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[Ozriel]

Let’s see, Microsoft bought Rare in 2002, and Sea of Thieves came out in 2018.

Oh cool, a development team known for releasing annual great titles in their SNES/N64 days, and then proceeded to get bought by Microsoft and then take 16 years full of shit Kinect titles, a Banjo “3” that missed the mark, and other blunders before finally making a title people enjoyed…..not at launch, of course, oh no, but EVENTUALLY they managed to get ONE win.

I’m not sure which part highlights more the fact you’ve got no clue about gaming.
Between the one where you expect a 200 man dev team to make annual AAA games in the 3D era, to where you have no idea that Rare’s Kinect sports titles were some of their most successful ever, with some of the best Amazon verified user reviews of the 360 era (4+ stars)

but EVENTUALLY they managed to get ONE win.

And what a win it was. Launched on Steam in 2020, 2 years post console and PC Gamepass release and still went on to sell over 5 million copies, with 17k people playing it right now.

You certainly picked the right .gif

 

[SNG32]

Square needs to stop being exclusive to Sony and go multiplat. It worked out well for Capcom once they stopped doing exclusives.

 

[Braag]

They have learned nothing.

Big studios and corporations usually go on super panic mode when their yearly revenue drops significantly. I've worked at a fairly big company that suffered this fate and they did couple of smart things to stop bleeding money and several very very questionable decisions which made every employee scratch their head and those decisions ultimately hurt them even more.

 

[Fredrik]

They both already get plenty of content from SE and a good chunk of it is exclusive. Why take on the cost for the whole SE company when they already give you 90% of what you want?

Because quality will drop if they bleed money and eventually there is nothing left for Sony/Nintendo to get.

 

[Zannegan]

Let’s see, Microsoft bought Rare in 2002, and Sea of Thieves came out in 2018.

Oh cool, a development team known for releasing annual great titles in their SNES/N64 days, and then proceeded to get bought by Microsoft and then take 16 years full of shit Kinect titles, a Banjo “3” that missed the mark, and other blunders before finally making a title people enjoyed…..not at launch, of course, oh no, but EVENTUALLY they managed to get ONE win.

How DARE you.

...I loved BK:N&B. =,(

 

[Doom85]

I’m not sure which part highlights more the fact you’ve got no clue about gaming.
Between the one where you expect a 200 man dev team to make annual AAA games in the 3D era, to where you have no idea that Rare’s Kinect sports titles were some of their most successful ever, with some of the best Amazon verified user reviews of the 360 era (4+ stars)




And what a win it was. Launched on Steam in 2020, 2 years post console and PC Gamepass release and still went on to sell over 5 million copies, with 17k people playing it right now.

You certainly picked the right .gif

Or, and try to wrap your head around this concept, what people loved Rare for in the SNES/N64 days isn’t what they got with fucking sports Kinect titles. Oh, and “good” reviews from Amazon, wowee, meanwhile actual Metacritic has all of them in the 60-70 range.

But hey, I guess if they sold the most, that automatically determines quality, right? Didn’t your hear, kids, everyone knows McDonald’s is the best tasting burger in fast food, it has to be, it sells the most, right?

Also, way to twist my words. It’s not about releasing games annually (though they did do so in the N64 days), but bruh, SIXTEEN years to make a game that Rare fans would enjoy. And mind you, I’m being generous, even as good as Sea of Thieves is (eventually), I don’t think it’s the type of game one would expect the team to make, but Christ, at this point the team had so many misses we‘ll take a win no matter how out of left field it is.

For fucks sake, they couldn’t even make a modern Battletoads game that made fans happy.

 

[SteelCurtain 59]

I know of a 3 trillion dollar company that would gladly subsidize any losses in sales you may be having, Square. All you have to do is make games for their subscription service and release them day one. And no more Sony deals. Sounds good?

Pass

 

[jhjfss]

Couldnt give less of a shit

 

[Dick Jones]

Square stop disappointing.
Concentrate on your main IP and fire the next cunt who says nfts.

 

[Vognerful]

Wake me up when they release their AAA games on PC simultaneously

 

[Jinzo Prime]

Wake me up when they release their AAA games on PC simultaneously

They should be doing what Capcom is doing. PC as the main platform, ports to PS5 and Xbox. Powerful, flexible, optimized engine that all your devs can use effectively. Capcom just posted their highest game sales ever. Follow their lead.

 

[Captain Toad]

Square Enix is still my favorite publisher. I realized the majority of the games I've played lately are SE titles. FFXVI is my most anticipated game since Elden Ring.

 

[ProtoByte]

They should be doing what Capcom is doing. PC as the main platform, ports to PS5 and Xbox. Powerful, flexible, optimized engine that all your devs can use effectively. Capcom just posted their highest game sales ever. Follow their lead.

That's funny, because most of Capcom's library sells a significant majority of units on PlayStation. Resident Evil 4 most recently included.

 

[Jinzo Prime]

That's funny, because most of Capcom's library sells a significant majority of units on PlayStation. Resident Evil 4 most recently included.

That's very true, but every sale is important. PC games are essentially "evergreen." People will buy a PC game years down the line ensuring a stream of revenue with very little cost. It just doesn't make sense to cut off a revenue stream unless the cost to port outweighs the profit.

 

[Ozriel]

For fucks sake, they couldn’t even make a modern Battletoads game that made fans happy.

Dlala made Battletoads. Not Rare

 

[kvltus lvlzvs]

Ff16 nft gacha mechanics incoming lmfao

 

[Yoboman]

Square Enix have had accountants in charge for like a decade

They don't get gaming

Sack them and put Yoshi P in charge, I guarantee Square will be back on track

 

[brian0057]

What?
So throwing the western studios under the bus to hide the horrible financing of the Final Fantasy series didn't work?
Color me fucking shocked!

 

[Doom85]

Dlala made Battletoads. Not Rare

Wikipedia flat out says they assisted in developing.

Also, two things:

1) if Microsoft chose to not have Rare be the main developers, they either A) have so little faith in modern Rare to get even one of their IPs right, or B) are so ignorant about what Rare should be good at they didn’t realize that maybe they should be the head developers and not merely assisting

So thanks for strengthening my argument.

 

[Days like these...]

I know you all want the company to fail for some bitter reason or another, however the company just posted roughly a $330million net profit and this is their 3rd best year ever I believe. Their stock price is up with todays news and up 30% YoY. Talk about an agenda from the OP with the doom spin.

With the likes of FFXVI, FFXIV expansion, FFVII Remake project, DQXII, NieR and KH4 and others still yet to come and the company being profitable and now trimming the fat, I'm afraid you'll be waiting many more years, probably a decade or two before you get your wish. I hope the wait will be worth it.

Meanwhile, I'll enjoy their output, which is a lot better and varied than most other publishers right now who struggle to ship one or two competent games a console generation these days.

I'm not going to force myself to play shitty games because I was once a fan of FF

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Square Enix have had accountants in charge for like a decade

They don't get gaming

Sack them and put Yoshi P in charge, I guarantee Square will be back on track

they better deliver.

 

[El Pistolero]

Well, Forspoken bombed, and small albeit quality titles will not help you financially.

 

[phaedrus]

sony please save square-enix again

Ftfy

 

[darrylgorn]

Would probably help if games like Octopath Traveller and Triangle Strategy weren't a bajillion dollars.

 

[Vognerful]

That's funny, because most of Capcom's library sells a significant majority of units on PlayStation. Resident Evil 4 most recently included.

That is funny because Xbox and PC would still be around 35% of their sales, and no sane company would let go of that money without heavy assurance in a form of big bag of cash

 

[Dr.brain64]

Tomb raider and deus ex are the only games I own that have their name. Nothing from se appeals to me.

 

[FeralEcho]

And they are doubling down on their Blockchain endeavors.


Square Enix execs are some weird weird folk.
Next year they will have an earnings call where they talk about having made a mistaken investing in Blockchain and NFTs......as if everyone and literally their mothers couldnt tell them that ship sailed a long time ago.

You give them too much credit, They'll probably tripledown on the damn thing and wonder what went wrong.

 

[ProtoByte]

That is funny because Xbox and PC would still be around 35% of their sales, and no sane company would let go of that money without heavy assurance in a form of big bag of cash

That is the case for RE4 - funnily enough to Jinzo Prime 's point, PC sales only made 15% compared to the 20% of Xbox for that game, at least initially.

The thing is though, that Square Enix is not Capcom and their library/IP is very different. Final Fantasy in particular sells a supermajority on PlayStation, irrespective of whether the game comes to PC or not.

Square Enix has also explicitly said that they're not putting their games on Xbox because their games don't sell there. FF15 was before Gamepass took hold, and it was what? 78 against 22 for PS4 in the US at launch? When it's all said and done you can bet its something like 80-85% PS4, PC included. I can only imagine the absolute landslide split a game like KH3 had.

That's very true, but every sale is important. PC games are essentially "evergreen." People will buy a PC game years down the line ensuring a stream of revenue with very little cost. It just doesn't make sense to cut off a revenue stream unless the cost to port outweighs the profit.

The actual value of that "evergreen" revenue stream is greatly diminished when you take into account that those sales are predicated on deep, deep discounts to a degree that doesn't really occur on console.

Yeah, you managed to sell x number of units on PC, but a significant y percentage of that number is because you slashed the price down to 10 bucks.

 

[Vognerful]

That is the case for RE4 - funnily enough to Jinzo Prime 's point, PC sales only made 15% compared to the 20% of Xbox for that game, at least initially.

The thing is though, that Square Enix is not Capcom and their library/IP is very different. Final Fantasy in particular sells a supermajority on PlayStation, irrespective of whether the game comes to PC or not.

Square Enix has also explicitly said that they're not putting their games on Xbox because their games don't sell there. FF15 was before Gamepass took hold, and it was what? 78 against 22 for PS4 in the US at launch? When it's all said and done you can bet its something like 80-85% PS4, PC included. I can only imagine the absolute landslide split a game like KH3 had.


The actual value of that "evergreen" revenue stream is greatly diminished when you take into account that those sales are predicated on deep, deep discounts to a degree that doesn't really occur on console.

Yeah, you managed to sell x number of units on PC, but a significant y percentage of that number is because you slashed the price down to 10 bucks.

Why are u splitting Xbox And PC market platforms? Once you have developed for pc, Xbox becomes just another spec'd PC. Don't games go on sales on playstation? Or end up joining playstation plus?

Here is a difference you failed to mention between Capcom and square; they an active MMO players population on PC that is giving square revenue stream, that is why it is not fair to compare the 2. They have sticked with square and FFXIV for many years and they feal betrayed that square decided to pocket Sony's money over their PC players.

I also hate how many users posts here read like corporate analyst chills rather than an actual gamers, trying to justify everything based on how it is best for company.

Are you getting paid for this?

 

[MasterCornholio]

Think most of your copies are gonna get sold on pc, playstation, and Nintendo. And the one platform that sells the least has been handing out fuck tons of cash upfront for a port. You might as well let them pay for that and some profit on top. If they they are willing to pay for persona they can pay you.

If gamepass money covers development costs then I don't see why not. Maybe they are just waiting for that?

 

[ProtoByte]

Why are u splitting Xbox And PC market platforms? Once you have developed for pc, Xbox becomes just another spec'd PC. Don't games go on sales on playstation? Or end up joining playstation plus?

Read what I said again.

Here is a difference you failed to mention between Capcom and square; they an active MMO players population on PC that is giving square revenue stream, that is why it is not fair to compare the 2. They have sticked with square and FFXIV for many years and they feal betrayed that square decided to pocket Sony's money over their PC players.

Betrayed? Do you actually think that the venn diagram between people who play FF14 and people who would play a single player FF is actually very large? Because it isn't. Let alone on PC.

Just think it through logically. MMOs are practically the antithesis of the finite SP game. You're talking about 2 completely different sub markets. It's not like an other FF has done particularly good numbers on PC.

I also hate how many users posts here read like corporate analyst chills rather than an actual gamers, trying to justify everything based on how it is best for company.

Are you getting paid for this?

This is a game industry forum. If you don't like facts about the game industry, you should go somewhere else.

Fact is that Xbox players have continuously demonstrated that they don't care for SE's library and don't buy the games. You can't be shocked by not getting games after continuously not buying them unless you're an idiot.

 

[Vognerful]

Read what I said again.


Betrayed? Do you actually think that the venn diagram between people who play FF14 and people who would play a single player FF is actually very large? Because it isn't. Let alone on PC.


This is a game industry forum. If you don't like facts about the game industry, you should go somewhere else.

Fact is that Xbox players have continuously demonstrated that they don't care for SE's library and don't buy the games. You can't be shocked by not getting games after continuously not buying them unless you're an idiot.

Are you going to come with something to support your statement about FF XIV and other FF titles or is this another bullshit point? Like are we supposed to sit hear and pretend that one of the biggest appeals of FFXIV is not to attract to FF players?

Why are you pivoting away to Xbox when we are talking about PC mainly and then Xbox as a secondary point?

My point is not about hearing news about video game corporations, read! My issue is why people will be willing to take the stance of companies and give long explanations about their strategies and benefits (basically providing excuses for them), OVER taking the stance of other gamers!

Notice how you immediately went and justified away why square was right to ditch PC players, even though they are right to be angry, with bogus claims.

 

[ProtoByte]

Are you going to come with something to support your statement about FF XIV and other FF titles or is this another bullshit point? Like are we supposed to sit hear and pretend that one of the biggest appeals of FFXIV is not to attract to FF players?

FF14's main function is not to attract the people whonwere playing FFs 1 through 10, 12, 13 or 15. It's function is to diversify the IPs player base. It's self evident. Most FFs were late on PC if they came at all, and their sales are comparatively miniscule to the console numbers that preceded and ran parallel to them. The majority of FF14 players are on PC. It's self evident.

I'm not going to dignify an attempt at contradicting the fact that MMO players and SP game players are two distinct and largely segmented sets of players.

Why are you pivoting away to Xbox when we are talking about PC mainly and then Xbox as a secondary point?

Because your point about Xbox and PC being the same was stupid, and the topic of SE games not coming to x platform mainly pertains to Xbox. This fiscal year, there was no title that released on PlayStation that didn't release on PC. Forspoken came to PC, and it didn't stop the game from underperforming.

My point is not about hearing news about video game corporations, read! My issue is why people will be willing to take the stance of companies and give long explanations about their strategies and benefits (basically providing excuses for them), OVER taking the stance of other gamers!

If the company says the sky is blue and other gamers say it's green, I'm gonna have to take the company's stance. At least, acknowledge its legitimacy.

Notice how you immediately went and justified away why square was right to ditch PC players, even though they are right to be angry, with bogus claims.

Are PC players really angry, and are they actually being ditched? I've not seen the former.

Here's the thing on the latter: Again, Forspoken came to PC, as did Octopath II (which was a Nintendo timed exclusive by the by), and everything else Square released this fiscal year.

If you're salty about FF16, Sony's funding, marketing and support actually makes the game viable - more viable than it would've been otherwise. And that's coming out of Yoshida's mouth.
So if the end result is a game that wouldn't be what it will be otherwise, nobody's getting betrayed. The majority of sales would've been on PlayStation anyway. No shit, PlayStation has a good hand to bargain with Square that's mutually beneficial and actually ends with a better game.

It will be supremely funny if FF16 sells even faster than XV and VII Remake.

 

[lyan]

Square Enix have had accountants in charge for like a decade

They don't get gaming

Sack them and put Yoshi P in charge, I guarantee Square will be back on track

The accountants sure are doing a good job (for the shareholders) when despite not landing a single major hit in this fiscal year net sales is only down 6% from their all-time peak last year, so I don't see things to change.

 

[BootsLoader]

Pretty much all S-E related threads, whether its new FFXVI footage or a financials, you get an wave of bitter folks that look to spin a story of doom, so felt like pushing back a little given the company recorded a profit and not a big loss like some are trying to suggest.

I haven't played a single S-E game with mandatory of optional NFTs. Whatever these games are, I havent come across one of them. What are these NFT saddled games everyones upset about? I'd agree with pretty much all here that the company should abandon any NFT product line and divert most of their efforts to making the core franchises shine.

As for losing their charm, I can recognise the efforts they are putting into up and coming games, such as FFXVI and others and give them some praise, when compared to other publishers who are struggling to ship one competent game.

I think they still did not release nfts in any of their game but they said that they will focus on that which is already bad.
As for the praise, I will praise them once FFXVI is released and it is legit solid game. For now, FFXVI is just a promise for a good game.

 

[Eotheod]

Wonder if FFXVI will save them with how much they are doubling down on the stupid NFT shit and avoiding other platforms. Almost feels like the IP just shouldn't be with Square anymore, as they clearly can't run the publishing arm well.

 

[Three]

Not releasing your games to one platform is best way to not build a fan base.

Capcom does put their games on Xbox and their games sell a lot of copies on all platforms.

Can we please stop this. SE do put their games on xbox. Especially games that made sense, yet they still had to sell Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and co. They even tried an xbox release with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion.
Capcom don't put all their games on xbox in much the same way too. Was Monster Hunter Rise on xbox when it launched? No. Was SF5? No. Was Ace Attorney 2? No.

The only difference between Capcom and SE is that SE are financially more risk averse in development where a return isn't guaranteed. Capcom was in that situation not long ago but are doing great now thankfully.

 

[Danwan224]

Why are u splitting Xbox And PC market platforms? Once you have developed for pc, Xbox becomes just another spec'd PC.

No they don't

 

[Black_Stride]

You give them too much credit, They'll probably tripledown on the damn thing and wonder what went wrong.

Hahah you are probably right.
I dont get Square Enix decisions sometimes.....I dont think theres any serious firm right now that still thinks Blockchain and NFTs in gaming make any sense what so ever.....NFTs have gotten a bad rap after the multitude of rug pulls that happened towards the end of the hype train.
Gamers from the very start didnt want NFTs in games, the dream of moving NFTs from one game to the next is straight garbage why Square would be investing more in Blockchain technology now is a mystery.

 

[feynoob]

Can we please stop this. SE do put their games on xbox. Especially games that made sense, yet they still had to sell Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and co. They even tried an xbox release with Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion.
Capcom don't put all their games on xbox in much the same way too. Was Monster Hunter Rise on xbox when it launched? No. Was SF5? No. Was Ace Attorney 2? No.

The only difference between Capcom and SE is that SE are financially more risk averse in development where a return isn't guaranteed. Capcom was in that situation not long ago but are doing great now thankfully.

Sf5 wasn't it a full time exclusive on PS4? Monster hunter rise was timed to Nintendo.

That is Capcom doing regular business.

Square has yet to put ff7r on Xbox. Putting nichie side franchise isn't a good look, when you are denying main franchise. Considering that sale excuse doesn't work, while they are putting games like that.

As I said in previous post, it's Square's products. If they don't like putting their big games on Xbox, then that is fine. It's their properties. Folks like us can whine as much as we want to, it won't matter that much.

 

[Woopah]

Because quality will drop if they bleed money and eventually there is nothing left for Sony/Nintendo to get.

Results are down but this is still one of the best year's in SE's history. They aren't bleeding money or any real danger.

 

[SegaShack]

Yes, Microsoft is the gaming boogeyman that will ruin anything it touches.

Redfall Xbox was hands off and it was already in development before they were acquired.
Rare made Sea of Thieves which is now critically acclaimed
Tango made Hi-Fi Rush which has been critically acclaimed
Starfield is shaping up to look great.
Obsidian is making avowed which I'm assuming they are putting a lot of care and work into.

What's the problem? Microsoft isn't forcing developers to make stuff they wouldn't normally make. Phil said he is hands off when it comes to letting studios being creative. They make the games they want to.

I say this as someone who bought an XB1 on release day on 2013 and someone who used to love the original xbox, but your few examples don't make up for the many missteps they have and continue to have with first party developers.

Rare is still the biggest gut punch for me personally. Yes Sea of Thieves and Kinect Sports did well but that company used to be on par with Nintendo when it came to games.