Square Enix is still working hard on indie/small-scale games, CEO says 

In the past fiscal year, Square Enix saw a 70% decline in net profit and posted an extraordinary loss of 22.1 billion yen after abandoning previously greenlit projects that were deemed unprofitable. This was followed by the announcement of a big change in policy – including a focus on quality over quantity and regular AAA releases. 

While this new mid-term business plan did include mention of “mid-class titles” too, the emphasis on “high-quality” and “AAA titles” caused people to wonder if Square Enix would be focusing solely on their major IPs at the expense of smaller, more experimental titles. In a recent shareholders’ meeting, Square Enix’s CEO Takashi Kiryu addressed this concern. 

According to independent journalist michsuzuki, when asked if the “quality over quantity” approach of the new business plan means no more indie games, Kiryu responded, “If we define ‘indie games’ as casual, small- to medium- scale games – we are working hard on these too. I can’t name specific titles at the moment, but our development pipeline does not only include major titles. Indie game development should not be ruled out.” 

Going from this statement, Square Enix’s new mid-term business plan appears to reflect Kiryu’s remarks from January this year. The CEO had suggested that Square Enix made a mistake in releasing too many titles that fall between AAA and indie, emphasizing a need to focus on major titles on one side, and small-scale casual indies (like PowerWash Simulator) on the other.

Incidentally, the same shareholders’ question also included an inquiry as to how many AAA titles Square Enix intends to release per year, but Kiryu did not provide a figure, instead explaining that the company is prioritizing making well-timed releases, rather than achieving a specific yearly quota. He notes that Square Enix’s past sales strategies had resulted in games cannibalizing each other. They intend to prevent this from happening again by focusing on the timing of new releases.