Tose has new projects and recovery plan in the works, despite huge losses 

Last week, major Japanese co-development company Tose reported a nine-month net loss of 367 million yen (over $2.2 million) (related article). The main factor behind this was clients cancelling games. Although this initial news seems bleak, Tose has outlined their recovery plan for the 2025 fiscal year onwards and has new game projects in the works. 

Previous games that Tose has worked on include Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion (pictured above), the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series, and Scarlet Nexus. However, recent losses from unnamed cancelled games have driven one of Japan’s largest commissioned developers to revise their profit forecasts and set a recovery plan in motion. 

As reported by GameBiz on July 10, Tose’s recovery plan has two main goals- to prevent losses from cancelled or postponed titles and to build up their profits by focusing on “high added value” projects. Regarding unprofitable and cancelled projects, Tose will tighten their rules to make it so that they are not left out of profit. They will do this by putting stronger limits on timeframes and costs, implementing agreement acceleration and introducing stricter rules for dealing with changes of plan during development. These steps make sense, especially considering the recent revelation that Tose does not expect to receive financial compensation for some of the game projects that were cancelled by clients over the last year, despite the losses incurred (related article).  

Tose will also focus on mitigating risk by working to increase trust between them and their existing clients, as well as seeking new clients to work with. They will also continue to diversify by working on more projects outside of game development. It is worth noting that Tose has also worked on IT infrastructure development and business-related apps, providing many other diverse services outside of game development. According to their website, Tose’s previous clients have come from a broad range of sectors (from universities to home electronics makers). In their recovery plan, they mention that they are due to set up a contract for system integration work with a new client. 

Tose report that they are currently working on three major “high added value” game development projects that are progressing smoothly. In addition to these three projects, Tose plans to launch another game development project between August 2024 and August 2025. By focusing on completing these projects to a high standard, the company expects its profits to recover to a certain extent by August 2025.