{"id":25798,"date":"2024-01-19T11:49:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T02:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=25798"},"modified":"2024-01-19T11:49:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T02:49:46","slug":"20240119-25798","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20240119-25798\/","title":{"rendered":"Square Enix regrets making too many games that fall between AAA and indie, plans to \u201cnarrow down\u201d lineup\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a recent shareholders\u2019 briefing, Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu commented that the company has produced too many titles that \u201cfall somewhere between\u201d AAA and indie games. He disclosed that Square Enix plans to narrow down their lineup in the future, while focusing on making a clear distinction between AAA and indie titles.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Square Enix recently released a summary of a shareholders\u2019 briefing<\/a> held on November 7, 2023. On this occasion, Kiryu spoke of the current issues Square Enix is facing, as well as the measures they plan to take in response. Answering a shareholder\u2019s question about achieving sustainable growth, Kiryu commented that, due to the strength of IPs such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, Square Enix has been \u201ctoo dependent\u201d on specific types of games and genres, causing a lack of diversity in their portfolio.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kiryu explains that consumer preferences have been growing increasingly diverse in terms of genres, and that it\u2019s not just major\/AAA titles that are popular. As an example, he cites Square Enix\u2019 2021 casual indie release PowerWash Simulator, which has \u201caccumulated steady revenue\u201d even though it is an outlier. To tackle the issue of diversity, Square Enix will focus on strengthening their in-house development system, even considering inorganic growth options such as mergers\/acquisitions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another tendency of the market that Kiryu notes is the \u201cpolarization\u201d occurring between major and indie titles. AAA titles are becoming increasingly competitive (which he describes as a \u201csurvival of the fittest situation\u201d), but indie games are also growing in significance in their own way.  On the other hand, as Kiryu comments, Square Enix has been making too many titles that are neither AAA nor indie. Working on an overly wide lineup of titles has caused their \u201cresources to become scattered,\u201d which is why they plan to narrow it down, focusing on major and indie titles in a distinct manner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides concentrating their resources on fewer titles of higher quality, Kiryu also mentions Square Enix\u2019s plans to allocate more resources towards marketing. Marketing had apparently not been prioritized enough due to the strength of core IPs such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu commented that the company has been making too many titles that \u201cfall somewhere between\u201d AAA and indie games, and will be focusing on fewer and more high quality titles in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":25803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-25798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nSquare Enix regrets making too many games that fall between AAA and indie, plans to \u201cnarrow down\u201d lineup\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Square Enix CEO Takashi Kiryu commented that the company has been making too many titles that \u201cfall somewhere between\u201d AAA and indie games, and will be focusing on fewer and more high quality titles in the future.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20240119-25798\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Square Enix regrets making too many games that fall between AAA and indie, plans to \u201cnarrow down\u201d lineup\u00a0 - 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