Square Enix has lost billions of dollars in value over the last several months.
According to Bloomberg, Square Enix has lost nearly $2 billion in value since the release of Final Fantasy XVI on June 22, 2023. One of the biggest reasons noted for the loss was specifically the underperformance of Final Fantasy XVI in terms of sales. This resulted in the company’s share price dropping significantly. Another reason provided was the sheer number of games the studio has been putting out, the quality of which have been questionable in some cases. There have also been various mobile titles that have been rushed out, only to soon after shut down.
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According to employees who declined to be identified, part of the problem at Square Enix is that “every game project [is] a single producer’s fiefdom.” This has resulted in shifting goals and other problems during the development process that have reportedly, and quite understandably, had an effect on what’s eventually released.
Square Enix was officially founded in 2003 and is the product of a merger between Enix and Square, who were two titans of the JRPG genre in the early years of video games. Together, the companies are now responsible for publishing such series as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts. However, numerous games published by the company have not met sales expectations and received, at best, lukewarm responses from gamers. For context, Final Fantasy XVI holds an 87 on Metacritic, while newer IPs such as Forspoken and The Diofield Chronicle, hold a 64 and 71, respectively. When looking at those scores, it’s easy to understand why gamers might have been reticent to take a chance on those new IPs, especially in a year that’s seen the release of such high-profile titles as Starfield, Baldur’s Gate 3, and The Legend of Zelda; Tears of the Kingdom.
It’s not clear at the time of writing just how this massive lost in value will affect Square Enix’s plans for various series and games going forward.
