Game

[Borys]

`

[maxy]

duckroll

Square Enix released some really bad numbers to investors today. Wada has stepped down to "make way for management reform". Yosuke Matsuda takes up the post of CEO.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/news/pdf/20130326_02en.pdf

[MCD]

The future of Mr. Wada has not been announced at this time

He's dead, right?

[maxy]

Financial report
http://www.hd.square-enix.com/130326.pdf

According to the new forecast, the company expects results of its digital entertainment segment to fall "substantially" below what was initially planned following slow sales of major console titles throughout North America and Europe, in addition to a "sluggish performance" in arcade machines.

Square Enix now plans to begin major restructuring in its development policy, organizational structure, a number of business models and other areas. As part of these restructuring efforts, the company expects to incur a loss of roughly 10 billion Yen (or just over $105 million) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.

The extraordinary loss includes a loss on disposal of content of $42 million, a loss on evaluation of content of $42 million and other losses of $21 million.

[Rufus]

I hope they leave Eidos alone.

[Huff]

This isn't a good thing if you like console games, right?

[maxy]

There is some ludicrous rumor about $120 million spent on Versus already.

If Bioshock can do it,we can do it too.

[Momo]

I dont expect anything to really change though, maybe 5 years down the line, but of that I'm not even confident

[magus]

i don't think this will change much but i'm pretty sure i will read about how that mmo-like game with HD town which is totaly not linear happened because "NO MORE WADA"
did i miss something? ah yeah,no belts and zippers

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

The day uguu died

[Powerslave]

PS4 and everything Sony related getting nothing but good news, PS Vita revitalizing with tons of indie support as the machine should be instead of becoming a mini PS3 with shooters and sports and TPS's, Wada getting removed from Square..... it sort of seems like my darkest ages are coming to an end..

[maxy]

http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/25/square-enix-sells-off-its-free-to-play-titles-sleepy-giant-implements-restructuring/

GamesBeat has learned that it has sold off its portfolio of free-to-play games to Sleepy Giant Entertainment, a startup with a considerable amount of funding.
Sleepy Giant raised $100 million from TPG Capital, the private equity firm run by financiers David Bonderman and James Coulter, and Evolution Media Capital. It’s not clear which titles Square Enix has sold, but it evidently has lost its appetite for launching the free-to-play titles on its own.
 

[maxy]

Four games

But multiple sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Sleepy Giant has picked up four unannounced Square Enix games.

[Momo]

[hampster]

I saw someone mention on twitter this is a bigger financial loss than they had post-Spirits Within before the merger (not counting for inflation)

[Cerveza mas fina]

Oscar, whats the main reason for this huge loss?

Versus? FFIVX?

[Momo]

The 105 million restructuring bill?


The extraordinary loss includes a loss on disposal of content of $42 million, - Scrapped version of games (FFXIV, Versus, etc)
a loss on evaluation of content of $42 million - salary hours associated with this
and other losses of $21 million - restructuring and stuff


?

[Great Rumbler]

The future of Mr. Wada has not been announced at this time

He's dead, right?

He was killed in a mysterious car accident.

[Sho Nuff]

Oh, holy shit.

(Pours one out for Imperial Hot)

[Himu]

I am crying.  :'(

I have been waiting for this! Hopefully the next president actually cares about games and quality!

[cool breeze]

I hope they leave Eidos alone.

Yes, what does this mean for Eidos?

Best thing S-E got going.

and while this and the recent EA news are big unknowns, for better or worse, a shake-up at the cusp of a new generation is interesting.

[Trent Dole]

...and the games industry continues to burn.

[Cerveza mas fina]

The 105 million restructuring bill?


The extraordinary loss includes a loss on disposal of content of $42 million, - Scrapped version of games (FFXIV, Versus, etc)
a loss on evaluation of content of $42 million - salary hours associated with this
and other losses of $21 million - restructuring and stuff


?

thanks momo, was at work couldn't look it up.

[Great Rumbler]

Hopefully the next president actually cares about games and quality!

ahahahahahahahaha

[Himu]

!

[Positive Touch]

I am crying.  :'(

I have been waiting for this! Hopefully the next president actually cares about games and quality!

hopefully the next prez isn't a fucking dumbass whos completely incapable of forcing his directors to stick to a schedule. I can't believe they kept it going in this state for as long as they did.

[Don Flamenco]

Best square-enix news in quite some time, actually!   Goddamn have they been sucking ass this gen.   100% Hubris

[Huff]

I hope they leave Eidos alone.

Yes, what does this mean for Eidos?

Best thing S-E got going.

and while this and the recent EA news are big unknowns, for better or worse, a shake-up at the cusp of a new generation is interesting.

Considering none of the eidos games met their target...

By by eidos thanks for the ride

[Cerveza mas fina]

TR doest meet targets?

[Rufus]

What were the targets?

Never mind, found it myself (well, not the targets, but still...):

http://www.vg247.com/2013/03/26/square-financials-tomb-raider-hitman-sleeping-dogs-fail-to-hit-sales-targets/

Full pdf: http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/news/pdf/130326slides.pdf Doesn't mention specific targets, but if those numbers aren't enough...

[Great Rumbler]

Those aren't the targets, by the way, but actual sales.

[maxy]

I see no FF game mentioned,hmm

[Shaka Khan]

I saw these links posted in the GAF thread, about the state of SE after the movie and around the merger...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44095080&postcount=44
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44101928&postcount=188
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44131749&postcount=323

I wonder how much of it is accurate vs. speculation? Pretty interesting nonetheless.

[Powerslave]

Real talk: bring back Squaresoft

[bork]

Real talk: bring back Rad Racer

[Powerslave]

Real talk: bring back Sakaguchi, the godfather.

[Don Flamenco]

I saw these links posted in the GAF thread, about the state of SE after the movie and around the merger...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44095080&postcount=44
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44101928&postcount=188
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44131749&postcount=323

I wonder how much of it is accurate vs. speculation? Pretty interesting nonetheless.

this all reads like video game industry fan fic based roughly on a true story.    These people spend their time thinking about and piecing together the inner workings of Japanese corporations from news stories and the manicured amount of data released by the corporation itself. 

[Joe Molotov]

Real talk: bring back Matsuno

[Himu]

matsuno quit level 5

[Cerveza mas fina]

Only Sleeping Dogs seems low, then again its a Asian centric game in looks etc.

Hitman doesn't seem bad for Hitman, and TR seems a hit to me.

[Powerslave]

Real talk: bring back Final Fantasy


I wonder why they stopped making those after FF9.

[Shaka Khan]

this all reads like video game industry fan fic based roughly on a true story.    These people spend their time thinking about and piecing together the inner workings of Japanese corporations from news stories and the manicured amount of data released by the corporation itself. 

That was my first reaction too. From what I gather, the Japanese corporate environment is a lot more insular than your average one here, and even *if* drama between high-level officials gets leaked, the chances of that gossip to be communicated to the West should be quite low, especially 10 years ago when social networks were as developed on the internet as they are now.

However, I wouldn't be too surprised if most of what's been written ends up being true.

[MCD]

http://www.wpcentral.com/chaos-rings-gravity-guy-2-coming-soon

Windows Phone finally getting some Square-Enix love right after Wada fired.

Coincidence? I think not.

[Shaka Khan]

Look at this taco: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=51557679

[MCD]

I bet he worships the Sun.

[Shaka Khan]

I bet he carved Reggie's face on a dildo, shoves it every night while screaming my body is ready.

[Joe Molotov]

Iwata should be shot into the sun.

[Steve Contra]

Only Sleeping Dogs seems low, then again its a Asian centric game in looks etc.

Hitman doesn't seem bad for Hitman, and TR seems a hit to me.

Think about what that means about Tomb Raider's budget.

The games industry is sooooooooooooooooo fucked.

[Rahxephon91]

Real talk: bring back Final Fantasy


I wonder why they stopped making those after FF9.

They didn't. They made better ones.

YEAH I SAID IT

[MCD]

Better yet, drop FF Online forever.

Don't care Oscar, not reading.

[Verdigris Murder]

Only Sleeping Dogs seems low, then again its a Asian centric game in looks etc.

Hitman doesn't seem bad for Hitman, and TR seems a hit to me.

Think about what that means about Tomb Raider's budget.

The games industry is sooooooooooooooooo fucked.

Thank god for IOS games, and the Vita.

[Positive Touch]

on the plus side, final fantasy dimensions is legit

[Rahxephon91]

Would it have been better to just continually patch and update the original FFXIV and keep that alive instead of rebuilding? Surly it had some sort of playerbase right?

[originalz]

Yeah, new FF-14 could be the best damn MMO ever but the name is poison.  You're going to lose out on a ton of potential customers just by keeping the name, they absolutely should rename it.

[Shaka Khan]

Oscar, or anyone who's been in Japan long enough and keeps tabs on this stuff, is any of this accurate or is it purely fan-fiction?

I saw these links posted in the GAF thread, about the state of SE after the movie and around the merger...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44095080&postcount=44
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44101928&postcount=188
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44131749&postcount=323

I wonder how much of it is accurate vs. speculation? Pretty interesting nonetheless.

[Sho Nuff]

I really wouldn't take much of that seriously.

[DCharlieJP]

Why do people post like they know what goes on in board meetings at listed companies?

[Sho Nuff]

I've got this pretty awesome fanfic about Kaz

[recursivelyenumerable]

Oscar, or anyone who's been in Japan long enough and keeps tabs on this stuff, is any of this accurate or is it purely fan-fiction?

I saw these links posted in the GAF thread, about the state of SE after the movie and around the merger...

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44095080&postcount=44
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44101928&postcount=188
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=44131749&postcount=323

I wonder how much of it is accurate vs. speculation? Pretty interesting nonetheless.

The part about the merger not being a reaction to TSW is accurate (like he said, Square got bailed out of that by Sony and its profits had already recovered before the merger thing started). Most everything else, especially the personal stuff around Suzuki/Sakaguchi/Wada is fanfic nonsense.

[Joe Molotov]

I've got this pretty awesome fanfic about Kaz

Erotic?