In a Could 2024 monetary report made public right now (through Eurogamer), Sq. Enix president Takashi Kiryu stated that Last Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Last Fantasy 16 have not bought as many copies as the corporate had hoped. “We launched a number of new titles, together with main titles comparable to ‘Last Fantasy 16’ and ‘Last Fantasy 7 Rebirth,’ however income sadly didn’t meet our expectations,” Kiryu stated.
The monetary outcomes had been initially shared on Could 13, 2024, months earlier than yesterday’s PC launch of Last Fantasy 16—which, it is protected to imagine, will give that exact gross sales metric a bump. A PC launch for Last Fantasy 7 Rebirth, in the meantime, nonetheless hasn’t been formally confirmed. Kiryu additionally famous that MMO income had been down, however attributed that to “a lull in releases forward of the launch of the ‘Last Fantasy 14: Dawntrail’ growth pack,” which was launched the next month in June.
Reporting had already appeared about Sq. Enix’s falling income after the monetary outcomes had been delivered to buyers in Could, however right now’s publishing of the monetary report means we will see the main points of Kiryu’s statements firsthand.
All through the monetary report, Kiryu attributed decreased profitability of its video games releases to strategic failings at Sq. Enix. Basically, Sq. Enix’s publishing technique has compelled its new releases to compete for gross sales with its personal video games. “We didn’t handle our title portfolio throughout the corporate in addition to we may have,” Kiryu stated, “which I consider resulted in alternative losses on account of cannibalization between our personal titles.”
Between a three-part Last Fantasy 7 remake, continued Last Fantasy 14 expansions, and Last Fantasy 16, there’s undoubtedly quite a lot of big-budget Last Fantasy competing for consideration, and people need to compete with all the opposite RPGs Sq. Enix is commonly publishing, like Visions of Mana and remasters just like the upcoming Dragon Quest HD-2D remakes. It is not a foul factor for us after we’ve acquired so many Sq. Enix RPGs to select from, nevertheless it’s solely good for Sq. Enix’s backside line if its prospects are shopping for every little thing within the catalogue.
The report additionally included Sq. Enix’s “new multiplatform enterprise technique,” which we lined when it was publicized again in Could. That plan, which incorporates “initiatives designed to win over PC customers,” additionally entails downsizing its studio portfolio and workforce. Following its sale of Crystal Dynamics and Eidos Montreal to Embracer in 2022, the Could 2024 enterprise technique reveal got here alongside layoffs at US and EU Sq. Enix workplaces, contributing to the brutal job losses nonetheless sweeping the video games business.
Sq. Enix can also be present process inside restructuring in Japan, Kiryu stated, in an try to counteract what he described because the “siloization” of the corporate’s growth groups. “A reorganization got here into impact on April 1, 2024 that creates a flat construction geared toward growing alternatives to find untapped expertise from throughout the current worker pool and at selling better dialogue inside growth and publishing capabilities, Kiryu stated. Later, in a closing Q&A bit, he supplied extra particulars about that reorganization, saying studios will not “pursue their growth efforts fully independently of each other. As a substitute, we’ve established a daily discussion board for the heads of the person studios and myself as president to debate the titles that we plan to supply, the standing of ongoing initiatives, human useful resource allocation, and different subjects.”