Recent Square Enix games have misfired due to the approach of each game being “a single producer’s fiefdom”.
That’s according to a new report from Bloomberg, detailing a recent drop in stock value of the company compared to its closest rival Capcom, though stock over the past couple of years has fluctuated but appears relatively stable. It’s claimed this recent drop is due to underwhelming sales of Final Fantasy 16, though it also follows the disappointing Forspoken and a number of smaller games released at the tail-end of last year that failed to make much of an impression.
Bloomberg sources include current and former Square Enix employees who remain anonymous, but stated the company’s approach is to give each project a single producer.
Maybe they shouldn’t be doing everything possible to drive off consumers. Exclusivity deals everywhere, prices that don’t like to dip, multiple versions of the same game so you need to pay more for the complete thing later. I tried to get into FF with 15, and I actually really liked it. Then all this nonsense happened with FF7R and I just gave up because it seemed like a pain to try and follow the series.