SquareEnix Chops Off Head

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-26-square-enix-boss-leaves-as-company-announces-extraordinary-loss

Squareenix has axed its president however despite the EG link it seems its due to the costs of restructure. They mention poor performance of games in the West as a reason but Squares big games of the last 12 months such as Hitman, Tomb Raider and Sleeping Dogs have all performed well unless anyone can think of a big bomb I've forgotten. The next twelve months is stuff like the relaunch of FFXIV and Lightning Returns which I think will cause Square much more woe than this years line up as XIII sagas well is dry and I don't see XIV wowing despite the fixes.

[MisterBubbles]

Everything SE has made in the last 3 years has been crap, and it's the western devs ( which they bought) that have been doing great things, im pretty sure SE better days are long gone.

[djtickle]

Always sad to hear of people losing there jobs as SE have done some great things in the past. It has been a mess though over the last few years.

Strange no word on the new FF11 expansion that's out very soon. Being in the 14 closed beta at the moment I have faith in how this might help them turn things around. Its excellent.

As well as Tomb Raider being very good too, hopefully things are on the up for them. (Fingers crossed for Versus 13)

[nakamura]

Everything SE has made in the last 3 years has been crap, and it's the western devs ( which they bought) that have been doing great things, im pretty sure SE better days are long gone.

I absolutely agree. I had said for a long time that the 3DS and even Vita is ripe for Square to update their old games with new visuals and control interfaces at little cost with a big return.

Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D was immense and better than the original. Vagrant Story et al could all go under the same change. With the installed user base in Japan being so high, I think it would be a money spinner.

[teddymeow]

Wow! First Riccitiello and now Wada.

We should start a sweepstake on which publisher MD goes next.

Iwata maybe if the WiiU keeps underperforming?

Kotick when the next CoD fails to sell a bazillion copies?

[Neon Ignition]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-03-26-tomb-raider-has-sold-3-4-million-copies-failed-to-hit-expectations

Utterly ridiculous. Tomb Raider has sold 3.4m units in a few weeks, apparently it's underperformed. Hitman and Sleeping Dogs also missed targets. Sounds like Square has its head up its arse, if no sequels arrive after this Square deserves to shut down.

[Golgo]

I think they should return to what they're good at, making expensive CGI sci-fi movies about gaia theory and such.

[EvilBoris]

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...t-expectations

Utterly ridiculous. Tomb Raider has sold 3.4m units in a few weeks, apparently it's underperformed. Hitman and Sleeping Dogs also missed targets. Sounds like Square has its head up its arse, if no sequels arrive after this Square deserves to shut down.

They all bombed big time, which is why they were all half price after 2 weeks. Sleeping Dogs was on PSN+ already, if that is not the sign of a retail Bomb then I don't know what is.

It just goes to show just how much cash is riding on a modern game, even if you work off of EG's guesstimation that ?15 for each shipped game goes to the publisher/developer then 3.5 millions units only equals ?51million, which could easily be a modern game development/marketing budget.

A couple of million quid pocket money as profit is a really poor margin on a game you've spent that much on. That's how businesses look at these things.

[Daragon]

I think they should return to what they're good at, making expensive CGI sci-fi movies about gaia theory and such.

Is that sarcasm, or did they more significantly better sci fi movies after spirits within?

[djtickle]

Is that sarcasm, or did they more significantly better sci fi movies after spirits within?

I always thought Advent Children was decent.

[Dogg Thang]

Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D was immense and better than the original. Vagrant Story et al could all go under the same change. With the installed user base in Japan being so high, I think it would be a money spinner.

As much as I shouldn't encourage endless remakes, I agree with this. They're sitting on a gold mine of old games ripe for a layer of polish. A FFVII update with little more than the treatment OoT got is a license to print money.

[nakamura]

Thing is Dogg Thang, these games are old enough to remake as most look quite ropey now compared to current stuff. Also it would bring them to a new audience and frankly they are still good enough to play today.

Ocarina of Time was a joy to play and the touch screen interface, along with the updated visuals made it a better game.

[saturn-gamer]

Wow! First Riccitiello and now Wada.

We should start a sweepstake on which publisher MD goes next.

Iwata maybe if the WiiU keeps underperforming?

Kotick when the next CoD fails to sell a bazillion copies?

Iwata for sure. The Wii U isn't going to pick up, the consumers don't want it. It has no games and gameplay for the casual crowd and there is nothing else that will lure the gaming crowd. The Wii U is a failure. They might sit out this year, and then axe Iwata for not meeting targets.

[Dogg Thang]

Thing is Dogg Thang, these games are old enough to remake as most look quite ropey now compared to current stuff. Also it would bring them to a new audience and frankly they are still good enough to play today.

Ocarina of Time was a joy to play and the touch screen interface, along with the updated visuals made it a better game.

Yep, I agree on all points.

[Sketcz]

It just goes to show just how much cash is riding on a modern game, even if you work off of EG's guesstimation that ?15 for each shipped game goes to the publisher/developer then 3.5 millions units only equals ?51million, which could easily be a modern game development/marketing budget.

A couple of million quid pocket money as profit is a really poor margin on a game you've spent that much on. That's how businesses look at these things.

Surely that means we're heading for an insane crash?

If production costs have reached such ludicrous highs that it's impossible to recoup and profit from games selling a few million any more...

I remember a time when breaking a million units sold meant everyone rode home on pinata horses made out of money.