Square Enix has announced a new medium-term business plan which will include an “aggressive” pivot towards multiplatform releases.
As it stands, a number of Square Enix titles are console exclusives. Final Fantasy titles and Forspoken are only available on PlayStation and PC while Octopath Traveler 2 is available on Nintendo and Xbox consoles, as well as PC. However, that looks to change going forward.
Over the weekend, Square Enix announced a new medium-term business plan: ‘Square Enix Reboots and Awakens: 3 Years of Foundation-Laying for Long-Term Growth’.
The four-step plan includes “enhancing productivity by optimising the development footprint in the Digital Entertainment segment” by “focusing on development of titles delivering ‘fun’ that only Square Enix can create and build the development structure.” The company plans to do this by regularly releasing AAA titles in its major franchises and further explore its “rich library of IP”.
Square Enix will "aggressively pursue a multiplatform strategy that includes Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PCs"https://t.co/DDG1s0Vub4https://t.co/mCfWW970sl pic.twitter.com/Z8EqFZmi8T
— Wario64 (@Wario64) May 13, 2024
It comes as Square Enix “will pursue a shift from quantity to quality as its medium- to long-term philosophy”.
Square Enix also plans to “aggressively pursue a multiplatform strategy that includes Nintendo platforms, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC, especially in regards to major franchises and AAA titles including catalog titles,” with many fans hoping that future and classic Final Fantasy games will no longer be PlayStation console exclusives.
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Square Enix also wants to “rebuild overseas business divisions from the ground up. Introducing policies on organisation and human resource allocation in Japan,” and has announced a plan to “strike a balance between shareholder return and growth investment when allocating capital”. As part of their new plan, Square Enix has set aside £512million (¥100 billion) for “strategic investments” over the next three years, with £102million (¥20 million) earmarked for share buyback.
This new business plan comes after Square Enix cancelled £112million of in-development projects in a bid to “streamline” output. The board of directors made the decision “in light of the myriad changes” that are currently underway in the world of gaming, with the company hoping to “revise their approach to development of games with the intention of being more selective and focused on the allocation of development resources.” The news follows reports that Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth has underperformed, selling just half of Final Fantasy 7: Remake.
In other news, Xbox president Sarah Bond has confirmed that new Call Of Duty games will launch on Xbox Game Pass after a number of studios were closed down by Microsoft.