Opinion: What Is Square Enix Doing?

If you are a fan of massive JRPG experiences, it is likely that Square Enix is one of your favorite publishers. The Japanese market is flush with talented studios and publishers that make a wide variety of games. Yet it is hard to deny the influence that the company has had on gaming as a whole with massive franchises such as Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Dragon Quest, and many more. They not only created legendary franchises but they have helped create and publish new memorable experiences such as Octopath Traveler, Bravely Default, and more. In terms of creation, Square Enix is possibly one of the most prolific publishers in the gaming market.

However, there have been unique problems and decisions that the company has been facing over the past few years that have raised some fans’ eyebrows. From a completely inconsistent platform release pattern for games to a promise to plunge into the world of NFTs while liquidating its Western assets. This is not even mentioning the poor marketing of some of its non-Final Fantasy titles. Creativity seems to be alive and well at Square Enix, but the decisions by its upper executive team are just nonsensical.

Illogical Limited Platform Releases

There are plenty of vocal Xbox fans who have vented their frustration with Square Enix’s releases often skipping the platform. Quite often it was believed that PlayStation was paying to keep Square Enix’s games off of Xbox. While exclusivity deals exist for major games such as the Final Fantasy VII Remake series, in the past year not even PlayStation can avoid Square Enix’s weird release pattern. Perhaps the most nonsensical upcoming release is Octopath Traveler II a highly anticipated sequel to the 2018 JRPG. Octopath Traveler originally launched on PC and Nintendo Switch. Then a few years later the title came to Xbox platforms as well as Xbox Game Pass. To this day, the title is still not available on PlayStation platforms, which is an oddity, to say the least.

Fast forward to 2023, Octopath Traveler II is set to release on February 24th and is coming to PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation. In a bizarre move, Octopath Traveler II is skipping Xbox but will be released on PlayStation platforms. This means Xbox players will be missing out on this highly anticipated sequel at launch. While PlayStation players will be playing a sequel to a game that is not available on their platform of choice. This is a completely nonsensical decision from Square Enix. They are creating demand for a sequel on a platform they do not support at launch. As well as putting a sequel on a platform that does not have access to the original game that kicked off this series. Could there be deals made behind the scene to cause this to happen? Maybe, but it seems highly unlikely. For single platform owners who are fans of Square Enix games, these moves can be frustrating as you never know what platform a game may or may not be coming to.

Going All In On NFT

In the past two years, we have seen letters from Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda clearly stating that Square Enix is heavily investing in NFTs. Just this past week we got more information about their massive NFT-focused turn-based title called Symbiogenesis. This NFT-focused turn-based strategy title supposedly boasts over 10,000 pieces of digital collectible art. Fans of Square Enix have been critical of Square Enix’s focus on the unproven WEB3 games market which has found almost no mainstream success. This criticism became even more fierce after Square Enix liquidated their Western studios to Embracer Group for $300 million. This saw studios such as Crystal Dynamics, Eidos Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal transfer ownership to the massive European publisher Embracer Group. Fans instantly criticized Square Enix stating that they liquidated these studios in order to throw more money into their WEB3 ambitions. While that has never been fully confirmed the timing is suspicious, to say the least.

Fan criticism seemed to fall on deaf ears as Square Enix shares rose by 8% with the announcement in 2023 that this would be a transformative year with their blockchain technology. I understand business is filled with tough decisions to be made, but Square’s decisions feel tone-deaf at best. Inflating your stock price by using buzzwords that make investors believe that you are “ahead of the curve” in terms of technological advances doesn’t help you sell games. Multi-millionaire investors will pull out the moment these WEB3 games fail. This will cause a domino effect that could cause massive problems for Square Enix in the long run. While the company had challenges in finding an audience with some of its Western Studios games, to think dumping a ton of money into WEB3 is a safer move is just inept at this point. Especially after the massive crash that Crypto saw in 2022, which saw the market diminish by billions in just a few months.

A Challenging Road Ahead For Square Enix

Final Fantasy has long been a bread-and-butter franchise for Square Enix. Final Fantasy XIV has been a dominant force in the MMO market. It even overtook World Of Warcraft when its Endwalker expansion was released in 2021. However, aside from the MMO, Square Enix has no real recurring revenue game. It’s not from a lack of trying to jump into the market. Babylon’s Fall which was developed by Platinum Games and marketed heavily by PlayStation was a big opportunity to add another service game to their library. However, after a massively lackluster launch with a steep $70 price tag, the game famously flopped and development was stopped just over a year later.

This leaves Square Enix to rely heavily on the Final Fantasy IP and the MMO to keep the money rolling in. While Final Fantasy is still a massively successful IP, it is important that Square Enix gives the teams developing these titles time to develop and advance the IP. As well as balancing releases because if they oversaturate their releases with Final Fantasy titles, stagnation will lead to declining sales. Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth will undoubtedly be massive titles for the publisher. But it is becoming increasingly important to fill in the blanks between these big releases with a variety of different titles.

Quality is not something Square Enix seems to struggle with. Thought like many publishers they do have some games that miss the mark. Square Enix has had a wealth of games released just in 2022 alone. Games such as Diofield Chronicle, Valkriye Elysium, Live a Live, and Triangle Strategy. Those are just a handful of the games that Square Enix published last year. However, marketing these titles is something that has seemingly fallen to the wayside. While JRPGs are more niche than say Fortnite and GTA V, they still have a loving audience who is always hungering for more. Whether it’s a more Tactics-style gameplay, turn-based, or action, the thirst for incredible JRPGs has never been higher.

Outside of Final Fantasy, however, Square Enix does not seem interested much in marketing these games. Aside from launch trailers and announcement trailers, there is very little done to promote their diverse catalog of titles. The most hardcore of fans will be keeping an eye out for these games. Meanwhile, the more casual audience will most likely never hear about these games. With the mainstream success of JRPGs like Final Fantasy, Persona, and more, there has never been a better time for Square Enix to take a risk. They need to put some massive marketing pushes behind some of their smaller titles. Word-of-mouth marketing has been a big help for games over the past few years. However, Square cannot continue to rely on its fans to do its marketing for them. If Square Enix can take financial risk in NFT games, they can risk putting more marketing behind some of their more niche titles.

Great Games Being Lost In Questionable Business

Square Enix continues to be one of the most prolific and consistent publishers in Japan. However, as the industry continues to evolve, the corporate leadership of the publisher leaves more concern than confidence. The content roadmap for the next two years looks fantastic for the publisher. Final Fantasy XVI and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth are just around the corner. But, fingers crossed that corporate leadership doesn’t lose focus on why people purchase their games chasing unproven trends like NFT blockchain games.