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[Edge_Maverick]

Adding this info:

That's like ~2.4M dollars, btw

It’s been revealed in the latest publication of financial statements released by the “Official Gazette” (Kanpo) that Square Enix’s Tokyo RPG Factory studio saw a deficit of 244 million yen.

According to the financial statements publication of the fiscal year ended March 2016, Square Enix Holdings saw a loss of 244 million yen from Tokyo RPG Factory, the developers of I am Setsuna, which released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita in Japan in February of this year.

Tokyo RPG Factory was created to make I am Setsuna, originally announced as Project: Setsuna, a throwback RPG made to appeal to the old school RPG fans. The game, titled Ikenie to Yuki no Setsuna in Japan, sold 33,629 copies on PlayStation 4 and 27,994 copies on PlayStation Vita in its opening week in Japan for a combined total of 61,623 units sold. While those numbers aren’t terrible for a new IP, it was considered a not-so-great figure for a major Square Enix title and the deficit certainly shows for it.

Read more at http://www.siliconera.com/2016/08/0...ees-244-million-yen-loss/#r6S5Zt5kqforKrXI.99

 

[DarkLordMalik]

Hopefully we get another project from them after Setsuna. They have shown potential.

Spoiler

Chrono Trigger successor please

 

[Afrocious]

We need Lightning back.

 

[Pellegri Testament]

How much money did they put into that game???? It's insane that they seem to have had that high of expectations for it that they lost that much.

 

[RPG_Fanatic]

This makes me sad.

 

[Alrus]

Square Enix certainly didn't treat this like a "major" title.

 

[Psxphile]

Man, no matter how you slice it that sounds bad.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

How much money did they put into that game???? It's insane that they seem to have had that high of expectations for it that they lost that much.

I think this money is for establishing the studio + first game so this doesn't count as the budget alone.

 

[Mokubba]

So not including Western Sales then so is there a chance of still making a profit or reducing the loss by a chunk?

 

[Eylos]

 

[James Scott]

That's like ~2.4M dollars, btw

 

[Taruranto]

I... just don't understand how that's possible. Setsuna felt borderline indie, Budget-wise.

The game is literally made with 5 different type of assets.

 

[Stumpokapow]

i would assume this is related to creative accounting wherein SE creates it as a separate business unit, puts all the costs in that unit, and then puts all the revenue elsewhere

 

[hank_tree]

But the game just came out. What impact would it have on Fiscal Year 2016?

Edit: Oh the Japanese release. Got it.

 

[Visualante2]

Square Enix certainly didn't treat this like a "major" title.

I saw ads for it on OkCupid. Usually I never see ads for games outside game websites.

 

[JayEH]

I mean they're a new studio, and it's only like a 2 million dollar loss so it doesn't seem that bad.

 

[GoodMorningPluto]

244 million loss? What? How much money did they pour into that studio?
Edit: Oh, its in yen. Yeah, in dollars that's not so much. Quick math shows that they should have sold ~60,000 more units to break even.

 

[TheJollyCorner]

How much money did they put into that game???? It's insane that they seem to have had that high of expectations for it that they lost that much.

I have to imagine some of that loss is based on the creation of an entire studio? :/
I was under the impression this was a low cost/high reward kinda project, but damn...

Hope this doesn't mean Square will abandon the push to make more mid-tier, old-school style JRPGs on consoles.

 

[mrjohill]

I wonder how it sold here. Any one know?

 

[jschreier]

That number seems kind of meaningless when the game hadn't come out in the west yet? North America's a huge market and they probably sold significantly more copies on PS4 and PC here.

 

[purseowner]

Spoiler

Setsuna's sacrifice

was for nothing.

 

[orthodoxy1095]

Is this all bad? It would seem like a big part of that loss would be related to the costs of starting a new studio and production of new projects. Or is it because of Setsuna issues?

 

[StMeph]

That's like ~2.4M dollars, btw

People are missing the Yen part. It's somewhere between $2-2.4 million USD.

Edit: USD

 

[ElephantShell]

If they don't get to make another game I'm going to be pissed. Playing through I Am Setsuna now and enjoying it a lot.

 

[DarkLordMalik]

That number seems kind of meaningless when the game hadn't come out in the west yet? North America's a huge market and they probably sold significantly more copies on PS4 and PC here.

I don't think the PC version sold "significantly" more copies.

Not sure about PS4 but fingers crossed. We will find out once the digital sales chart is out for July.

 

[CHC]

Square Enix certainly didn't treat this like a "major" title.

Exactly, they did a very poor job marketing the game.

I also think it was a poor decision to bank on 16-bit nostalgia when the game takes place solely in an icy, homogeneous world. A big part of the draw of those old games was adventuring to fantastic locales. At least for me that was definitely a downside. Additionally, when cashing in on nostalgia, you have to do something new and innovative. Look at games like Fez, Undertale, or Stardew Valley. It's not enough to just competently mimic the mechanics of an old genre or title.

I'm not shitting on the game here or anything, it's just that it's obvious why it didn't break any sales records.

 

[Stone Ocean]

Spoiler

Setsuna's sacrifice

was for nothing.

Did you just put a motherfucking spoiler of the game with no warning in a thread about the game's sales?

 

[Timeaisis]

It'll probably do way better in NA, but still. A loss is a loss for now. It'll probably break when you account for the west, but that's not much of a success.

IAS felt like they were trying to compromise between old-school RPG and AAA, graphically speaking. The $40 price tag did not help it. I'd just go 2D in the future, to be honest.

 

[GoodMorningPluto]

Did you just put a motherfucking spoiler of the game with no warning in a thread about the game's sales?

Chill, it's just the game original name in japanese.

 

[ArchedThunder]

Maybe they should have marketed it some instead of not at all.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

Youch.

 

[Stone Ocean]

Chill, it's just the game original name in japanese.

Oh, okay, nevermind me then.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Dunno, I'm a big jrpg guy, and setsuna looks boring.

Nothing about that game makes me want to play it. Feels like one of those hippie rpgs like child of light.

I'd like them to remake chrono trigger. Just straight up remake it with this engine.

 

[YuriLowell]

Yeah it does seem a little silly to consider this a loss before the money from Western sales really starts to roll in.

 

[Katana_Strikes]

Hopefully digital in the West it's not doing bad. The higher price point will certainly put people off but that's a shame because it's a good, solid traditional JRPG that's extremely rare on console any more.

 

[DXB-KNIGHT]

It seems Square Enix doesn't believe she is Setsuna

 

[Jeels]

That's only 2.4 million dollars. For context, Square had a profit of about 250 million for the 2016 fiscal year. Certainly they are willing to absorb costs like that (at least initially) if it leads to the long term creation of new healthy IPs.

It would have been great if I am Setsuna covered the costs of the new studio, but even if it didn't, I don't think it's doom and gloom yet.

 

[ShadowSoldier89]

an RPG that had low production values sold well for what they were presenting, and yet they lost that much money.

How the fuck did SE spend that much money on that game

That's only 2.4 million dollars. For context, Square had a profit of about 250 million for the 2016 fiscal year. Certainly they are willing to absorb costs like that (at least initially) if it leads to the long term creation of new healthy IPs.

It would have been great if I am Setsuna covered the costs of the new studio, but even if it didn't, I don't think it's doom and gloom yet.

hopefully most of the loss was just setting up the new studio. The game itself should have been fine on those sales numbers

 

[Sesha]

That number seems kind of meaningless when the game hadn't come out in the west yet? North America's a huge market and they probably sold significantly more copies on PS4 and PC here.

SteamSpy numbers are 22,995 ± 3,941 currently. Not great, but it is $40 and is a new IP with not much marketing buzz for it. If other games like RE 0 HD are an indication, then it probably sells better on PS4. It's also a physical release in Japan, while it's digital only in the West.

 

[jschreier]

I don't think the PC version sold "significantly" more copies.

Not sure about PS4 but fingers crossed. We will find out once the digital sales chart is out for July.

My point is just that this number doesn't really mean anything before western sales. If they sold around 20,000 copies at $40 each and Steam takes 30%, that's a gross of about $560,000. Let's say they sold around the same number on PS4. I don't know what Sony takes but let's say it's also around 30%. That adds up to around $1.1m, which is just under half of the ¥244m loss they're reporting. The number needs a lot more context to actually mean anything.

 

[Bitanator]

It did not strike me as particularly interesting, its main draw it seems was them desperately trying to call back to Chrono Trigger, yet the game looked nothing like it and lacked any charm from world to characters from my view.

 

[Drilbit777]

I am Setsuna looked kinda fun but the overuse of so many environments and lack of good characters turned me off from it. I'll still buy it whenever its on a good sale on steam though

 

[funkystudent]

Really enjoyed the gameplay of I am Setsuna but the entire presentation from music to art direction seemed to be done with the aim of being boring as dirt and dragged the entire package down greatly and spending time with it became a slog.

 

[jb1234]

It's massively overpriced in the West for what you get. I wonder what they charged for it in Japan? That might be a big contributor to why it didn't sell well. That and crappy marketing.

(It's also a very average game.)

 

[Tsosie]

I do not know that much about studio start-up costs so I can not tell if this is a drastic loss for a new studio or not.

All I can say is that "I am Setsuna" has shown a lot of promise from that studio. It is not a perfect throwback, but it is fun. I thought it was a fantastic showing for a studio's first game. I hope there is more from that studio in the future. The battle system was a lot of fun. Now it is time for RPG Factory to create a magnum opus in terms of locations and plot.

 

[Shin-chan]

I think this is probably one of the lowest budget releases by an internal studio of a AAA publisher I can recall. The game is very cheap feeling - one instrument ost, lots of asset recycling, relatively short, limited animations, minimal VO. And yet it was over £30 here and nearly full priced in Japan which these figures relate to.

I refuse to believe this loss is the result of the game soaring over budget or having insanely inflated sales expectations and it is surely more related to the setting up of a new company and some accounting wizardry.

 

[Weebos]

That's grim, I hope they get to put out another game, from what I hear they should be a decent way into their next one.

I'll have to buy I Am Setsuna when I get home, I was waiting until after I (finally) finished Chrono Trigger, but it sounds like they need the support.

 

[cleveridea]

maybe have characters with feet next time?

 

[qualitydisc]

i would assume this is related to creative accounting wherein SE creates it as a separate business unit, puts all the costs in that unit, and then puts all the revenue elsewhere

I really hope this is the case, and would not be uncommon with a subsidiary company.

 

[Vanillalite]

Should have put that shit on everything. Make it the SE download equivalent of Child of Light RPG wise.