Square Enix suffers from mismanagement, “ad hoc development process”

According to a new report from Bloomberg, Square Enix lost nearly $2 billion in value after its release Final Fantasy XVI

After the game’s June release for the PlayStation 5, claimed market shares fell by around 30 percent. Overall sales were deemed “disappointing” after selling 3 million copies in its opening week.

Compounding the problem is the number of Square Enix games that have underperformed, forcing the developer to change the way it does business. After Forspokens After the lukewarm release in January, for example, Square Enix merged its Luminous Productions subsidiary back into itself.

Although Square Enix was silent Final Fantasy XVI Since then, sales performance has increased and the game has not given up. It was recently confirmed that two paid DLC expansions are in the works for the title and it will be coming to PC in the near future.

What’s going on at Square Enix?

Bloomberg’s report sheds some more light on the developer’s inner workings and provides context for its recent, sometimes erratic business decisions.

Current and former Square Enix employees told the outlet that many of the studio’s problems (such as releasing and canceling mobile games) stemmed from giving producers full control of a project. Naoki Yoshida, for example, is one of them Final Fantasy XVIis one of the most prominent public figures, although she only acted as a producer.

Other claims say that projects tend to shift their goals without notice. Apparently the company’s infrastructure is so messed up that there may not be proper documentation and team structure.

The end result is a developer with a “high level of volatility” of games when it comes to quality. And analysts speaking to Bloomberg believe that Square Enix can only achieve consistency once it sorts itself out internally.

Such a shift is reportedly in the works, as CEO Takashi Kiryu has announced his plan to reduce the number of small games and outsourcing in order to prioritize big-budget titles. These games could be the turning point, but it could also be too late.

“The company has rested on its laurels for too long and may have already exhausted the patience of its loyal fans,” wrote analyst Kenji Fukuyama. “Even if we look five years into the future, there is not much to make investors confident about the company’s future.”