Square Enix Games Sales Forspoken

In news that's certain to shock absolutely no one, Forspoken — along with the glut of 'smaller' games that Square Enix released last year — did not meet the publisher's sales expectations. The company's stance on the matter is revealed in its latest business briefing (as reported by RPG Site), with current president Yosuke Matsuda delivering the disappointing news.

Matsuda says that "many of the new small and mid-sized titles we launched this [fiscal] year did not perform as well as we had expected". It's assumed that he's referring to the likes of The DioField Chronicle, Valkyrie Elysium, Star Ocean: The Divine Force, and maybe even Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion. The highly rated Tactics Ogre: Reborn might be on the list as well.

Meanwhile, Forspoken is called out by name in the report — but we all could have predicted that. The open world action RPG clearly had a big budget, but it was met with lukewarm reviews and, for the most part, player apathy when it launched back in January.

"Reviews of 'Forspoken', which we released on January 24, 2023, have been challenging," writes Matsuda. "Its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings," he continues. Ouch.

Now, we all know that Square Enix has a long history of being disappointed with sales figures. Perhaps most infamously, it essentially killed the Deus Ex series when Deus Ex: Mankind Divided didn't meet the publisher's lofty expectations. Developer Eidos Montreal would go on to make Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy — and that one didn't satisfy Square Enix either.

But it also feels like the publisher is incapable of making hit video games outside of obvious blockbusters like Final Fantasy VII Remake. It doesn't take a genius to tell that its scattershot approach in 2022 was probably a bad idea, with the likes of The DioField Chronicle, a new Valkyrie game, and a new Star Ocean game basically overlapping each other in the release schedule. It felt like none of those titles stood a chance of leaving any kind of impact.

We've said this multiple times already, but Square Enix better pray that Final Fantasy XVI is up to snuff — because outside of the ever-popular (and profitable) Final Fantasy XIV, the publisher has been far more miss than hit in recent times.

All hope is not lost, though. Near the end of the report, Matsuda says that we can all "look forward to the blockchain games we plan to launch in FY2024/3 and thereafter". We're sure that'll go down well!

What are your thoughts on the current Square Enix? Does any of this surprise you? Pour one out for all the lost sales in the comments section below.

[source hd.square-enix.com, via rpgsite.net]