Square Enix, the company behind the highly popular Final Fantasy franchise, is moving away from exclusives and will aggressively adopt a multiplatform strategy following record losses.
The move comes after the company reported its financial performance for the financial year ending Mar. 31, 2024, sales in the Digital Entertainment segment. This includes video games which was found to have risen by 2.6% but it was recorded that profit fell by 15.8%.
Square Enix's New Multiplatform Strategy
(Photo : Yuichi YAMAZAKI, AFP, Getty Images / Screenshot taken from official website)
The situation comes despite the sale of Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster, Foamstars, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
Specifically looking at HD games, which is the subcategory that Square Enix uses to encompass the previously listed games, the company recorded an operating loss of roughly $51.9 million.
In the company's financial report, it revealed that it has suffered from an "incomplete journey to better profitability in HD game development." It added that this is despite launching many titles, which some failed to live up to profit expectations, particularly outsourced titles and AAA titles, according to IGN.
With this, Square Enix announced what it calls "Square Enix Reboots, and Awakens," which is a three-year plan for rebooting for long-term growth. This would involve a rethink across all parts of the business.
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However, the highlight is a "shift to a multiplatform strategy" and the company said that it will "aggressively pursue" it. This would involve various platforms such as Nintendo devices, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs.
As part of this new plan, Square Enix said that it will "build an environment where more customers can enjoy our titles in regards to major franchises and AAA titles," including catalog titles. This suggests that mainline Final Fantasy games will no longer be PlayStation exclusives moving forward.
Failing To Meet Expectations
The latest announcement comes as Square Enix was also reported to be undergoing a round of layoffs. It was said that the video game publisher was planning to let go of an unconfirmed number of workers across its United States and European businesses, said The Verge.
Industry analysts speculated earlier this year that Square Enix's most recent game, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, did not sell as well as the company expected. The publisher itself did not share any sales data for the title despite doing so for Final Fantasy 16, Final Fantasy 15, and Final Fantasy VII Remake.
It is not only Square Enix that is discussing if platform exclusivity can work at all at scale anymore in modern times.
This comes as Xbox has already started a controversial shift toward publishing its games on rival console platforms. On the other hand, Sony is now in the process of discovering the massive audience that is available if it becomes a multiplatform publisher.
Other points of Square Enix's latest plan also include a "shift from quantity to quality" from a publisher that has been known to flood the market with smaller title releases. It is said that the plan is to "regularly release AAA titles" in the company's major franchises, according to Polygon.
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