seems like they are betting the company on FFXIV. I don't know where SE go when that inevitably bombs and leaves a massive crater in their balance sheet.
It would actually be a good opportunity for one of Sony or Nintendo to pick up SE on the relative cheap and secure FF and DQ as a first party franchises locking out the other one from total Japanese supremacy for the foreseeable future. If it were to go down this way my money would be on Sony. Soon they are going to have money to burn and securing their position in Japan like this would be worth more than the $800m they spend to buy the remainder of SE.
It would actually be a good opportunity for one of Sony or Nintendo to pick up SE on the relative cheap and secure FF and DQ as a first party franchises locking out the other one from total Japanese supremacy for the foreseeable future. If it were to go down this way my money would be on Sony. Soon they are going to have money to burn and securing their position in Japan like this would be worth more than the $800m they spend to buy the remainder of SE.
In Japan? On consoles? There's pretty much nothing of real relevance nowadays. FF13-2 didn't sell good by the series standards, but it still sold better than any other RPG in Japan.
Anyway, RPG sales don't matter. So many people always focus on their Japanese output, but completely ignore that most of their key titels are "Eidos" games nowadays. That's what's making them problems right now: Both Sleeping Dogs and Hitman: Absolution didn't live up to expectations.
However, whatever people say, I still think that Tomb Raider is going to enjoy very good sales. SE is going to market it to hell and back and it'll pay off.
I'd say they are still much better off than most Western publishers. The loss is pretty modest, really -- 5.7 billion yen is round about 60 million USD. Pretty much peanuts, especially since they also expect to post a profit at the end of the FY.
I think FY ending in March 2011 was the only time they posted a yearly loss in the last years. They aren't doing bad, even if they had two underperforming big budget releases this year.
Lightning Returns's problems aren't its sales, but that its pure existence might harm the brand recognition of Final Fantasy even more. People widely dislike the FF13 saga and every new game in that sub-series is a potential threat for the franchises appeal. Will people still pay as much attention to FF15 when SE released three unliked games in a row? Also, Final Fantasy has always been a series that appeals to teens -- but due to its terrible management in this generation, todays teens might have never played a game in the series.
But: Lightning Returns should be quite cheap to develop, so even if sales further decrease (and they most likely will) it should still have been a profitable game.
FF14... I don't know. The game looks really good, actually, and if SE isn't stupid they've already made plans for a F2P relaunch in a year or so if they shouldn't attract enough subscribers. I think it's going end up being a success for them, eventually.
witchedwiz
Member
where is my ff0 se?
and you want my money yet?
and you want my money yet?
Sushen
Member
It's simple. Don't be scared and put out rehashes all the time. Replace old hats who ran out of ideas years ago and let younger directors to develop new games in smaller than XIII scope VS with condition that it has to be a new gameplay. All JP publishers are scared and forgot to think what they used to do back in the good old days. You make money being creative.
metalslimer
Member
I really wouldn't care if Sony or Nintendo bought the Japanese side of Square, but ew...I don't want Eidos games to be exclusive.
mentalfloss
Banned
If the company that makes Final Fantasy games can't survive this gen, then next gen will be a death trap for third parties.
I think their expectations are significantly lower than EA's were. If they want FFXIV to replicate their success with FFXI, they'll be thrilled with 500,000 monthly users, and they might be able to make money in the long run with much less. They don't need it to do anywhere near WoW numbers as long as they can hold a niche.
That said, FFXIV's development has still been hugely costly in terms of the amount of development time and manpower it gobbled up, and I'm still pessimistic about it even reaching Square's low end for expectations. Considering how badly people got burned by the original launch, they're going to have to put out a hell of a product to convince any number of them to return.
zomgbbqftw
Banned
I would expect a new JPN owner to spin off Eidos, or sell it to a western publisher.
grimshawish
Banned
I dunno. I think they could go through a serious downsizing if it it fails and still come out the other side. It won't be nice though.
FFXIV...what the fuck is even going on with that? I suppose one benefit is a new gen is the best time to try and reclaim the RPG market. I feel current genres and the western approach have reached a point. If the games good, and accessible - it could do very well.
I doubt they planned for Hitman, Sleeping Dogs and possibly a Tomb Raider bomb though.
They could be in for a real pounding for releasing so much when the gen is dying.
Sony getting FF and Nintendo getting DQ would be a good match.
I doubt they could afford to buy both in a bidding war against each other (though; Nintendo might not turn up).
Thing with buying it up; why isn't FF exclusive? Can Sony buy the entire rights to the series and pay for its development when they can't even afford to pay the exclusivity?
More likely a third party will buy them. SEGA might get money from the top; it would sort out their Japan side issues certainly; the money from multi-platform is just sooo big, I can't see Sony gaining from the purchase. End of the day Nintendo will still have Mario.
Glass Rebel
Member
Well, yes. I wasn't arguing that they weren't. When will we get their yearly report? April? May?
I am not talking about this title in particular but about the entire volume this gen. It would be interesting to see how the market share of S-E evolved through time this gen and last. I bet it shrunk, making Wada statements nothing but an excuse for zombie investors.
I just don't have the figures if someone could be kind enough to bring them over (if available).
disappeared
Banned
Fitting.
Poor management coupled with all their real talent having left years ago means they've gone nowhere in past decade or so.
The company who brought us Final Fantasy VI is now banking on a foreign IP to help them along.
Poor management coupled with all their real talent having left years ago means they've gone nowhere in past decade or so.
The company who brought us Final Fantasy VI is now banking on a foreign IP to help them along.
cm osi
Member
my thoughts exactly
