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Imran Khan "Square Enix is panicking slightly over Final Fantasy XVI preorder numbers, which are tracking behind FFXV"

I really don't think you've taken a look at Square Enix's financials in the past decade, have you?

They have been consistently in the black for a long, long time. I can't even remember the last time they posted financial results in which they did not have a positive income.

They're not even in the same galaxy as "going bankrupt" despite what people who know nothing about the industry think. 😂
where do they make their money from?. it cant come form game release, that is for sure.
 

Sleepwalker

Member
Final fantasy is basically synonymous with playstation, it being ps exclusive won't damage the brand, fucking lols.


I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.
What this means is the japanese public, after hearing about that, would not want to purchase FFXVI for the Xbox, nor will they purchase any of Square's games. This is HUGE. You can laugh all you want, but Square would have alienated an entire market with this move.
Square, would have had to publicly apologize and cancel FFXVI for the Xbox or they would have had to kiss their business goodbye.
 
9FiMBbO.jpg

@Guerilla Munch
To be fair, his post was so edgy and over the top I figured it was satirical.
 
Shame. I myself am skipping a mainline game at launch for the first time ever. Waiting for impressions from people other than journos, the single character action combat focus has me a bit wary. If they can pull it off, could be fun, but Final Fantasy isn't what I look for, when I think of high octane skill based action combat.

I'll probably pick up the eventual PC version that they keep "wink wink nudge nudge"-ing about.

Then I watched the PAX east gameplay video and this part made me laugh.

I hadn't seen that lol. That's doing the opposite of selling me on the game.

Still picking it up ASAP though.
 

dottme

Member
I don’t have a PS5/XSX yet, but that one of the really few game that can make me do the jump.
but yeah, I won’t be buying a new game full price anyway.
 

reksveks

Member
SE biggest segment within entertainment is mobile/pc browser games.

kLwc4e0.jpg


HD Gaming is an important chunk though.

I am unfortunately for them waiting for the PC release.
 

Nydius

Member
It’s coming out in a super crowded window, unfortunately. I know I’m not likely to pick it up until later because I literally just finished Zelda and now have Diablo 4 and Street Fighter 6 to play. And by the time I need a break from Diablo, my import of FF Pixel Remasters will be here fom Play-Asia.

I’m still interested in FF16, just not interested in a day one purchase.
 
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Fredrik

Member
It won’t be long before square goes bankrupt and either Tencent, Sony or Amazon would buy the studio.
So? FF is already PS console exclusive, PC versions are already delayed, DQ would lose some customers though and the smaller HD 2D titles would go away but in the end it would mostly be a nothing burger if Sony acquired SE. Don’t know if Sony owning them would improve anything for their IPs though.
 

LakeOf9

Member
Yeah I knew this would happen and it sucks, because this game looks amazing

But Square has mismanaged the brand for way too long
 

Fredrik

Member
I think its also because people are just waiting for the pc version. The same will ring true for future playstation studio games. If people know its coming and they have a timeframe they will wait no matter how good your game is.
Isn’t PC versions selling extremely poorly compared to their console versions?
Can’t see any bigger group of fans waiting for that version.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
where do they make their money from?. it cant come form game release, that is for sure.

It comes from games. All the other segments of their business are minimal in comparison.

And their game segment is profitable. Not even just a little bit. They have a sizable margin.

The idea that Square Enix is anywhere close to losing money or that its income comes from something other than games is the same branch of ignorance that alleges that Konami gets most of its business from pachislots.
 
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I would have loved to pre-order this on a PC, but then I remembered I don't particularly care about Game of Thrones or The Witcher franchise, so this FF isn't for me. I'll just wait for VII Rebirth instead.
 

Fabieter

Member
Isn’t PC versions selling extremely poorly compared to their console versions?
Can’t see any bigger group of fans waiting for that version.

Do you mean for exclusives or in general? Because in general is definitely false and for their exclusives they do sell alot worse but most people who played it did so day one and never thought it would see a pc version let alone all sony exclusive 1 to 2 years from release.
 
So? FF is already PS console exclusive, PC versions are already delayed, DQ would lose some customers though and the smaller HD 2D titles would go away but in the end it would mostly be a nothing burger if Sony acquired SE. Don’t know if Sony owning them would improve anything for their IPs though.
FF 16 is timed exclusive but that wasn’t always the case. If FF13 and FF15 was not on Xbox and PC I think Square enix situation would be a lot worse off than you think.

Not to mention Microsoft did give square quite a lot money for game pass deals in the past which undoubtedly helped square a lot. Square needs to wise up and understand they can’t trust Sony completely in the long run. Especially now that Sony is focusing on GAAS.

For Final fantasy to survive in the long run it needs to be on all the platforms or else the popularity of the IP will dwindle to obscurity which it already is.
 
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Fredrik

Member
Do you mean for exclusives or in general? Because in general is definitely false and for their exclusives they do sell alot worse but most people who played it did so day one and never thought it would see a pc version let alone all sony exclusive 1 to 2 years from release.
Talking about console exclusives coming to PC later. Isn’t that a tiny market and a lot of the sales are from people double dipping?
 
It comes from games. All the other segments of their business are minimal in comparison.

And their game segment is profitable. Not even just a little bit. They have a sizable margin.

The idea that Square Enix is anywhere close to losing money or that its income comes from something other than games is the same branch of ignorance that alleges that Konami gets most of its business from pachislots.
interesting. is so weird SE is being defined as the publisher that says " Game sales are not metting expectations", pushing so hard for GaaS (and faling miserably) and keep taking about NFTs.
 

Fredrik

Member
FF 16 is timed exclusive but that wasn’t always the case. If FF13 and FF15 was not on Xbox and PC I think Square enix situation would be a lot worse off than you think.

Not to mention Microsoft did give square quite a lot money for game pass deals in the past which undoubtedly helped square a lot. Square needs to wise up and understand they can’t trust Sony completely in the long run. Especially now that Sony is focusing on GAAS.

Final fantasy to survive in the long run needs to be on all the platforms or else the popularity of the IP will dwindle which it already is.
Never heard that FF16 is timed exclusive. Source?
 

Vognerful

Member
Shame. I myself am skipping a mainline game at launch for the first time ever. Waiting for impressions from people other than journos, the single character action combat focus has me a bit wary. If they can pull it off, could be fun, but Final Fantasy isn't what I look for, when I think of high octane skill based action combat.

I'll probably pick up the eventual PC version that they keep "wink wink nudge nudge"-ing about.

Then I watched the PAX east gameplay video and this part made me laugh.

it is FFXIII all over again, but without the action bar
 

Katatonic

Member
This is my most anticipated game in ages and I haven't pre-ordered. I think a lot of people assume it'l be like XV gameplay wise. Even if it played like FF:7 Remake it'd be a wait til on sale for me. Luckily, after watching the State of Play, I saw that this is an action RPG with actual satisfying combat, FF production values, and an M rated story. Hopefully reviews, word of mouth, and a strong advertising campaign will yield financial success.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
interesting. is so weird SE is being defined as the publisher that says " Game sales are not metting expectations", pushing so hard for GaaS (and faling miserably) and keep taking about NFTs.

There's a large difference between having a profitable, solid business, and meeting all growth expectations.

The reason why they push for GAAS and NFTs is because investors always want growth, but lack of growth or even limited decline doesn't mean that the business isn't profitable or solid. As a matter of fact, quite a few big Western publishers actually *lost* money this year. All major Japanese publishers were profitable.
 
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Dick Jones

Gold Member
Square enix owns the IP and other final fantasy games have showed up on other platforms including xbox. Here is a wiki about it.


Square have even said it and you chose Wikipedia as your source for FFXVI exclusivity

FFXVI is a 6 month timed exclusive to PS5. SE explained that the PC version may likely not come out in 6 months time as Sony helped with development to have the game come out this month.


 

Fredrik

Member
Square enix owns the IP and other final fantasy games have showed up on other platforms including xbox. Here is a wiki about it.


FF7 Remake and Intergrade isn’t on Xbox, nothing about Rebirth coming either, and I wouldn’t assume that FF16 is any different at this point. If it does come later it’ll be a release with little fanfare that will likely sell poorly just like any other LTTP release.
 
There's a large difference between having a profitable, solid business, and meeting all growth expectations.

The reason why they push for GAAS and NFTs is because investors always want growth, but lack of growth or even limited decline doesn't mean that the business isn't profitable or solid. As a matter of fact, quite a few big western publishers actually *lost* money this year. All major Japanese publishers were profitable.
pretty hard to believe (in the case of SE) when they have miss after miss.

i am not disputing your claims. i am just saying SE as a publisher is seems is one the worst in this industry.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
pretty hard to believe (in the case of SE) when they have miss after miss.

i am not disputing your claims. i am just saying SE as a publisher is seems is one the worst in this industry.

They're not claims. They're fact. The investor relations website is open to everyone and you can check for yourself.

Perception doesn't make or lose money nearly as much as people believe. Square Enix has a very solid, disciplined business with a whole lot of games that aren't very expensive to make and don't need to sell gangbusters to make a profit. On top of that, they have the most profitable Final Fantasy game of all time (Final Fantasy XIV) currently ongoing and very strong. It made less money than last year because it didn't have an expansion, but it still made a whole lot of money. Next year there'll be a new expansion and it'll shoot up again.

People wonder why they sold off most of their western studios, but from a business perspective, it made a lot of sense. Most of the games they made had solid sales but they were also the most expensive to make, so keeping them around wasn't as good for business as divesting them and focusing resources on their more profitable endeavors.
 
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supernova8

Banned
Maybe people just... don't want feel like pre-ordering anymore?

Plus look at the pre-order bonuses lol:

Ignoring the "deluxe" and "collectors edition", there's really no incentive to pre-order the "standard edition" of Final Fantasy 16 (unless you pre-order at Best Buy and you get a free steelbook case).

It's not like you get early access or anything, plus who can blame folks (for obvious reasons) for wanting to wait to be extra sure (via reviews) that the game isn't a buggy shitshow at launch?
 

Zuzu

Member
I really hope this game does well sales-wise. Basically only Final Fantasy and Tales of Arise deliver big budget AAA japanese action-rpgs and I don't want these types of games to stop happening.
 

Moonjt9

Member
Maybe because it doesn’t look like a final fantasy game anymore? I’m not looking for character action when I play a final fantasy game. Last good one was 10.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Maybe because it doesn’t look like a final fantasy game anymore? I’m not looking for character action when I play a final fantasy game. Last good one was 10.

And yet, the most profitable Final Fantasy game of all time is XIV. 😏
 

Neilg

Member
It's so fucking dumb to worry about a lack of pre orders when you've hyped up a demo that's not out yet. Of course everyone will wait until they play the demo to pre order?
 

Shifty1897

Member
Of course it's tracking behind. Square Enix burned the franchise with FFXV. Gonna take a few great series releases to earn back preorder levels of trust for most.
 

Heisenberg007

Gold Journalism
This will undoubtedly be the best Final Fantasy in years. The only problem that it may face is that it's releasing too close to Zelda TOTK.

As an aside, I don't believe this rumor because Imran Khan, after becoming a former journalist, hasn't been reliable for years now.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
This will undoubtedly be the best Final Fantasy in years. The only problem that it may face is that it's releasing too close to Zelda TOTK.

As an aside, I don't believe this rumor because Imran Khan, after becoming a former journalist, hasn't been reliable for years now.

It takes a new kind of naive to blindly believe rumors dropped on Patreon.
 
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They're not claims. They're fact. The investor relations website is open to everyone and you can check for yourself.

Perception doesn't make or lose money nearly as much as people believe. Square Enix has a very solid, disciplined business with a whole lot of games that aren't very expensive to make and don't need to sell gangbusters to make a profit. On top of that, they have the most profitable Final Fantasy game of all time (Final Fantasy XIV) currently ongoing and very strong. It made less money than last year because it didn't have an expansion, but it still made a whole lot of money. Next year there'll be a new expansion and it'll shoot up again.
i will take your word for now.
(is too late to research it).
 
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