Square Enix Wants To Refine Their Video Game Lineup Moving Forward

Square Enix recently published a document detailing its financial summary results for the second quarter of the fiscal year ending March 2024. This report has several substantial comments, specifically mentioning sales and intentions to improve those figures in the future.

Square Enix has acknowledged the negative player reaction to Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai, while Star Ocean The Second Story R has received considerable praise. Additionally, the company intends to refine its development process moving forward so that resources aren’t spread too thin. They believe their lineup is too much, necessitating quality control, so they also want to strengthen their in-house work.

You can view translations of the significant passages from this Square Enix financial report below via our team’s Ryuji:

“The Digital Entertainment segment reported higher sales and profits due to the release of new titles such as FF16, FF Pixel Remaster, and Infinity Strash. In particular, STAR OCEAN THE SECOND STORY has been highly acclaimed by fans. On the other hand, Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai received harsh user comments.

Although MMO sales declined in the first half of the fiscal year, they were solid, considering it was an off-peak period.*

Regarding their mobile division, the Japanese version of Dragon Quest Champions was strong after its launch but has since weakened. The performance of Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis in September and October, immediately after its release, was satisfactory. Said performance is expected to be further revitalized with the release of Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth and the implementation of the half-anniversary event, as well as contribute to earnings in the future as a pillar of new titles.

Although not included in the Q2 portion, the highly anticipated Dragon Quest Monsters 3: The Dark Prince, which recently sold over 1 million units worldwide across digital and physical, is still doing well in sales. The expectations for the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are also growing.”

*Translator’s Note 1: By ‘off-peak period’, this is likely referring to how Final Fantasy XIV is experiencing a relative lull when it comes to new content, as they gear up for the latest expansion, Dawntrail.

[…]

Q. What measures do you feel are necessary to improve productivity and, thus, the profitability of games, and how do you plan to implement them?

A. Currently, there are two types of development: in-house development and third-party (a.k.a. outsourced) development. Specifically, the company intends to concentrate resources on carefully selected new titles in order to develop them with a high quality. At the same time, we do not want to focus exclusively on major titles. As mentioned earlier, we would still like to take on new challenges with limited downside risk from the perspectives of title portfolio diversification and developer training. As a result of these measures, we would like to strengthen our in-house development system, raise the level of development skill, and thus, stably release games of high quality, improving profitability.

Q. Isn’t it becoming difficult to control development due to the general spread of the development system?

A. We feel that, rather than a problem with our development system per se, we believe the problem might lie in that we have too much of a lineup. In the future, we would like to narrow [the lineup] down and establish a system to improve each title’s quality.

Q. Why do you feel it has not been possible to narrow down the lineup until now?

A. We believe that as customers need diversification, we have tried to create hits by developing a variety of content instead of just our mainstay titles. As a result, our resources have been dispersed. On the other hand, in the recent game market, not only is there a clear winner-take-all situation for major titles, but there is also a tendency for indie games to have a particularly strong presence. The situation is becoming increasingly polarized between major titles and indie games, and we have probably developed many titles that likely fall somewhere in between. In the future, we would like to take a more balanced approach.

Thanks to Famitsu for sharing this news.

The negative reception to Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai was highlighted soon after its initial launch, where it was already half off at select retailers in Japan, with harsh critiques via user reviews. Based on Square’s explicit mentioning of this title, it’s clear this mishap of a release is still on their collective mind.

Our review of Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai is not so different. The abysmal storytelling, nonexistent weight of combat, and questionable sense of progression make the experience not enjoyable in the slightest.

In contrast, Star Ocean The Second Story R has earned waves of positive critical and fan acclaim, with the staff even mentioning it. In our review, we were also impressed with the quality of this remake that had studio Gemdrops at the helm. The essence of the original release was bolstered with countless improvements.

Hopefully, we will see greater quality control from Square in the future, so each selected IP has its time to shine.

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