Sq. Enix seems to be on the verge of shaking up its growth portfolio. In keeping with its president, we could quickly see fewer titles, however a extra various array of genres popping out of a developer and writer historically recognized for its large RPG franchises.
In an investor Q&A that befell again in November however which was solely lately printed in English, Sq. Enix president Takashi Kiryu addressed a number of questions from buyers in regards to the firm’s portfolio going ahead. In response to a query about what Sq. Enix was missing that it wanted to attain sustained progress and meet its enterprise objectives, Kiryu cited two factors: the restricted range of the corporate’s portfolio, and an absence of robust advertising and marketing. On the restricted range level particularly, he went on to clarify the necessity to enhance the completely different sorts of video games in Sq. Enix’s portfolio by strengthing inner growth capabilities, or even perhaps making acquisitions.
“As a result of we possess robust IPs just like the Dragon Quest and Closing Fantasy franchises, I imagine that now we have tended to be overly reliant on sure gameplay kinds or genres,” Kiryu mentioned. “In the meantime, the tastes of shoppers within the gaming market have diversified, and prospects have come to take pleasure in content material from quite a lot of genres. Furthermore, blockbuster titles should not the one ones that take pleasure in recognition. For instance, our title Powerwash Simulator is considerably of an outlier in our portfolio in that it’s a recreation nicely fitted to informal play, however now we have been capable of steadily construct up our earnings from it.”
Later within the Q&A, Kiryu was requested once more in regards to the firm’s growth efforts, and repeated that he wished to strengthen Sq. Enix’s inner capabilities and “tackle new challenges, partly as a result of we need to add to the variety of our portfolio of titles, as I famous earlier, whereas additionally enabling our builders to broaden their ability units.”
However, on the identical time, Sq. Enix additionally seems to be very conscious of its popularity because the RPG firm. Elsewhere within the Q&A, Kiryu famous that the “quite a few entries in our lineup” had been making it tough to maintain tight management over growth efforts. “I need to construction our growth perform in order that we’re ready to make sure increased high quality from every title by slimming down our lineup,” he mentioned.
In a follow-up query, Kiryu continued:
“As our prospects’ wants and the kinds of units out there have diversified, now we have tried to provide hits by creating all kinds of titles reasonably than by focusing solely on sure ones. I imagine that this has resulted within the splintering of our useful resource pool. In the meantime, there have been clear winners and losers among the many main titles launched lately within the gaming market, and it has change into potential for even indies titles to make their presence felt. The market is more and more polarized between blockbuster and indies titles, however I really feel that now we have developed many titles that fell someplace within the center. I need to make clearer distinctions going ahead.”
The market is more and more polarized between blockbuster and indies titles, however I really feel that now we have developed many titles that fell someplace within the center.
What the president of Sq. Enix appears to be indicating right here is that the corporate has been a bit too reliant on simply making tons and many mid-budget RPGs that weren’t large successes – see current efforts like Harvestella, Varied Daylife, or Valkyrie Elysium. Whereas the large AAA swings like Closing Fantasy and Dragon Quest are unlikely to cease being hits for Sq. Enix, Kiryu is noting a must spend some growth vitality creating video games like Powerwash Simulator (developed by Futurlab) internally and capitalizing on title range, as an alternative of simply reiterating the identical components throughout dozens of various, AA releases.
That is one interpretation, however we’ll have to attend and see what Sq. Enix is cooking up in 2024 and past to say something definitive about Sq. Enix’s plans. We do know it is on the verge of publishing Foamstars from Toylogic, and has Visions of Mana within the chamber for 2024 alongside a remake of Dragon Quest 3, the brand new Dragon Quest 12, and (perhaps sometime) Kingdom Hearts 4. We additionally know the corporate is de facto thinking about getting AI to make content material for a few of these video games, as Kiryu acknowledged in a New 12 months’s Letter earlier this 12 months. it is also one of many few corporations that hasn’t absolutely given up on blockchain tech, at the same time as different corporations seem like abandoning the thought.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Received a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
