I wouldn't have a positive outlook if they don't comment on the rumour this week.
Jumble of thoughts here, but if Versus were cancelled:
For me in an individual sense, it doesn't make a difference because I never really had much stock into the game anyway. Outside of the art direction in terms of the architecture of buildings, I didn't care much for it.
For me, thinking about the company: well, that would underscore some sort of incompetence on SE's behalf. As someone who always used to look forward to their games with an open mind and with rapt attention, feeling enthusiastic about a new game, I've been treating their recent console outings with skepticism. If you told my younger/teenage self that I would eventually begin to look at FF games with caution or requiring to see more footage of battles, I'd be quite surprised. Mind you, I wasn't very enthusiastic or hyped for FFXIII either since I didn't find that it appealed to me.
To be honest, I don't know what I want out of FF anymore outside of having fun. I've had more fun with their portable offerings in general than their console stuff.
For the company: First they announce a game a few years prior to them actually putting work into it, there are rumours that it was still in pre-production up to last year, they release very little info about it six years after the announcement (never mind the whole closed theatre bit), only show cutscene info about it and a small section of gameplay which leaves much to be desired,
concentrate on what Noctis is wearing including his glowy shoes, and they barely let the game's creator talk about it in interviews after so many years? If they had been working on it from time to time in the years since its announcement, then that would be a disappointment in that they probably threw money at it for those Roen clothes, art direction, trailer production, cutscene production, music production, etc.
Get your priorities straight, really. Announce games after you do some work for it and have a trailer/demo to show for it at the very least.
If that entire bit about FFX HD being announced far before they even started work on it is true, then they really need to start working on department-to-department communication and appropriate scheduling/timelines for this company. Also, Wada's management of the company should be called into question, and people should keep Toriyama away from a word processor/writing utensils forever.
For the company in terms of perception: well, that's kind of a hard thing to think about, really. Does SE/the FF brand still have the same pull as it did in the past? What does their target demographic (tweens/teens/young adults) think of FF?
At least a few years ago, I knew people who weren't into FF, but looked forward to Versus because
this trailer looked cool.