Square Enix recently released the Outline of Results Briefing from February 3, 2023. This briefing gives some clarity into the company’s results & impressions from their recent releases. Unsurprisingly, it seems like they’ve been mostly disappointed so far.
The meat and potatoes was their impressions of FORSPOKEN, regarding which they said: “Reviews of FORSPOKEN, which we released on January 24, 2023, have been challenging.” It’s also mentioned that the sales have been “lackluster,” and it’s pretty easy to see that those two things go hand-in-hand. Square Enix did seem optimistic about positive feedback it got regarding “its parkour and combat capabilities,” though. I would guess this means more gameplay like FORSPOKEN, but less talking cuff.
Another disappointment mentioned in the briefing is the performance of “small- and mid-sized titles.” They never really seem to get more specific, but it’s fairly easy to posit a few guesses as to what these titles could be. Harvestella, The DioField Chronicle, and Valkyrie Elysium all come to mind. Basically, the games you probably saw at a Nintendo Direct or State of Play and never thought about again.
Don’t worry about Square Enix after these disappointing results, though! They have a plan! Coming in a Q&A session at the end of the briefing, when talking about how to expect growth in future fiscal years, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda ended his answer with this:
“We also hope that you will look forward to the blockchain games we plan to launch in FY2024/3 and thereafter.”
So, uh… yeah! I guess that even after the current disaster that NFT video games are, Square Enix sees it as a plot of potential growth. Let’s just hope that whatever the third part of Final Fantasy 7 Remake is, we don’t have to grab our own NFTs of Cloud’s Buster Sword.
