Square Enix is planning a major internal restructure of its game development system, as reported by Bloomberg Japan. The news came directly from Representative Director and President Takashi Kiryu, who spoke at the financial results briefing for analysts held on Monday.
We are reviewing from scratch what the organizational structure is to materialize the contents of the pipeline and what is best. We will announce it at least this spring.
The goal is to improve the game quality as well as the profit margins of Square Enix titles. Among various tweaks, the Japanese publisher plans to introduce a new checking mechanism to judge the quality of a project at an earlier stage of game development. These changes should go live starting in the month of April.
Last Monday, Square Enix also reported less than impressive quarterly financial results:
At the HD (High-Definition) Game sub-segment, net sales for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2023 rose compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year due to the release of titles including “FINAL FANTASY XVI,” “FINAL FANTASY PIXEL REMASTER” and “DRAGON QUEST MONSTERS: The Dark Prince.”
In the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) Game sub-segment, net sales fell compared to the same period of the previous year. In the Games for Smart Devices/PC Browser sub-segment, net sales declined compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year as the June 2023 launch of “Dragon Quest Champions” and the September 2023 launch of “FINAL FANTASY VII EVER CRISIS” were unable to compensate for factors including weak performances by existing titles.
Net sales and operating income in the Digital Entertainment segment totaled ¥179,654 million (a decrease of 2.6％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year), and ¥30,715 million (a decrease of 20.7％ from the same period of the prior fiscal year), respectively.
Final Fantasy XVI underperformed compared to the expectations of Square Enix. However, the upcoming Final Fantasy VII Rebirth seems poised for success based on our latest hands-on.
