Kokoloko85
Member
Shame one of the classic publishers is going to sell. Don’t like where gaming is going in this regard
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Square Enix has reportedly confirmed it’s ‘looking to sell stakes’ in its studios
- Thread starter Lunatic_Gamer
- Start date
- News Business
Badlucktroll
Member
Why doesn’t Konami sell its IPs if it doesnt make them anymore?
lyan
Member
I mean the only other option they have is to scrap Babylon Fall for another scalebound (or likely similar, granblue relink). Platinum had worked on it for 5 years already so chances are SE already tried giving it more time in the oven.
SkylineRKR
Member
This baffles me too. Perhaps they want to sit on it for merch and slot machines or something but they could outsource MGS and the like. Outsourced to a competent studio, an MGS game would sell millions.
PhaseJump
Banned
Because owning Bomberman is too badass to give up.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Smart move.
I can see why the stock has gone up.
They arent selling out.
Basically they are getting rid of their CD/E cuz those games were eating into what they consider their core business, said games were also cannibalizing their other games. They feel Tomb Raider/Deus Ex games were taking attention away from Square Enix games, they feel they could better use the money they are spending on those studios to further core games.
So theyve decided to let those studios go.
At the same time they want to give outside sources a chance to buy stake in their remaing studios which will leave Square Enix flush with cash and for lack of a better word time to focus on making what are traditionally called Square Enix games.
With these stakes in mind, you could see games/studios that are Sony/Tencent/MS/Whoever x Square Enix at which point that game and/or studio is partially(or fully) funded by Sony/Tencent/MS so Square Enix arent taking the full brunt of the constantly rising development costs.
We dont know which studios will be staked out and to whom, and theres still a chance entirely new divisions could be created that are joint ventures between companies.
Its just a sign of the times when even relatively large companies are thinking damn games cost way too much to make, we need to be splitting the bill with someone.
This is not that indifferent to what happens in the car industry where companies just agree to work together cuz doing it alone costs too much.
Toyotas Supra is basically a BMW Z4.
BRZ/GT86 twins are a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse and Eagle Talon were developed as diamond star motors a Chrysler/Mitsubishi collabo.
There are many more examples.
Square is actually being smart doing it like this so they dont get outright bought out, if any of the big 3 have any sizeable stake in their studios itll be near impossible to have them give that stake up, so no one will really be able to control Square.
I can see why the stock has gone up.
What?
Again I think you people dont understand what is being said.
They arent selling out.
Basically they are getting rid of their CD/E cuz those games were eating into what they consider their core business, said games were also cannibalizing their other games. They feel Tomb Raider/Deus Ex games were taking attention away from Square Enix games, they feel they could better use the money they are spending on those studios to further core games.
So theyve decided to let those studios go.
At the same time they want to give outside sources a chance to buy stake in their remaing studios which will leave Square Enix flush with cash and for lack of a better word time to focus on making what are traditionally called Square Enix games.
With these stakes in mind, you could see games/studios that are Sony/Tencent/MS/Whoever x Square Enix at which point that game and/or studio is partially(or fully) funded by Sony/Tencent/MS so Square Enix arent taking the full brunt of the constantly rising development costs.
We dont know which studios will be staked out and to whom, and theres still a chance entirely new divisions could be created that are joint ventures between companies.
Its just a sign of the times when even relatively large companies are thinking damn games cost way too much to make, we need to be splitting the bill with someone.
This is not that indifferent to what happens in the car industry where companies just agree to work together cuz doing it alone costs too much.
Toyotas Supra is basically a BMW Z4.
BRZ/GT86 twins are a joint venture between Subaru and Toyota.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse and Eagle Talon were developed as diamond star motors a Chrysler/Mitsubishi collabo.
There are many more examples.
Square is actually being smart doing it like this so they dont get outright bought out, if any of the big 3 have any sizeable stake in their studios itll be near impossible to have them give that stake up, so no one will really be able to control Square.
I dunno, they could release fantastic titles like Live A Live and Triangle Strategy. Both released this year.
But what do I know, I just played those games, not like that can compete with your "oh but forget those quality games because there was this one really bad game" line of thought.
MasterCornholio
Member
Well Microsoft didn’t step in for Final Fantasy. Makes me wonder if there’s more to these deals than just money.
Mister Wolf
Member
Time for Microsoft to slide through.
LavitzSlambert
Member
Don’t you dare bring intelligence to this discussion. Just let everyone assume “uhhhnga bunga... MS/Sony acquire other.... uh.... also acquire Square-Enix...”
I like this move a lot. It’s clear they were pouring a lot of money and effort chasing bullshit Marvel IPs and other things to expand their western influence. But if you look at the whole picture, western audiences love SE for their Japanese teams’ games. This whole strategy they’ve had feels very Microsoft 360 era, where they failed terribly in their attempt to garner market share in Japan and lost a ton of money in doing so.
TheGodfather07
Member
yeah but if we talking about aquisitions, than sony will be on everyones minds by default. i doubt anyone is thinking nintendo even if they do have 6 exclusives with square enix.
MasterCornholio
Member
If anything Final Fantasy is a pretty big deal for Sony. I mean they did negotiate with Square over FF7 Remake, FF7 Rebirth and FF16.
Mibu no ookami
Member
That probably refers to Marvel's Avengers and Forspoken. The similarities between Frey Holland and Kamala Khan can't be understated.
Would love to know the story and timeline as to when/how the Forspoken character was designed and when Kamala Khan was made the primary character in Marvel's Avengers.
Not defending Forspoken in the least, but obviously, Square Enix has put money and resources into it and it's a trainwreck similar to Marvel's Avengers. To take an L on both games is probably something they can't abide. Making matters worse is the iteration of Ms Marvel in the MCU.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Final Fantasy is more important to Sony today than it is Nintendo.
But overall significantly less important than it was 15-20 years ago.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Yo what?
Similarities between Kamala Khan and Frey?
Beyond them being both female and non white they dont really have anything in common.
And the games are so spread apart in terms of release date they wouldnt really affect each other.
Its more about when they need to spend on marketing or development of one title, and another title is taking up capital.
As the parent company of the studios thye have to kinda be fair and figure out release dates and stuff....if the game isnt under their wing they can focus capital on maybe one major AAA game a year with a bunch of smaller titles and joint ventures through out.
Ohh and as for how they designed Frey.
They got Ella to stand still and took pictures of her:
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
You mean when they started chasing beautiful graphics and huge ambitious games with high scope?
Yes, releasing FF VIII, IX, X and XI within 3 years is of course comparable to the way things are done now.
Mibu no ookami
Member
Yo what?
Similarities between Kamala Khan and Frey?
Beyond them being both female and non white they dont really have anything in common.
And the games are so spread apart in terms of release date they wouldnt really affect each other.
Its more about when they need to spend on marketing or development of one title, and another title is taking up capital.
As the parent company of the studios thye have to kinda be fair and figure out release dates and stuff....if the game isnt under their wing they can focus capital on maybe one major AAA game a year with a bunch of smaller titles and joint ventures through out.
Ohh and as for how they designed Frey.
They got Ella to stand still and took pictures of her:
Both have magic gauntlets and the MCU version has many of the same powers as Frey.
The game was originally going to come out May 2022, so significantly closer, and closer to the MCU property on Disney+
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
Right, so they were chasing huge ambitious beautiful games. Which is what i quoted.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
What the what?
Marvels The Avengers Kamala Khan uses the comic version of her powers.
Beyond costumes and names MCU Kamala Khan shares basically nothing with Marvels The Avengers Kamala Khan.
Frey is literally just a magical spell caster in her game. Like basically every other spell casters.
MCU Ms Marvel is a Green Lantern....but Purple.
How are they the same?
P.S What does the MCU have to do with Square Enix?
bender
What time is it?
Woopah
Member
I think they should be though. I can see Sony buying a stake in Luminous and Nintendo buying a stake in Team Asano.
Gamer_By_Proxy
Member
I would like some steaks
Mibu no ookami
Member
Seems like you didn't read what I said. I said the characters have similarities and the MCU version doesn't help. The primary power shown in the game is being able to traverse through the air. They clearly think that there is cannibalization happening, and I don't necessarily blame them depending on how that went down.
Black_Stride
do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
I did and I still dont agree.
Frey runs and jumps, thats the traversal they have shown.
Her primary power is magic and spellcasting, of which they have shown a good number of spells she can do.
Nothing like the Avengers game.
Game Kamala can stretch her limbs.
MCU Kamala is a green lantern.
Game Kamala is a melee fighter.
Frey.....i dont even know if she has melee.
What similarities are you talking about exactly?
The games Square is worried about is the likes of Tomb Raider, whether people like it or not Tomb Raider costs alot to make/market and gets a lot of mindshare whenever a new one is near, shes frikken Lara Croft.....how is Square supposed to market their new protagonist when they also need to announce and market the new Tomb Raider game.
The capital cannibalization statement isnt about games being similar or whatever you are trying to get at, its about Square needing to spend capital making, supporting and marketing games in the west as such that capital is on hold so new projects in Japan "suffer".
Because, they own the studios they have to give them work, they have to pay them to do something, they want to use that money to do other things, which is why its easier for them just to get rid of the studios instead of turning them into support studios (considering Crystal and Eidos support each other so much already they basically gotta go as a package deal)
They dont feel CD/E are adding to their portfolio but their games still eat a sizeable portion of their dev capital, regardless of how profitable.
Think about it, before Forspoken even came out a new Tomb Raider was announced, Eidos is supposedly working on multiple projects, thats all capital Square feels they could utilize with their Japan studios instead.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Bringing this back from the dead to report that (obviously), it was all gross mistranslations and misinterpretations, with Square Enix's statements distorted beyond recognition.
The official transcript just came out and it's here:
https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/pdf/23q1outline.pdf
Basically:
1: No. Square Enix didn't sell western studios due to concern that they'd cannibalize sales of Japanese games, but simply to be more focused on allocating their own investment resources mostly to its Japanese games (honestly, who didn't see this coming? That it was a misquote is obvious like the sun).
2: No. Square Enix doesn't intend to sell stakes in its current studios. They intend to *additionally* form joint ventures and take minority stakes in studios instead of purchasing them outright to hedge investment risks.
There are major websites that have published articles with the grossly misquoted statements included in this thread. Will they bother correcting them? I don't know. Will they learn the lesson (that should be obvious) that using tweets as sources without verification is a terrible idea? I doubt it. They haven't in the past.
I won't name names, but if you want a good "list of shame" of the outlets that didn't hesitate to publish these horribly distorted misquotes, just do a search on Google for "Square Enix cannibalize" and have fun. Big names there.
The official transcript just came out and it's here:
https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/pdf/23q1outline.pdf
Basically:
1: No. Square Enix didn't sell western studios due to concern that they'd cannibalize sales of Japanese games, but simply to be more focused on allocating their own investment resources mostly to its Japanese games (honestly, who didn't see this coming? That it was a misquote is obvious like the sun).
2: No. Square Enix doesn't intend to sell stakes in its current studios. They intend to *additionally* form joint ventures and take minority stakes in studios instead of purchasing them outright to hedge investment risks.
There are major websites that have published articles with the grossly misquoted statements included in this thread. Will they bother correcting them? I don't know. Will they learn the lesson (that should be obvious) that using tweets as sources without verification is a terrible idea? I doubt it. They haven't in the past.
I won't name names, but if you want a good "list of shame" of the outlets that didn't hesitate to publish these horribly distorted misquotes, just do a search on Google for "Square Enix cannibalize" and have fun. Big names there.
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Current SE is shit and mediocre, Sony would help them realize their potential and bring back the glory days of Squaresoft.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
LOL.
Actually, the current Square Enix (Japan) is awesome. They have a gazillion promising JRPGs coming between this year and early 2023.
Now that they've trimmed the fat, it'll be even better.
On the other hand, considering what Sony did with its own JRPG IPs and Japanese developers, they're the least suitable company to purchase SE. Which they won't, because SE clearly isn't selling anyway.
Punished Miku
Gold Member
Yeah my issue with SQEX currently is trying to find time to even play all their games this year.
Fuz
Banned
They've already been dead for a decade at least.
FalsettoVibe
Member
Interestingly, if your interpretation is true, then it still doesn't eliminate the possibility of them being acquired as a whole (with independence). It would simply mean that they are not interested in 100% investment into future studios.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
I really hope Microsoft buys all of Square Enix.
1. It would mean all their games come to PC day 1, none of this timed exclusive bullshit + seemingly random choice of which games come to which platform.
2. Man, the meltdown here would be more entertaining than any video game. Just imagining all the “sour grapes” posts… it warms my heart.
1. It would mean all their games come to PC day 1, none of this timed exclusive bullshit + seemingly random choice of which games come to which platform.
2. Man, the meltdown here would be more entertaining than any video game. Just imagining all the “sour grapes” posts… it warms my heart.
FF:Enhanced_Reality
Member
Uncle Phil will be in there like a shot according to some of these forum members.
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
Jesus Christ...have you seen Square-Enix game releases since this year started and what's coming? They are on fire honestly.
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
It's not "my interpretation." It's literally the official word of Square Enix. Black on white on their investor website.
Both in English and in Japanese. There is no interpretation here.
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ChorizoPicozo
Member
Square Enix is shit and you know it.
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
If you look at this list and your answer is "Square-Enix is shit" then i can't help you. Maybe you just don't like the games they make.
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Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Talk about being completely out of touch.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
It is though. If you look at Square Enix and compared to Square Soft. Square Enix is just shit, after shit
Abriael_GN
RSI Employee of the Year
Thanks for confirming that you're completely out of touch.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
Shit after shit. If you look at this list and then see Square soft's track record you will see what I'm talking.
Square Enix totally mediocre, lack of vision milking franchises to oblivion. Big yikes all around.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
I'm more in touch with reality than you. That is for sure.
Tiago Rodrigues
Member
ChorizoPicozo
Member
You will hate video games after playing the bastardization Square Enix did with FF
.DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Did you really come into this thread just to share your “Square Enix isn’t as good as Squaresoft” hot take?You will hate video games after playing the bastardization Square Enix did with FF
Jesus dude, it’s been like 20 years. I hope your shitposting helps you to find closure.
ChorizoPicozo
Member
Will see with FFXVI.
nocsi
Member
So basically FF14 is carrying the entire company on its back while yoko taro makes card jrpg games (very fun).