Forspoken sales "lacklustre", Square Enix says
Forspoken publisher Square Enix has admitted the game's sales were «lacklustre», and that critical reviews of the title had been «challenging».
Its underperformance, coupled with that of «many» smaller games also released by Square Enix in the past year, has left the publisher unsure whether it will achieve its previous target of year-on-year financial growth.
«Reviews of Forspoken… have been challenging,» Square Enix stated in a new financial results presentation. «However, the game has also received positive feedback on its action features, including its parkour and combat capabilities, so it has yielded results that will lead to improvement of our development capabilities of other games in the future.
»That said, its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings."
Square Enix had previously told investors that this financial year would lay foundations for a new era of the company — that it would not necessarily see the same level of results as in other years with a big budget Final Fantasy blockbuster. Now, even these more modest expectations sound in doubt.
«I stated that we were designating FY2023/3 as a year in which to lay the foundations that will enable us to achieve our medium-term objectives, but that we nonetheless intended to pursue YoY growth in sales and profits,» Square Enix chief accounting officer Atsushi Matsuda said. «In light of current conditions, however, I have to admit that this will not be easy.»
Late last month, Square Enix announced it was folding Forspoken developer Luminous Productions into its main operations, ending its existance as a
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