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"From now on, Square Enix plans to increase the amount of titles releasing simultaneously on each platform," Square Enix confirms more Xbox support
- Thread starter ArtHands
- Start date
vaibhavpisal
Member
Who is asking for exclusives??
Companies should release games on xbox. And see if they are doing well. If it does, they are on right track.
They should take up challenging markets instead of merely catering to established fanbase.
Lucifers Beard
Member
Until Sony pony up some extra cash.
Deals with Sony for FFXVI and FF7 Rebirth were already inked well before Xbox hardware entered critical sales decline...and Square still acknowledges underwhelming financials for the games, so it's clear they weren't exactly making a significant amount of money from the deals.
Self-fulfilling prophecy, isn't it? If you don't put your products in a market, eventually that market becomes worse and worse for your content.
Back in the day, people used to suggest PC users wouldn't be interested in Japanese content.
Zathalus
Member
I’m not defending anything. It’s obvious not having a simultaneous release on multiple platforms kills hype. If FF16 released at the same time on PC as on PS5 the peak user count would have been higher, as it would have benefitted from both the hype and marketing push. I’m not seeing how that’s a controversial thing to say.
supersale88
Neo Member
Also no money from Sony for marketing. Xbox is not going to help them boost sales, but maybe Switch 2 will.
RetroGamingUK
Member
You were, when you suggested they crack that market. How else is Xbox supposed to grow?
The hype and marketing push was driven by the association to the platform. That's why it had such marketing in the first place. The marketing deal gives it that hype to begin with. With somebody else footing the bill for whatever sales they lose, in marketing instead. I gave you an example of FF:Strangers of Paradise, where Square Enix did a simultaneous release on PS, Windows, and Xbox. They could have marketed it and sold millions everywhere? Not really.
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RetroGamingUK
Member
No doubt Switch 2 is going to be another 100m+ mega sales success.
But third party games tend not to sell well on Switch.
vaibhavpisal
Member
Growing xbox is not Japanese devs concern. They grow themselves would be more than enough.
By cracking the market means creating a fanbase that enjoys xbox type games.
Zathalus
Member
Plenty of games release on multiple platforms that have marketing deals handled by a specific platform holder. Sony did tons of marketing for Black Myth.
Your example is also shit. Comparing two completely different games with massively differences in budget, scope, hype, and appeal is a completely ridiculous take. They have nothing in common other then the name.
MacReady13
Member
Important question for us who only rent Xbox games on my amazon official firestick- will the legends at Square release their games day and date on my rental service of choice- the mighty Gamepass? I mean, that is Xbox isn’t it? My tv area is super cluttered with that massive antiquated console (I mean really, who owns consoles anymore? They’re so early 2000’s anyway)… so my firestick is perfect for rentals and I’m just hoping/praying that uncle Phil has given square enough money so I can rent Square games on the best deal in gaming. Can anyone help? TIA.
PS, I’m happy to wait years to rent them on my firestick if they aren’t released day and date on Gamepass. Cheers.
PS, I’m happy to wait years to rent them on my firestick if they aren’t released day and date on Gamepass. Cheers.
What marketing did Sony do for Wukong? It had no marketing deal and barely any platform marketing at all. My example also isn't shit, it's the same franchise with the same engine and developers. Their marketing/hype/budget sucked though because it wasn't there. Guess why. We're in that back and forth where you just dismiss everything as expected.
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Zathalus
Member
Oh yeah, not getting that feeling from you at all.
What marketing did Sony do for Black Myth? Really? If you’re not even going to pretend to be honest this this conversation is going nowhere.
Yes really, what marketing? Can you even show it had a marketing deal at all?
Setsuna Mudou
Member
If you think a JRPG sells 3M on PS, but would sell 4M more on PC + Xbox, you must be smoking that good shit... I'd love to smoke that too because it must be amazing
Out of curiosity on this hypothetical 4M sales from PC and Xbox, what's the XBox split? 5%? Just curious since we're in delusional land.
Bloody Crow of Cainhurst
Member
We're talking about Steam here, a platform that barely managed 23k max ccu for Silent Hill 2 after talking a whole lot of shit for years how lucrative their platform is. These guys would rather wait for a FitGirl repack than spend a single dollar, but stay posting about how consoles are in trouble.
Setsuna Mudou
Member
He must be referring to the same marketing deal Baldur's Gate 3 had on playstation... the fact the game couldn't run on a series potato and Xbox forced parity meant it couldn't be released at all in the platform until fuck knows when
DeltaPolarBear
Member
Well, we are going to find out aren't we? It is set in stone, so all we can do is to watch the traincrash.
I am now just curious how the math works out. Square Enix games are not that cutting edge so I don't think there is any issue with running Series S, at least i don't think Xbox is THAT unlucky.
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Zathalus
Member
So there were no trailers done by Sony for the game? PS5 sales didn’t surge in China due to the game with the Chinese Sony store being covered in Black Myth marketing material?
It is indeed possible to heavily market a game for your platform with it still being a multiplatform release. Sony and Xbox do it all the time. Pretending that only exclusives can benefit from it is nonsense.
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If you think that PS5 sales surging in China is a marketing deal or the chinese PS store trying to get sales from a popular Chinese game is, then I can't help you.
We're talking about the platform holder offering marketing budget/support for a game not a popular game boosting sales of a platform in a region. Wukong had no marketing deal with PS.
Where did you read 'Xbox exclusives from Square Enix' in that OP?
Xbox won’t add much.
But put FF7R part 3 on Switch 2 and PC at launch and it’ll sell millions more.
Zathalus
Member
I was talking about general marketing. It’s perfectly possible for a game that is on multiple platforms to benefit from platform targeted marketing. Another recent game that had this was Hogwarts Legacy, that game was heavily promoted by Sony and still saw great success on PC thanks to the hype generated by the game. That almost certainly had a paid marketing deal as well, considering the exclusive content.
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squidilix
Member
And then Square realize that focusing on multi-console and support at the same time will reduce the creativity and technique of their game. And extend the development time to “optimize”
Capcom release on all plateform with their own engine and we can see that's run like a shit (Dragon's Dogma 2, Monster Hunter Wilds)
And now that, people asking "pls Final Fantasy on Switch and Series S" and we gonna see Final Fantasy AAA running worse than FF7 Remake and FF16. (People forget how mess FF15 it is at his time... frame pacing, jaggies mess, 900p, crash.... 2 years for maintening this game alive)
But hey... it's in all plateform
If Final Fantasy is on a hard way for selling, that's not because exclusivity but because problem identity (and because, is an IP for boomer, zoomer prefer weaboo shit). And because Square Enix stupidly want to sell a ton for one major FF like Witcher 3
Capcom release on all plateform with their own engine and we can see that's run like a shit (Dragon's Dogma 2, Monster Hunter Wilds)
And now that, people asking "pls Final Fantasy on Switch and Series S" and we gonna see Final Fantasy AAA running worse than FF7 Remake and FF16. (People forget how mess FF15 it is at his time... frame pacing, jaggies mess, 900p, crash.... 2 years for maintening this game alive)
But hey... it's in all plateform
If Final Fantasy is on a hard way for selling, that's not because exclusivity but because problem identity (and because, is an IP for boomer, zoomer prefer weaboo shit). And because Square Enix stupidly want to sell a ton for one major FF like Witcher 3
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DJ12
Member
Lol
More like Sony realised Xbox is dead so there's no need to fund square to the tune of millions for exclusivity.
I mean, what this also potentially says is that 1-6 needed to be on Switch.
PatientGamer
Member
If I keep repeating this nonsense it will become true.
Xbox has been in market since 2001; 23 years and nothing to show for it in Japan & Asia
The people simply don't want what Xbox has to offer. Has always been that way with them.
Count your losses and invest it in platforms where the people are.
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cireza
Member
At least you understand why they are going to release on PC and Xbox day-one. There is a huge player base there. Big enough that exclusive Sony money alone cannot compete it seems.
Goalus
Member
Sounds like something only an overly impatient person would say.
PatientGamer
Member
Yups, I agree they should release their games on PC too. But SE's problem is far bigger than the platforms they release on, either gamers in general are fatigued with their content and/or their games just aren't as appealing as they used to be.
My username relates to my backlog
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
This old article explains the reasoning well:
Former Square Enix exec on why Final Fantasy sales don’t meet expectations and chances of recouping insane AAA budgets | Game World Observer
Former Square Enix executive Jacob Navok has shared his thoughts on less-than-expected sales of the latest Final Fantasy games. He also tried to explain why people mistakenly think that the Japanese publisher is simply setting unrealistic goals for its products.gameworldobserver.com
In short, money hats are recouped. It's not just free money on top of what you earn.
To work through a simplified example:
Sony: Here's 200m for 1 year of playstation exclusitivity
SE: Sure!
(game proceeds to sell 3.33 m copies over a year, earning 200m)
SE: Hurray! With Sony's moneyhat and the new revenue, we now have 400m!
Sony: Actually, I get 200m back. I recoup my investment!
SE: :O
(SE & Sony now both have 200m)
(Game finally launches on Xbox and Steam, but hype and sales are considerably decreased)
Now, picture the other scenario where SE launched on all platforms simultaneously, sold 3.33m on playstation (same as before) PLUS an additional 4m between PC and Xbox. They would have a LOT more money.
Since moneyhats are recouped, you should take it only if you can't fund development yourself or if you think the game would sell less than the money hat (case of Alan Wake 2 on Epic). But if your game will sell gangbusters and will exceed the moneyhat, then there's basically no reason to take it.
The problem with the logic in the article is the assumption that the cost of simultaneous development & launch, minus exclusivity premiums and marketing consideration, is worth less in the long term, than the additional revenue bump over the initial launch window from the extra platform(s).
Quite a mouthful, but the reality boils down to those extra SKU's are not free from cost and risk, and in the long-term I'm still yet to see a convincing argument as to why in the long-term things shouldn't mostly even out. It strikes me as mostly a matter of optics.
More day-and-date on PC I can see a case for, but since when has Sony paid for total exclusivity? Its usually explicitly *console* exclusivity which makes sense for them as it gets them out from under the self-cannibalization of MS' GamePass strategy.
Switch2 is the platform with the highest potential upside, but is the "odd man out" in terms of technology, and Nintendo's market is pretty specific in its tastes.
At the end of the day SE is not a particularly well-run business. It just isn't. In recent years they've bankrolled a bunch of flops that would have flopped just as hard regardless of how many platforms they released on.
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poppabk
Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
FF16 had pretty good word of mouth during the launch window. 6 months later - not so much. Even something like GoW:Ragnarok which launched with 94% metacritic, hype through the roof, amazing word of mouth - by the time the PC launch came around the overall feelings around here were mixed.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Until Sony pony up some extra cash.
Wait for Sony to recoup the losses from Concord first
Fabieter
Member
PC day one is important. Xbox day one is a round difference for Japanese games.
mayham2199
Member
Honestly I think it’s hit and miss. Yes sometimes pc will really help sometimes it won’t. Sometimes not going multiplat is fine and makes sense sometimes it doesn’t. Each company has to decide this for themselves. Hell some companies don’t even have the resources to focus on so many eco systems. Maybe this will work out for square but even tomb raider which went multiplat and did timed exclusive didn’t satisfy them so who knows.
Fabieter
Member
As long as they are still doing japan focused games than i wouldn't mind them releasing the games on freaking calculators. But it's important to stay away from western game design to cater to a audience who might not even interested regardless.
Horseganador
Member
Releasing the games at the same time on PS5 and PC makes sense, on Xbox it's a waste of money to sell 4 copies.
Mr Moose
Member
Isn't Switch 2 meant to be PS4 levels of power? That'll be interesting to see with part 3.
Bloody Crow of Cainhurst
Member
If releasing simultaneously on PC is such a great idea then explain Concord??? Checkmate, chuds
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Has Square shot itself in the foot with this new strategy?
KungFucius
King Snowflake
About time, I wish I didn't need to play that games on PS5 instead of PC, though if I waited I might have actually skipped FFXVI and not wasted 40 hours.
LMJ
Member
Many of these in fact nearly all were before MS current issue of Hardware sales, like it or not GamePass is a double edged sword, they ARE growing as a Publisher, but the day one mentality kills game sales as was said in their own court hearing
Xbox isn't the powerhouse it once was, whether or not they were in first they WERE competition as was the big N, they can't make that claim right now, so who knows how this pans out, I think this SE statement is more true for the switch successor than whatever Xbox has out right now
Fabieter
Member
The multiplatform strategy should contain switch and pc foremost. Anyone thinking Xbox is making a meaningful difference is delusional.