No but you did see Yakuza 1-6 "day one" of their Xbox release, same for Persona 3, 4 and 5. FF7 is a late port, just like those. I agree FF7 Part 3 or FF17 wouldn't be day one Game Pass, but for late ports, it's definitely possible.
interesting that they didn't talk about blockchain/nft/web3 etc anymore, made me suspicious most of their "content abandonment losses" was related to that project
I do wonder how Xbox will fit into this though, I've just always got the impression SE have tried with a limited amount of releases, then give up later, which seems to indicate to me the sales aren't what they want to continue doing it. Everything else, Switch, PC, PS, all seem essential, guess we'll see how it goes for Xbox.
Maybe, I would think Sony are still interested, the marketing for FF7 Rebirth shown they clearly cared and must be one of the biggest things they market for their console, wouldn't be surprised if it was the biggest thing this year for them, it's questionable whether they'd be happy with fully publishing FF7R3 though or if they're only willing to pay for timed exclusivity. I think it's more SE don't think the money they get for the exclusivity period outweighs the sales they could have had (And the risk they may even lose them), I'm guessing SE wanted more money this time round seeing it's a shorter exclusivity period. I think the other part too is Sony are getting better deals out of it too, without presumably paying for it, i.e. like FF16 they only paid for a 6 month exclusive, but SE weren't ready to make a PC version anyway, so they may even get effectively a year out of it anyway and I'll be surprised if FF7 Rebirth has a PC build ready after 3 months.
You could say maybe the timed exclusivity benefits SE too though, they can focus more on making the best game when they only have one platform to consider, hopefully they can still keep the quality up if they want multi-plat simultaneous launches, guess they'll need more resources to do that.
Maybe, I would think Sony are still interested, the marketing for FF7 Rebirth shown they clearly cared and must be one of the biggest things they market for their console, wouldn't be surprised if it was the biggest thing this year for them, it's questionable whether they'd be happy with fully publishing FF7R3 though or if they're only willing to pay for timed exclusivity. I think it's more SE don't think the money they get for the exclusivity period outweighs the sales they could have had (And the risk they may even lose them), I'm guessing SE wanted more money this time round seeing it's a shorter exclusivity period. I think the other part too is Sony are getting better deals out of it too, without presumably paying for it, i.e. like FF16 they only paid for a 6 month exclusive, but SE weren't ready to make a PC version anyway, so they may even get effectively a year out of it anyway and I'll be surprised if FF7 Rebirth has a PC build ready after 3 months.
You could say maybe the timed exclusivity benefits SE too though, they can focus more on making the best game when they only have one platform to consider, hopefully they can still keep the quality up if they want multi-plat simultaneous launches, guess they'll need more resources to do that.
I think the biggest hurdle for SQEX in bringing Final Fantasy games to PC, Xbox and Nintendo platforms is that there are too many that have missed the platforms and so a lot of work to build/rebuild the fanbase.
Best to use the Yakuza / Persona approach to PC and Xbox as a case study of what worked. Overall still a tough battle where the first port or two won't perform strongly given that they are late, will be full-priced(?) and out of the general consumer mindshare.
Best to use the Yakuza / Persona approach to PC and Xbox as a case study of what worked. Overall still a tough battle where the first port or two won't perform strongly given that they are late, will be full-priced(?) and out of the general consumer mindshare.
If Rebirth sales were lower that Square's expectations, then they were likely below Sony's as well. It's entirely possible the ROI for the exclusivity wasn't high enough to justify doing it again.
As it should be, haven't read the whole thread so I don't know if it was already mentioned, but they are now sharing profits by each division again (page 10 to 12). And things aren't looking good for HD games (even considering the extra losses they had this quarter)...
They lost 8.1B¥ this year. Last year they also lost 4.1B¥.
MMO has become their biggest money maker by far. Operating income was 19.3B¥ this year and 29.1B¥ in the last.
Mobile is still making them good money, 14.2B¥ this year and 16.2B¥ last year.
Last time they share this info was at the end of FY 2020: https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/20q4slides.pdf
Back then mobile was making them a bit more money than MMO.
They lost 8.1B¥ this year. Last year they also lost 4.1B¥.
MMO has become their biggest money maker by far. Operating income was 19.3B¥ this year and 29.1B¥ in the last.
Mobile is still making them good money, 14.2B¥ this year and 16.2B¥ last year.
Last time they share this info was at the end of FY 2020: https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/20q4slides.pdf
Back then mobile was making them a bit more money than MMO.
Finally something to point towards when I say Kiryu wants to go multiplat.
They rly bet on the wrong horse with signing all these Sony deals for their big games. Glad they are adjusting that first under new leadership.
They rly bet on the wrong horse with signing all these Sony deals for their big games. Glad they are adjusting that first under new leadership.
They're not going to talk about XVI on PC a month before Dawntrail comes out.
FFXVI will be interesting to see. I suspect it's going to promoted inside XIV which has a big PC userbase.
If they announce Rebirth for PC it should come with the twin pack pre-order though I don't now if that's possible on Steam and refunds would work.
Yeah. I mean if you're porting to Xbox and PC then yeah it probably wouldn't take THAT much time but again, I still think it's faster when you only have one to worry about which I'd imagine makes development much smoother in general with less resources taken from other places. Then if you try and add the Switch 2 on to that day and date idea with AAA titles it will definitely take more time.
I guess I'm just looking at it from a more skeptical standpoint because you rarely get AAA multiplatform games day and date with a 1:1 performance profiles. I'm sure they'll figure out a system on how to do it, but I don't expect it to be smooth right out the gate. Then of course we don't even know what they really plan to do with each franchise yet or where it's being ported to.
*good.jif* 
Yeah, I don't get when people are like "would 1-2 million extra sales really be worth porting it to Xbox" and it's like, probably, yeah lol
Ports aren't THAT expensive compared to the costs of developing the game in the first place.
I mean, I think in the case of SE, people are vastly overestimating the benefits of a single platform. Neither XVI nor Rebirth were clean releases and had some issues.
Then again for additional platforms: That is the worry of the teams handling these extra platforms. And it's not like all the team would work all 3 platforms. It doesn't work like that.
It will help long term, but don't think it turns things around much for the next fiscal year. If not happy with PS sales, then definitely won't see much return on Xbox. Switch 2 would be lucky to have an install base of 5 million by fiscal year end. PC could be stronger, assuming Steam gets more support and it's not Epic only.
That's good for everyone andni don't see any problem in consoles power anymore.
Just develop it for the weakest console ans enhance the other version to save in the every increasing development costs.
Just develop it for the weakest console ans enhance the other version to save in the every increasing development costs.
The industry-wide shift towards multiplatform releases is a big win for customers. More people have access to games, developers have access to more customers, platform holders have to try even harder to offer compelling software and hardware since they can't rely on exclusion.
Wait, if I'm not reading this wrong, they put out XVI, Rebirth, DQM (which I hear did well in Japan), and they lost money from that?
I would like to assume Foamstars was a gigantic money pit, but that would be too convenient - regardless, that doesn't exactly paint a rosey picture of things.
It'll still get the sales closer to where they want to be though. More sales is more sales.
Dang even in a content drought XIV still pulling >300 million USD. Guess that's why they shelled out for Tokyo Dome.
they know, their forecast for next FY is pretty much the same
The slide above says more about that cost of development, amortization and content production valuation loss.
In terms of revenue it's significantly lower actually. I don't think they have any big game besides Dawntrail.
Yep. New customer acquisition and building trust is going to require years of consistency in delivery and clear communications. There haven't been good reason to commit to SE products on any platform/store when publisher has been this erratic, especially with trilogy.
There's not much to do for the next FY (unless you mean the FY2026 and not 2025, which we are currently in).
Although they have some leverage with what they currently have. Like, actually releasing Kingdom Hearts on PC and Switch.
Having XVI and VII Rebirth ports ready. Having a Remake port for Switch 2 launch.
We'll see what they're planning with some rumoured releases (IX Remake, if there's no stupid exclusivity deal, like EGS, same for Tactics).
At this point, they should re-release a all-in-one package/the story so far package on Steam. Put it at 99€ with a launch sale at 60€ and call it a day.
Smart move to not take Sony's cash anymore, they'll make way more doing selling on PC/Xbox/Switch day 1 than anything Sony would ever pay. You love to see it.
Growing up I've never really been a huge fan of Square Enix because I've never really played their games. They've basically been tied to consoles, and I haven't had non-Nintendo consoles since 2009 and I mostly play competitive shooters (TF2, Quake, Counter Strike). Most of my gaming has been on PC and with Nintendo and their first party games since then. And as much as I would have liked to buy a console and play exclusives, it never really made much sense to me to buy consoles when I have such a huge backlog to play and nothing outside of Nintendo's first party offerings interest me.
That has slowly been changing though, and it's partly due to Japanese developers and publishers embracing PC even more. Three years ago I would have never said Yakuza, Persona, or Monster Hunter would be some of my favorite franchises. Same goes for Final Fantasy which I recently got in to for the first time properly with the original FF7 and FF7 Remake because of the Golden Week sale from two weeks ago on Steam. I borrowed my friends copy of the original because of the new steam family sharing and immediately loved what I played. I put in about 15 hours before I decided to buy the Remake and honestly, I think FF7 OG and FF7 are my favorite JRPGs that I have ever played. Because of that I'm even more excited to check out other Square Enix games, and I'm very excited that they're pushing for more platforms so I can continue to enjoy their future games.
That has slowly been changing though, and it's partly due to Japanese developers and publishers embracing PC even more. Three years ago I would have never said Yakuza, Persona, or Monster Hunter would be some of my favorite franchises. Same goes for Final Fantasy which I recently got in to for the first time properly with the original FF7 and FF7 Remake because of the Golden Week sale from two weeks ago on Steam. I borrowed my friends copy of the original because of the new steam family sharing and immediately loved what I played. I put in about 15 hours before I decided to buy the Remake and honestly, I think FF7 OG and FF7 are my favorite JRPGs that I have ever played. Because of that I'm even more excited to check out other Square Enix games, and I'm very excited that they're pushing for more platforms so I can continue to enjoy their future games.
Why Some Games Fail to Port: Common Mistakes to Avoid - Starloop Studios
Discover the pitfalls of game porting and learn key strategies to ensure success across platforms. This article delves into the intricacies of optimizing performance, leveraging platform-specific features, and redesigning UI for an ideal player experience on new platforms."This concise...
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I have no problem with this as long as the weakest system (switch 2) doesn't compromise the dev vision/game design.
I'd guess it's mostly load time / ssd stuff like ratchet dimension/portal hopping etc)
I can't think of much else tbh that I've played this gen that probably couldn't have been done on ps4/pro (rumoured switch 2 specs) without just dropping fps/resolution/texture quality.
Squares decisions have been weird to say the least. Like Octopath Traveller releasing on the Strada of all things and not even on ps4, but OT2 launching with ps4/ps5 versions. Just baffling lol
I'd guess it's mostly load time / ssd stuff like ratchet dimension/portal hopping etc)
I can't think of much else tbh that I've played this gen that probably couldn't have been done on ps4/pro (rumoured switch 2 specs) without just dropping fps/resolution/texture quality.
Squares decisions have been weird to say the least. Like Octopath Traveller releasing on the Strada of all things and not even on ps4, but OT2 launching with ps4/ps5 versions. Just baffling lol
Yeah, I think people see late port not doing as well on other platforms as a sign of a lack of interest, but I think it's actually because late ports sell less than day one (less marketing, hype died down etc).
Hopefully Switch 2 has decent settings. Late PS4 games look perfectly fine for me, but I'm not buying some retro-ass crap looking graphics. Otherwise Switch 2 should be a money--maker for them, for sure.
XBOX won't do much for them, I don't think. PC also is a must, hopefully won't delay releases too much, but we won't know about it regardless, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Other companies manage simultaneous releases.
XBOX won't do much for them, I don't think. PC also is a must, hopefully won't delay releases too much, but we won't know about it regardless, so I guess it doesn't really matter. Other companies manage simultaneous releases.
