Square Enix says it’s “slimming down” its lineup of multiple different projects in order to focus its development efforts on the quality of its games rather than the quantity. In a surprising moment of clarity by the publisher, Square Enix says that it’s not always hitting its targets with so many projects going out on the market.
To make the process smoother, Square Enix is seemingly refocusing its efforts on delivering quality over quantity, which is good news. Over the past few years, the publisher dabbled in several projects that were more misses than hits. Marvel’s Avengers, Babylon’s Fall and Forspoken were notorious releases – the former two shut down its online servers forever while the latter under-performed critically and commercially, leading to developer Luminous Productions being absorbed into the company.
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Square Enix was also back and forth about whether or not it considered last year’s Final Fantasy XVI a success, despite garnering strong reviews and plenty of award nominations. On the bright side, the company has high hopes for its next major release, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
Speaking in a recent investor’s call, Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu noted:
“I want to structure our development function so that we are able to ensure higher quality from each title by slimming down our lineup. We have tried to produce hits by developing a wide variety of titles rather than by focusing only on certain ones. I believe that this has resulted in the splintering of our resource pool. Meanwhile, there have been clear winners and losers among the major titles released recently in the gaming market, and it has become possible for even indie titles to make their presence felt.”
“The market is increasingly polarised between blockbuster and indie titles, but I feel that we have developed many titles that fell somewhere in the middle,” Kiryu added. “I want to make clearer distinctions going forward.”
Source: Kotaku
