The video game sector is changing. The post-COVID era has led to a huge volume of layoffs in 2024 and unfortunately, it is certainly not over yet. The best profitability is sought for shareholders and it is recently Square Enix which has refined its strategy. We learned today that sales of the latest Final Fantasy games have been disappointing.
Change of direction for Square Enix
Following its recent disappointing financial results, Square Enix announced that it would adopt a new strategy and a new medium-term business plan for the period from the third quarter of 2025 to the third quarter of 2027. The publisher announced that it wanted to “diversify its “earning opportunities by strengthening customer touchpoints.”
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In details, we discover that Square Enix wishes to “actively develop a multiplatform strategy including the Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and PC platforms. “. In other words, creating an environment in which more customers can enjoy its games.
Doesn’t that remind you of anything? This is indeed the big underlying trend in the video game sector with PlayStation which has started to release its games on PC and Microsoft which has started to release some of its in-house titles on PlayStation.
Final Fantasy's exclusivity on PlayStation is a hindrance for Square Enix
As explained BloombergSquare Enix president Takashi Kiryu explained to investors that sales of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Final Fantasy 16 and Foamstars fell short of expected revenues and profits.
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In more detail, we learn that sales of Final Fantasy 16 would have been in line with expectations when the game was released, but that the trend was not followed in the months that followed and the game did not reach its objectives for the year.
Concerning Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Foamstars, however, we learn that these two games did not achieve their objectives from the first day of their release.
Journalist Takashi Mochizuki, who was able to attend Square's statements, specifies that the company remains confident in the ability of FF16 to achieve its objective within the framework of the initial 18-month sales plan and that, moreover, the sales of Rebirth and Foamstars aren't necessarily bad.
What do these 3 games have in common? They were all released as PlayStation exclusives, which obviously limits sales. This is why Square Enix is changing its strategy, quite simply to reach a wider audience, and therefore generate additional revenue.
Following the announcement of Square Enix's poor financial results, the company's stock immediately plunged -16%. Investors' concerns relate to a release schedule that is too empty for their tastes and not enough major titles likely to increase the company's turnover over the next two years.