Cognition Dissemination: It’s a Shame Square Enix’s Software Experimentation Didn’t Pan Out
Square Enix released a lot of games in the second half of 2022 — too many, in fact. It felt as if the company read all the comments about its software offerings being too light compared to those offered in previous console generations, despite them being rife the kind of hyperbole that so pervades criticism on the internet, and proceeded to overcompensate. Titles like the Live A Live remake (published by Nintendo outside Japan), The DioField Chronicle, Valkyrie Elysium, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, Harvestella, and Tactics Ogre Reborn all released in very close proximity to each other. Demos for most of them were released to inform the public of all their games, but there were questions as to whether the strategy would work.
It sadly didn’t. Square Enix’s potentially-outgoing president Yosuke Matsuda confirmed during the company’s recent Results Briefing that “net sales declined YoY in the HD Games sub-segment” because “many of the new small and mid-sized titles [they] launched this year did not perform as well as [they] had expected.” Matsuda didn’t specify which titles underperformed, but it’s easy to tell from the titles that barely graced worldwide sales lists, if they appeared at all. The DioField Chronicle, Valkyrie Elysium, and Harvestella, for instance, graced Japanese charts in their release weeks, but quickly vanished. They never charted outside the country. Budgets for the games themselves weren’t high (Harvestella feels budget even compared to Marvelous’ comparable Rune Factory games), but the company was nonetheless unimpressed.
It’s tough to parse whether The Divine Force sold well or not. The game performed slightly better than those mentioned in the last paragraph in Japan (though hardly well per se), and did chart in North America. It appears to have done better than previous games. Square Enix has notoriously high expectations for game sales, but I hope it did well enough to keep tri-Ace in business considering their existence was riding on the game’s performance. Dragon Quest Treasures, meanwhile, at least did well in Japan, and its status as a spinoff shouldn’t harm the franchise’s reputation outside the country.
Live A Live and Tactics Ogre Reborn appear to have done well enough, so it appears the HD-2D and 2D remaster initiatives will be safe for the near future. That bodes well for titles like the recently-released Octopath Traveler 2, the missing-in-action Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, and the likely-to-happen Final Fantasy Tactics remaster. The name brands for the last two there should also help.
It’s additionally a shame that Forspoken’s sales have been “lackluster,” according to Matsuda. The game was thoroughly mocked during its advertising campaign thanks to the iffy scriptwriting displayed in short promotional videos, and received a mixed critical reception. But those who took a chance on it noted the game’s hidden depths and overall-charming storyline. Its disappointing sales are unfortunate for the team at Luminous Productions, which will be absorbed into Square Enix itself on May 1st, a move sure to rein in their creative freedom. This blows even more because all the internet morons who dismissed it as a “woke” video game thanks to having a black female protagonist feel vindicated. Its sales failure is sure to make Square Enix and other companies reconsider having black women as main characters in future big-budget games, despite that unlikely to be the main cause for its failure.
Even more unfortunate is what Square Enix will feel they’ll be forced to do in the near future, at least according to Matsuda. Remember his promise from the start of 2022? Remember his promise from the start of 2023? The company plans on releasing games that utilize the blockchain starting this year, and into 2024. Some hopeful types figured Square Enix wasn’t serious about plans to embark on this valiant quest, but they’re truly full speed ahead. These have been in the cards for a while, but the fanbase won’t like it if these games outperform titles like those released last year.
I hope they consider releasing more smaller “traditional” games again, despite that being a somewhat risky venture after their latest financial results. If they do, it would be a good idea to spread the releases out. Providing demos to inform the audience of these software releases was not enough to make up for how they all released too closely. Their lineup for the first half of this year is fortunately free from this, which suggests that they’ve made sure not to make this mistake again. But I’m not confident they’ll pin their sales issues on that.
Square Enix itself will be fine, particularly with Final Fantasy XVI sure to be a heavy hitter for the company and Final Fantasy XIV continuing to rake in profits. But it doesn’t seem smart for the company to dip their toes in the crypto world with the level of scrutiny it’s receiving; it’s easy to imagine it turning into a Final Fantasy: All the Bravest-level mess if the corporate arm is too profit-focused. If, or perhaps when, it doesn’t play out, at least the potentially-incoming (pending shareholder approval) Takashi Kiryu can pin it on the potentially-outgoing Matsuda.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
Add a Comment
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Agreed Geoff, seems like they dumped too many games onto the market too fast.
I tried Diofield Chronicles demo incidentally and couldn’t stomach the gameplay much past the first battle.
Still, I keep getting amazed that games from the prior year like Dungeon Encounters were so much fun and presumably were comparably incredibly low budget.
While I also played Octopath Traveler original, it was a well made game that ‘ticked all the boxes’. But despite ‘ticking all the boxes’ of great music, fun graphics, engaging gameplay and combat, it sort of had “something about it” that was just a bit unsatisfying. I think for me it was the aspect of how the game dragged on, with combat and 8-stories becoming a chore and the game taking a really long time. Sort of weird anti-climactic ending. At the end I definitely didn’t want more! Therefore Octopath II is a no-go for me at this time.
Played Dragon Quest Treasures and it was loads of fun, and addictive, and very satisfying.
All our personal tastes change over time, but still, it seems like Square Enix needs to do some identity finding, and that’s what their sales suggest on some of the great IP like Valkyrie and Star Ocean that should have done better.
I liked the DioField Chronicles demo, but it hilariously illuminated how bad I am at RTS games. I also forgot about Dungeon Encounters, so I’m going to add it to the list. It definitely looks low budget, though.
I heard the second Octopath Traveler game is much better than the first from people who’ve played it. But a LOT of people who didn’t like the first game said they didn’t want to bother with the second, so I’m not surprised you feel that way. This might mean it could be discounted in the very near future, so let’s stay tuned for that. I’m keeping an eye on DQ Treasures, too.
I hope Square Enix finds a good way forward that doesn’t involve, uh, heating up the planet, and soon.