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Square Enix booked 22.1 billion yen in development losses

update:2024-05-04

source:game8

source:Mia

In a statement to investors, Square Enix said it would revise its approach to PC and console game development and also announced a special loss of about 22.1 billion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2024. The reason for this particular list of losses is "obsoletion losses from content production", which is the cost of content production so far spent after the termination of the previous game development.

Square Enix booked 22.1 billion yen in development losses

At a board meeting held on March 27, Square Enix decided to revise the development policy for the HD game project, and based on this revised policy, it will review the game project currently in development. By the way, the HD (High Definition) games mentioned in this meeting mainly refer to home console games led by the DQ Dragon Quest series and Final Fantasy series. Large online games and mobile games are dealt with separately.

Although the publication did not mention the number of game projects suspended due to the review, only mentioned a special charge of about 22.1 billion yen in development cost loss, but in the social networking community, many people are worried that, for example, since the May 2021 publication, So far, there is no information on whether "Dragon Quest 12" is also among the affected projects.

Dragon Quest 12 is the final work of DQ series creator and cartoonist Akira Toriyama and series composer すぎやまこういち (椙 Koichi yama), and has attracted much attention since its release. However, in early April, several financial reports in Japan stated that the producers had made a change due to the delay in the development of the sequel, which caused concern about the current development progress of the game. According to foreign media reports, this wave of personnel changes appear to be part of Square Enix's large-scale organizational reorganization, which began on April 1.

In addition, Square Enix has been working on a number of titles since 2023, including Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy Pixel Remake, and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (FF7 rebirth). Although the sale continues to open hot information (such as "FF16" in the first week of the sale of the global cumulative sales of more than 3 million sets), but soon afterwards there is no relevant discussion, and there is no sense of the amazing momentum that has left and right the home console market share distribution in the past.

Takashi Kiryonoi, who became president of Square Enix in 2023, also pointed out the need for "selection and concentration." For example, in the accounting briefing held in November 23, Square Enix cited the current shortcomings of "project diversity" and "marketing". For example, although it has such a strong IP as DQ and FF, it can only rely on specific types to develop, and it is too heavy on content and ignores marketing in resource allocation.

Therefore, in order to improve the hit rate of new games, the official announced on April 30 that in HD games, "resources will be focused on the strict selection of new games, hoping to develop high-quality games" as part of the organization's reorganization and business strategy.

At the same time, although the official loss of about 22.1 billion yen, also said that it will reduce the future release of the game project, but the Japanese stock market on April 1, Square Enix's share price rose 5.14% from the original 5,718 yen to 6,012 yen. It shows that investors are more hopeful than disappointed that Square Enix can get back on its feet with this overhaul.

However, the fact that Square Enix has not publicly revealed which games have been cut in half is causing unease and discussion among the player community. Since Square Enix usually discloses the full financial accounts and medium-term business plan for the March 2023 period in mid-May, it is possible to publish subsequent new information at that time, which can be used as a reference for players. And May 27 coincides with Japan's "Dragon Quest Day" (May 27, 1986, the first generation of the series was released), so it is worth waiting to see what the latest intelligence about DQ will be released at that time, or whether there will be information about 12.

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