Square Enix Financial statement: DT 42m USD DOWN

[BabyYoda]

Financial statement here:

https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/i...4q4outline.pdf

“FINAL FANTASY XIV: Dawntrail” marked the start
of a new scenario for the sub-segment and that that is our first post-pandemic expansion pack release, we will need to monitor
trends there closely, but we expect to see a stable trend in the sub-segment’s profits.

[CVXIV]

the mogstation team needs to step up their game

[NegativeS]

FFXIV continues to be Square's only consistent source of profit, resources will continue to be drained to projects so garbage their engine won't start, let alone get off the ground. In other news, grass green, sky blue, nothing ever changes, please get this game off my computer. I'll take Blizzard back at this point, please god I beg you give me an MMO dev who cares about their game.

[TDawnstar]

I'll take Blizzard back at this point, please god I beg you give me an MMO dev who cares about their game.

Can't do that, apparently developing MMOs comes with a propensity of shooting oneself in the foot.

[IvoryHawk]

wo00mp wo00mp

[PercibelTheren]

I don't understand what they're doing. FFXIV is their golden goose and seemingly has been for a long time. I would expect them to be trying to make it the shiniest, most successful game they can in order to rake in the biggest profits they can. Instead, this golden goose is slowly being starved while resources are put into failed projects, NFTs and other stupid stuff. Why? What am I missing?

[lolnotacat]

I don't understand what they're doing. FFXIV is their golden goose and seemingly has been for a long time. I would expect them to be trying to make it the shiniest, most successful game they can in order to rake in the biggest profits they can. Instead, this golden goose is slowly being starved while resources are put into failed projects, NFTs and other stupid stuff. Why? What am I missing?

I worked at another game company that did this pre-pandemic. Our CEO went as hard as he could with blockchain projects despite having 0 longterm plans for profitability utilizing them. We suspect he planned on getting dudebros onboard to invest because "blockchain bro" and "crypto bro" and trying to figure out monetization later. We had multiple very successful mobile games which were each pulling in over $1m revenue daily and all that money was being dumped into failed crypto projects. To keep the projects going, he pretty much demanded players be milked for every last cent they had, causing them to eventually all quit within a few short months. The stupid blockchain stuff didn't stop until he was finally ousted by the board, but by then the damage had been done.

As far as Square goes, my guess is that they have some people in management that initially directed the company towards NFTs and other stupid projects and are so heavily invested in them, they refuse to change course because it would be their heads/jobs on the chopping block. So they'd rather run the ship onto the reefs, get canned and (probably) get some sort of golden parachute.

[Catwho]

I worked at another game company that did this pre-pandemic. Our CEO went as hard as he could with blockchain projects despite having 0 longterm plans for profitability utilizing them. We suspect he planned on getting dudebros onboard to invest because "blockchain bro" and "crypto bro" and trying to figure out monetization later. We had multiple very successful mobile games which were each pulling in over $1m revenue daily and all that money was being dumped into failed crypto projects. To keep the projects going, he pretty much demanded players be milked for every last cent they had, causing them to eventually all quit within a few short months. The stupid blockchain stuff didn't stop until he was finally ousted by the board, but by then the damage had been done.

As far as Square goes, my guess is that they have some people in management that initially directed the company towards NFTs and other stupid projects and are so heavily invested in them, they refuse to change course because it would be their heads/jobs on the chopping block. So they'd rather run the ship onto the reefs, get canned and (probably) get some sort of golden parachute.

So many mobile games are overworked, overthought, overgraphical pieces of junk that aren't any fun to play and don't do anything new or interesting. I get bored after 5 levels. The new Monster Hunter Now is a prime example.

In the meantime, I'm playing a Chinese grinder called Fitness RPG from an actual indie game studio that feels like if someone took FF1's core battle design, wrote a new story for it, hooked it up to Fitbit/Apple Watch, and let 'er rip. It's a freemium game that isn't in your face. The ads are voluntary and unobtrusive. I've enjoyed it so much that I've actually sent them $10 for their little monthly "battle pass" a couple of times. Did I mention you level grind your characters by walking? It's the most fun I've had with a mobile game since Pokémon Go first came out in 2016.

[Alice_Rivers]

What am I missing?

You're missing that modern corporations love shiny trends and hate money.

[Raven2014]

I don't understand what they're doing. FFXIV is their golden goose and seemingly has been for a long time. I would expect them to be trying to make it the shiniest, most successful game they can in order to rake in the biggest profits they can. Instead, this golden goose is slowly being starved while resources are put into failed projects, NFTs and other stupid stuff. Why? What am I missing?

I think there is an element that people often not consider and that's hubris.

FF14 is old money now, and no matter how successful it is, it's not the baby or brain child of the leadership any more. Every time a new leadership come in, they all desperate want to put their own mark, their own stamp, their own project on the legacy. And a lot of time this means swept aside anything that was before them, regardless of how much sense it would make. And you see this happen pretty much everywhere.

If you compare this to say ... Hoyoverse. The games are basically the CEOs (they have co CEO) brain child, so they all lock in and push hard. Genshin and Honka's event you have the CEOs and leadership team get on stage to address the fan themselves. Comparing to that ... when was the last time you see anyone from SE's leadership team beside a tired Yoshi dress up for the event. And tbh, I think even Yoshi himself probably not interest in the game any more. He's getting a point where I feel he wants his own legacy now. FF14 is a game that he saved, but he wasn't the one conceived it, wouldn't suprise if deep down he wants to work on a new MMO that he personally create.


What we see with FF14 is when a child, despite being very successful, is not the parent's favorite.