SquareEnix Focus on PC and Mobile because SE losing money in console games

froggyboy604

froggyboy604

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Square Enix has posted its annual financial results for the year ending 31 March 2013, and it makes for somewhat squirm-inducing reading. The company made an "expected extraordinary loss" of ¥13.7 billion (£88m), owing to an increasingly "competitive" console market and internal reorganisation costs.

While its net sales were somewhat positive - ¥14.7 billion (£94m) for the year, up 15.7 per cent from ¥12.7 billion (£81m) in FY2012 - its heavy losses over the last 12 months (compared to ¥6 billion - £38m - profit in the previous year) has forced the publisher to refocus its development efforts, with a greater emphasis on the PC, mobile and tablet markets.

http://spong.com/article/29538/Bleak-Square-Enix-Financials-Force-Focus-on-PC-and-Mobile

I wonder if this mean soon PC will have more Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and other Square Exclusive, and Smartphone and tablets will get Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memory, and other Square games.

This could be a good move for Square since almost everyone has a PC capable of playing 3D games in HD 720P or higher, so this means many people can play their games as long as they can afford to buy Square games.  Most videocards these days even the slowest onboard video cards like the Intel HD 4000 can play 3D games like League of Legends, Team Fortress 2, etc, and the Intel i3 dual core CPU and similar AMD CPU are also good enough for gaming. Plus, many PCs these days have a 64bit operating system like Windows XP-8 64bit. Also, many computers sold these days have 4GB or more RAM.

Also, more people these days own faster Smartphone like the iPhone 4/4S/5, and Samsung Galaxy S3/S4 which is capable of playing more intensive games like Shadowgun, Riptide GP, and Infinity blade, so if Square makes good games for mobile a lot more people have a phone that can play the game instead of a more limited number of console and handheld gamers.
 
What horrible news, they could barely pull off a MMO with FF 14 and people have already shown disgust at their IOS attempts. They need to stick to console games.
 
To be fair, FF3, and FF4 are in the top 20  chart of most sold paid games category in Google Play's Android games store for paid games, so Square is probably doing pretty good on Android games.

Square selling games on Steam, their own website, Google Play, iOS, PC, and Amazon would mean Square can keep more of their earnings from game sales instead of sharing it with Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. Plus, they don't need to buy discs, manuals, and boxes for their PC and mobile games since both PC and mobile mostly sell games digitally on the internet.

Square is blaming Console for being too competitive, so it is trying mobile, and PC to become profitable again.
 
To be fair? You do realize those sales are coming from console based games right? More proof they need to stick to the console platform.

Consoles are competitive, but I don't see how that has lead them to making some crap games of late (FF XV not included or KH)
 
They may come from consoles, but many best seller Console games like Call of Duty and Battlefield originally came from PC. Square making games available on Mobile, and PC could help them with finding a larger audience, and geting the word out on games out faster because of the Recommended Apps section, top most sold charts, and word of mouth with Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and E-mail buttons in App store and PC download stores.

Chaos Ring which is made for iOS, Android, and Windows phone is ranked 52nd most sold in Google Play Paid Game Apps section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnpkXWZUzNk

There are also many other paid Square games in the Top 100 in Google Play Paid games app section, so Square's mobile games are selling well in Google Play.

As more people buy affordable faster tablets like the Nexus 7, Archos Gamepad and smartphones like the iPhone 4S which you can buy at Walmart for $39 with contract , or a Samsung Galaxy S3 for $99 with Contract, there would be more people who can play mobile games like Chaos Ring, FF series, ChronoTrigger from Square. Plus, a lot of phones are compatible with wireless gamepad controller for people who want to play games on a controller instead of touch button, so you get a similar gaming experience like console or handheld with controllers.

Most people also own a PC which can play RPG games like FF7, FF10, FF12, and others on console. A lot of active PC gamers are also active posting about games they enjoy on forums, blogs, Social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+ since posting about games is simple with a web browser on PC, so Square can get more word of mouth posts when PC gamers post about them.
 
I hope that FroggyBoy realizes that Intel graphics are absolutely horrible. I'm never buying a PC with it again. I can barely even run Flash videos on here.

Anyway, back on topic, I don't really think that PC and mobile will be good for SE, because the Japanese rarely use PC games, and mobile is usually for casuals.
 
Nuke said:
I hope that FroggyBoy realizes that Intel graphics are absolutely horrible. I'm never buying a PC with it again. I can barely even run Flash videos on here.

Anyway, back on topic, I don't really think that PC and mobile will be good for SE, because the Japanese rarely use PC games, and mobile is usually for casuals.
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My laptop is running Intel HD Graphics and so far I"ve had no issue with some of the most recent games I've installed. I've had no issue watching Flash videos or playing Flash games either, so the issue might be with your other specs since an Intel HD Graphics card is only as powerful as the amount of RAM you assign to it. For reference mine currently has 1632MB assigned.

As for SE focussing on PC games, I think they took the time to think it out before deciding anything. I'm not saying that its gonna work, but I'm pretty sure they already considered the risks and have plans to make it work.
 
I saw videos of people using a 2013 MacBook Air laptop with Intel Haswell with Intel HD 5000 graphics card to play Team Fortress 2, and Call of Duty Black Ops, and the video frame rates, and quality is pretty good.

SE might not earn a lot of money on PC and mobile since there may not be enough casual gamers who are into Kingdom Hearts, and the Final Fantasy series which mostly attract traditional gamers.

But, they may attract some casuals who see their friends playing FF and KH on a console which they don't own, but maybe willing to pay a 1-30 dollars to play it on PC, and mobile instead spending many hundreds of dollars to buy a console, the game disc, and online subscription for multiplayer.

Lesser known Mobile and PC games makers can also license games for SE to sell under the famous SE name like how the music and film license other people's work to sell, and split the profits with the artist.

The extra money that SE earn from Mobile, and PC may make them profitable again, or at least not lose money anymore on other games which failed to sell enough to recover the money spent making the games.

SE can also make more casual games to earn some extra money, and also introduce casual gamers to more intense games like Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts. All hardcore gamers started out as casual gamers, and eventually became more intense gamers when they found a series they like, but now more casual gamers are on PC, Mobile, and Tablets since a lot of kids and babies these days play on their parent's iPhone, iPad, Kindle Fire, and other mobile, or play Kids games on their parents PC and laptop.
 
Square enix has ported some games to PC, not sure how their sales are but not enough to make series based for them. They also made phone games for FF and KH and as far as I know they were cheap and never released outside Japan and for the KH game it was ported to the DS handheld.

Square enix will get no life support from the PC and mobile industry.
 
Steambox is also a PC, so if Valve's Steambox becomes popular, SE can sell games to Steambox gamers, and regular Steam PC gamers since they both use the same Steam Game stores to buy games online.

If SE makes fun games, people will buy them even if the games are for PC and mobile devices. SE's Final Fantasy MMO for PC is still profitable otherwise FF11 and FF14 would of been shut down.

SE can also make different categories of games on PC and mobile games like Running Games like Temple Run 2, Canabalt HD, and Puzzle games like Tetris.

A lot of popular games started from PC like Minecraft, and it latter got  ported to Consoles, and mobile because of high demand.

There are also popular Mobile games which are ported to consoles and PC like Angry Birds, Plants vs Zombies, and Fruit Ninga.

SE will probably port their popular PC and mobile games to console if there are enough people who demand the games.

Plus, SE might of gotten a lot of e-mail, and read a lot of surveys, forum and blog posts from PC gamers, and mobile gamers who say they want more SE gamesfor their PC, and Mobile devices because they don't own consoles, and don't plan on owning one to just play 1-3 SE games.
 
Maybe SE can replace all their unsuccessful PC and mobile game makers, and hire better game makers who know how to make fun mobile, and PC games which more people want to play.

EA has a few popular mobile games like Plants vs Zombies, The Sims for Mobile, so SE may do okay if they hire game makers who can make fun games which people want to play.
 
You can't just make a good game to not go bankrupt. Just look at Atlus. They're not going to die, but they're legally bankrupt, now.
 
Angry Birds saved Rovio from going bankrupt according to many articles to this article : http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Angry-Birds-Rovio-Niklas-Hed-Jaakko-Iisalo-App-Store,news-10414.html .

Now Rovio is one of the biggest mobile game makers in the world, and many people with Smartphones, tablets, PCs, consoles, and other gaming devices played atleast 1 Rovio games like Angry Birds, Bad Piggies, Amazing Alex, and the Chroods because Rovio games are in the top 100 in most apps stores.

I think SE is not going bankrupt, but losing money, or not making enough money. If SE makes a few popular mobile, PC, and web browser games, they can make a little more money to make them profitable, or very profitable depending on how many people know about their game, and buy it. Plus, PC, and mobile has Free to play gaming which earns money from virtual item sales like virtual coins, and in-app purchases. Temple Run raised its revenue by 4 times by switching to free to play with In-game purchases according to http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/129171/Temple_Runs_switch_to_free_more_than_quadrupled_its_revenue.php

CSR Racing, and Candy Crush are also doing pretty well as Free to play games with In-game purchases.

One of the advantages of mobile, and PC is, Gamers see a link for a game they want on a website ad, and they click on the link which brings them to a sales ad webpage for a game. On the sales page, they pay for the game, and instantly download the game from a web browser, or Online Apps or games store like Google Play, Steam, iOS/Apple App store, and the Windows 8 App Store.
 
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