While Square Enix develops a number of projects in-house, it has also outsourced quite a bit, leading to a staggeringly large portfolio of games. In recent years, the company has sold off a few valuable franchises, including Deus Ex and Tomb Raider, alongside some major studios like Eidos Montreal. It seems that these sales may have been connected to an effort to slim down overall gaming output, as a company financial Q&A earlier this month revealed that Square Enix would be focusing on both diversifying its portfolio while releasing fewer titles, pivoting from a long-time strategy of launching numerous mid-budget games in quick succession.
Square Enix seems to be doubling down on this initiative, emphasizing large-scale projects like the ambitious Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, per comments made during a recent financial briefing. As reported by Bloomberg, Square Enix will be restructuring this spring, reducing its reliance on outsourcing and buttressing the development of internally developed games. In service of this end, the company will also be implementing new methods of quality assurance, evaluating titles at earlier points in their development. Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu states that an official announcement of these changes is forthcoming.
Square Enix Will Produce Fewer Games Moving Forward
The decision to slash external development follows a less than ideal year for Square Enix. Despite the success of the tradition-defying Final Fantasy 16, Square Enix suffered a decrease in sales during 2023, and the company has struggled to maintain profitability over the past few years. In light of this, it makes sense that Square Enix would want to decrease its overall gaming output, not only to reduce general development costs, but also to preserve the quality of its brand and not dilute its best-selling franchises.
Time will tell how much these changes will impact Square Enix's gaming catalog, but the shift could benefit consumers. While some fans may be disappointed by the prospect of fewer games, it seems like Square Enix could be taking a quality over quantity approach, shipping more games like the hotly anticipated Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, rather than attempting to pump out as much content as possible. Ideally, a greater focus on internal development will translate to better Square Enix games, even if there are fewer overall.
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Source: https://gamerant.com/square-enix-development-pipeline-changes/
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