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Square Enix to Double Down on Xbox Releases, Final Fantasy 14 Producer Says

Angry_Megalodon

Gold Member
It's straight-up lying to say that Square lost money because of exclusivity deals when they announced a loss of +140M due to canceled projects. They are in shambles due to poor management, that's all.

 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I’m saying that you along with most dudebros who stayed with Xbox probably don’t give a flying Chokobo about those games. Square is just wasting their resources as usual.

If things were going swimmingly with their existing exclusivity strategies, Square wouldn't be making public declarations of pivots in their platform strategy. 🤷‍♂️
 
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XXL

Member
They somehow are stranded in the middle of nowhere with no real strategy.
I guess releasing on Xbox makes a ton of sense then.
Super Freak Flirting GIF by Rick James
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
And? Your point? They also publicly dedicated their company resources to NFTs. It's not like Square is smart, it's a known fact for decades.

The point being that their big exclusives under-performing on PS5 and FF14 having a strong launch on Xbox is incentive enough to bring more games to the platform. Both 16's and Mana's once free of their existing marketing shackles.
 
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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I can't name a Square Enix game I have any interest in.

Weird flex to enter a SquareEnix thread to tell the world you dont care about SquareEnix.


P.S You should give Nier Automata a go, its less SquareEnixy than most SquareEnix games
 

ShaiKhulud1989

Gold Member
The point being that their big exclusives under-performing and FF14 having a strong launch on Xbox is incentive enough to bring more games to the platform. Both 16's and Mana's once free of their existing marketing shackles.
16 is barely working on PC, so good luck with porting it to Series S.

Most of Square's portfolio is weeb stuff, and two grand games (16 and Remake Trilogy) are tangled with PS5 in some very peculiar ways, so they almost ceartinly won't make it to Series anyway.

And let's be honest here, very few of you green fans even care about SEs portfolio outside of those two big AAA games.
 
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Darsxx82

Member
So people on PC can wait, but people on Xbox can't ? Why wouldn't people on Xbox be able to wait exactly ?
Don't give it too much thought, what you see is the typical reaction of questionable arguments of those who suffer when they see that Studios and publishers support and continue launching games (that some were also exclusive to their PS) on the platform that they hate and that according to them no one cares.... 🤷

You come from seeing them celebrate the exclusivity of FF on PS and defend the strategy as Square's best decision..... and suddenly Square decides to announce the change in strategy and publicly recognize that that was a failed decision, and that it goes on to launch its games day one on as many platforms as possible and not just one.

The frustration is palpable in them and, of course, they have to vent that frustration with the attacks on the platform and users they hate to feel better, even in situations where it neither affects them nor should matter.🤷
 
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16 is barely working on PC, so good luck with porting it to Series S.

Most of Square's portfolio is weeb stuff, and two grand games (16 and Remake Trilogy) are tangled with PS5 in some very peculiar ways, so they almost ceartinly won't make it to Series anyway.

And let's be honest here, very few of you green fans even care about SEs portfolio outside of those two big AAA games.

Can't wait to see them try to port this stuff to the Series S.
 

PauloRoberto

Neo Member
Although the same xbots rejoice with news like that... if Square really wants to change its strategy, it would make so many announments and would be simply... well, release games. I would almost bet that Square is trying to receive a bigger check from Sony :-D
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
16 is barely working on PC, so good luck with porting it to Series S.

They've put out patches for the demo, I think it's gonna be OK by launch. But that's besides the point.

Most of Square's portfolio is weeb stuff, and two grand games (16 and Remake Trilogy) are tangled with PS5 in some very peculiar ways, so they almost ceartinly won't make it to Series anyway.

And let's be honest here, very few of you green fans even care about SEs portfolio outside of those two big AAA games.

Eh, you're being presumptive here. The niche-r of ncihe games, like SaGa, were not announced for Xbox and I don't think anyone really made a fuss about that.

But even SE knows the more popular games like the DQ remasters and next year's remake get more traction, hence they're coming to more platforms, incl. Xbox.

And as shitty as it was, when Forspoken's 2 year exclusivity with PS ends sometime early next year, wouldn't be surprising if it gets a quick Xbox port afterward.
 

Astray

Member
I think they just have a monkey throwing darts at a dartboard to help them determine which games will get released on which platforms.
The 1st thing they need to do is to take a risk and have a mainline FF go "backwards" in graphics. That way they get to release the games on Nintendo systems and have midrange pcs be able to play it.

Either that or just put the mainline FF series on ice imo. A ton of us talk about ballooning budgets being spent on high fidelity graphics, and Square has been patient zero of that particular syndrome.

Literally the most perfect response to how Square has been acting over the last 5 years. You are spot on!
They have no idea how to compete now that FF is beginning to falter as a top franchise. They really shot the franchise in the foot when they doubled down on that shitty nova crystalis plan they had.

Dragon Quest is amazing, but now it's beginning to face similar issues to what happened with FF in recent years.

16 is barely working on PC, so good luck with porting it to Series S.

Most of Square's portfolio is weeb stuff, and two grand games (16 and Remake Trilogy) are tangled with PS5 in some very peculiar ways, so they almost ceartinly won't make it to Series anyway.

And let's be honest here, very few of you green fans even care about SEs portfolio outside of those two big AAA games.
Adam is a frequent poster in JRPG topics. Like I don't see eye to eye with him on tons of things, but he is a JRPG fan.
 
Weird flex to enter a SquareEnix thread to tell the world you dont care about SquareEnix.


P.S You should give Nier Automata a go, its less SquareEnixy than most SquareEnix games
It is weird, I usually put Final Fantasy threads on ignore when I visit Neogaf, But this one looked different so I went in and discovered that nope, nothing here for me really.
I'll flex my way on out now.
 
16 is barely working on PC, so good luck with porting it to Series S.

Most of Square's portfolio is weeb stuff, and two grand games (16 and Remake Trilogy) are tangled with PS5 in some very peculiar ways, so they almost ceartinly won't make it to Series anyway.

And let's be honest here, very few of you green fans even care about SEs portfolio outside of those two big AAA games.
You ok? This news has hit you particularly hard I see.
 

cireza

Gold Member
And let's be honest here, very few of you green fans even care about SEs portfolio outside of those two big AAA games.
I would have loved to be able to buy Star Ocean 2R and Collection of Mana on Xbox. Also Falcom can put their games on Xbox whenever they feel like it, being stuck with only Ys Origin is quite sad.
 
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I would have loved to be able to buy Star Ocean 2R and Collection of Mana on Xbox. Also Falcom can put their games on Xbox whenever they feel like it, being stuck with only Ys Origin is quite sad.

Surprised Phil hasn't gone after Falcom already. They aren't a huge company making huge money. A small bag for GP and I think they start porting.
 
One of the big problems with this is that people who are fans of SE games probably already play on the platform where those games exist. Those people have their games in that ecosystem and are more likely to stay there.
 

cireza

Gold Member
One of the big problems with this is that people who are fans of SE games probably already play on the platform where those games exist. Those people have their games in that ecosystem and are more likely to stay there.
That's why you need to show some consistency for a long period, otherwise how can you create a fanbase on a platform ?
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Or, you know, that money is no longer on the table

Why would Sony money had when MS has given up and gone third party?

I don't even know how those two points relate to each other, lol.

If SE was having continued success and games were not under-performing, they wouldn't change their platform strategy. It's kind of a no brainer.

If the games end up doing well on other platforms, it may force Sony's hand to offer bigger sacks of money to SE in the future.

SE has made their (long) share of dumb decision, but this one is a win-win for them one way or the other. They either get more money from putting games elsewhere early, or force Sony's hand to make bigger sweetheart deals.
 
I don't even know how those two points relate to each other, lol.

If SE was having continued success and games were not under-performing, they wouldn't change their platform strategy. It's kind of a no brainer.

If the games end up doing well on other platforms, it may force Sony's hand to offer bigger sacks of money to SE in the future.

SE has made their (long) share of dumb decision, but this one is a win-win for them one way or the other. They either get more money from putting games elsewhere early, or force Sony's hand to make bigger sweetheart deals.

Interested Saturday Night Live GIF by HULU


The only reason they were exclusive is because money was offered to them. Without it, their strategy would have included other platforms like it already has in the past with FF15
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The only reason they were exclusive is because money was offered to them. Without it, their strategy would have included other platforms like it already has in the past with FF15


we-know-duh.gif



The exclusivity has resulted in their major games under-performing, hence the pivot.

my guy drganon drganon reacting to the posts faster than I make them, giving demigod a run for his money. 🙌
 
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That's why you need to show some consistency for a long period, otherwise how can you create a fanbase on a platform ?

True. That consistency needed to happen continuously after FF15 was released (maybe even before). Now personal libraries have been built on most people's platform of choice and they probably wont switch.
Also, it is very likely that the pool of people who still chose Xbox, even though they want SE games is very, very small.

Not saying that SE wont find a decent sized fanbase on Xbox, it just seems unlikely imo.

Edit:
More I think about it, I get it though.....you gotta start somewhere. Best I can say is good luck to them.
 
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SE has made their (long) share of dumb decision, but this one is a win-win for them one way or the other. They either get more money from putting games elsewhere early, or force Sony's hand to make bigger sweetheart deals.

This is not necessarily true. They get money from putting their games elsewhere but we have no idea whether it's more or less than if they would have got money from Sony. They don't even know that. They are going to have to port those games to Series S and I think it's clear that it takes some work to do that.
 
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Shubh_C63

Member
Square Enix has no faith in Xbox.

They think Xbox has no games and that is why releasing on it will reach more people. lol
/jk
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
No it hasn’t, and you think Xbox is a big enough audience even if your argument were true?

Yes, it has.

Just think about it for a second, why announce a big public pivot in strategy if it was going well for them. As for Xbox's audience, who can say. The producer have said FF14 has had a strong launch, so they're seemingly OK with the reception.







Were you expecting me to give your retarded posts the thumps up?

Wasn't expecting you to be so glued to my posts 💋
 
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we-know-duh.gif



The exclusivity has resulted in their major games under-performing, hence the pivot.

my guy drganon drganon reacting to the posts faster than I make them, giving demigod a run for his money. 🙌

True we've never seen SE complain about MP games underperforming. It's not like SE has become sort of meme for their comment on games underperforming.

Here's a long reddit post where someone started a topic on WTH Square expects.

This is, most likely entirely because, Square Enix (SE henceforth) expected a ludicrous amount of sales. If you remember, Sleeping Dogs was very well received, very many 8s and 9s (source: https://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/sleeping-dogs ). And the sales. This game was no slouch in that department. 1.5 million sales by the end of September 2012, *2 months after it's release. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Dogs_(video_game)#Sales ) I'm going to talk about whether or not it deserved a sequel here (it does) because that's not the point of the post. My point for this paragraph is to show that that is, to me, a great number, doubly so for a brand new IP.

This is obviously not the only example of this. Probably the least surprising, honestly. Tomb Raider is probably a greater known example. Over 1 million within *48 hours*! 2 weeks after launch, 3.4 million. And SE say *that's a failure.* 3.4 is a lot. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(2013_video_game)#Sales )

Hitman: Absolution. 4 months after launch, 3.6 million sales. SE say *it's a failure*. (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_Raider_(2013_video_game)#Sales )

I want to know where these sales expectations came from. Did these games have particularly large budgets? Did SE's wild expectations stem from their experiences with Final Fantasy?

There are perhaps other examples of SE having sales expectations failed, but these 3 immediately come to mind. There is also potentially a separate discussion to be had about AAA publishers' sales expectations in general, with particular regard to EA and their expectations of Dead Space.



Square still wont be happy with their game performance even after they go multiplatform because they reality is there is nothing that will make them happy.
 
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Puscifer

Member
I see nothing wrong with that. Xbox gamers who’ve been complaining better show up and actually purchase these games though.
Microsoft has destroyed this and they know it. Everything's "free" with Gamepass. At this point it's fallen to corporate capitalism and that means they want infinite growth and infinite money at all cost.

I'm not saying capitalism is bad mind you. But I think "markets" are better and that's clearly what Nintendo, Sony and the PC are appealing too in terms of specific audiences to are capturing and nurturing.
 
China loves Playstation
Japan loves Xbox
Fascinating.

According to this Twitter user, Japan hates xbox



Yes, it has.

Just think about it for a second, why announce a big public pivot in strategy if it was going well for them.

That strategy announcement is because they are not getting the exclusive money deals anymore

They don’t have an alternative option
 

DJ12

Member
They just gave the middle finger to Sony money. It ain't what it used to be.

You gotta be Xbox and PC day one. As every screen is an Xbox.
Lol interesting take.

The reality is xbox are no longer a threat so there's no need for Sony yo money hat as much as they used to.

FF games are also no longer the draw they used to be. I like them, but last good 'un was probably 12.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
True we've never seen SE complain about MP games underperforming. It's not like SE has become sort of meme for their comment on games underperforming.

Square still wont be happy with their game performance even after they go multiplatform because they reality is there is nothing that will make them happy.

Trust me, no one will accuse SE of being the smartest publisher in the industry.

Selling off key Western branches and keeping mainline games exclusive to a single platform are disqualifying in themselves.

That strategy announcement is because they are not getting the exclusive money deals anymore

They don’t have an alternative option

That strategy announcement was a part of the same press release where they announced under-performance in their HD titles.

The exclusivity money deals weren't enough to off-set those.

Like PS folks did right? 🤣


No Way Oh Snap GIF by Uninterrupted
 
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Seems very much like Sony is using those plummeting Xbox console sales as a way of passing on exclusivity deals. Whether it comes to Switch 2 will be the deciding factor.
 
That strategy announcement was a part of the same press release where they announced under-performance in their HD titles.

The exclusivity money deals weren't enough to off-set those.

Their net loss was due to cancelled projects. “Underperformance of HD titles” is an excuse to try and justify the new strategy

Truth is, they wouldn’t be changing it if they had Sony money.

AAA development is risky and Sony bankrolled that risk away. Now they must incur all risk on titles doing forward
 

Dane

Member
No it hasn’t, and you think Xbox is a big enough audience even if your argument were true?
Your post is an example of why companies should never take notes from forum users. The 80-90s mindset where you only did for one platform in Japan because you had major profit margins thanks to low costs to leave easy money out of the table.

Square Enix has only themselves to blame ditching out their multiplatform statregy where their games were selling well on all platforms, doesn't matter if Xbox is half of PS userbase, 90% of the dev cost is from the project itself than specific platform development, they could sell a third of PS version and it would have paid off the specific platform cost and gave major profit, for the whole project is another story. Why would developers bother to port games like The Witcher 3 and id Software games to the Switch?
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Their net loss was due to cancelled projects. “Underperformance of HD titles” is an excuse to try and justify the new strategy

The president of the company cited those HD games as being under-performers. Yet you continue to be stuck in your ways despite the presence of evidence 🤷‍♂️

Anyway, more SE games are coming to Xbox, multiple Dragon Quest projects are announced, more FF games are likely being announced soon going by eerily accurate leakers, so that's that I guess.
 
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The president of the company cited those HD games as being under-performers. Yet you continue to be stuck in your ways despite the presence of evidence

Underperformed compared to a multiplatform strategy? Uhhh, duh

That’s what the exclusivity money was for. No longer available
 
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