Square Enix publishes an annual report highlighting the need to shift focus from success in Japan to success everywhere.
In a financial report released by Square Enix, the company discussed its plans for the future and how it intends to achieve them.
Square Enix revealed in a recent annual report that it’s no longer enough to achieve success in Japan and that it will shift its focus to releasing titles that can perform well around the world. As the western game market continued to expand, Square Enix realized that it now needed to serve the entire world with its games, rather than mainly Japan.
As a Japanese company, Square Enix is primarily focused on fans in its home country, with other markets being secondary. However, times have changed, and as Japan’s fan base has changed with it, Square Enix found it necessary to consider how to succeed everywhere.
In a financial report released by Square Enix, the company discussed its plans for the future and how it intends to achieve them. In it, the report details Japan’s “gray demographic,” referring to its aging population, and that combined with high production costs it needs to produce games that will famous all over the world, not just in Japan. These days, games cost a lot of money to produce, and Square Enix notes that it is no longer feasible to recoup production costs, let alone profit, if their games only sell well in the United States. Japan.
As the western game market continued to expand, Square Enix realized that it now needed to serve the entire world with its games, rather than mainly Japan.
The report also puts a lot of emphasis on the games that have sold well for the company globally, detailing 36 million units sold in the Kingdom Hearts series, 173 million units for Final Fantasy and, notably, 85 million units. unit for Dragon Quest, the series has been wildly successful in Japan since its inception, but has not performed as well as the Final Fantasy series outside the country.
More than ever, access to new video games has become a global phenomenon. Companies that used to take months – if not years – to release a game outside of Japan are now releasing them all at once, such as SEGA’s Like a Dragon series. This is notably extra effort, as the developers not only have to think of the global market when designing the game, but also have to complete the translation and dubbing efforts at the same time. There’s more work to be done these days than ever to get games ready for release and it’s unlikely that demand will ever diminish, as gamers can access games as soon as they’re released. through downloads and instead of having to wait for physical copies of the game.
How this will affect the direction of Square Enix’s future projects remains to be seen. A large number of Square Enix’s biggest games have enjoyed massive success outside of its home country, so this focus may not be as much of a change in how the developer operates as it does for other games. another company. In any case, fans can expect more Square Enix’s globally oriented games to come.
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