Square Enix President Says the Company Wants to Release Fewer, More Diverse Games

ign.com:

Square Enix appears to be on the verge of shaking up its development portfolio. According to its president, we may soon see fewer titles, but a more diverse array of genres coming out of a developer and publisher traditionally known for its massive RPG franchises.

In an investor Q&A that took place back in November but which was only recently published in English, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu addressed multiple questions from investors about the company's portfolio going forward. In response to a question about what Square Enix was lacking that it needed to achieve sustained growth and meet its business goals, Kiryu cited two points: the limited diversity of the company's portfolio, and a lack of strong marketing. On the limited diversity point specifically, he went on to explain the need to increase the different kinds of games in Square Enix's portfolio by strengthing internal development capabilities, or perhaps even making acquisitions.

"Because we possess strong IPs like the Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy franchises, I believe that we have tended to be overly reliant on certain gameplay styles or genres," Kiryu said. "Meanwhile, the tastes of customers in the gaming market have diversified, and customers have come to enjoy content from a variety of genres. Moreover, blockbuster titles are not the only ones that enjoy popularity. For example, our title Powerwash Simulator is somewhat of an outlier in our portfolio in that it is a game well suited for casual play, but we have been able to steadily build up our earnings from it."

Later in the Q&A, Kiryu was asked again about the company's development efforts, and repeated that he wanted to strengthen Square Enix's internal capabilities and "take on new challenges, partly because we want to add to the diversity of our portfolio of titles, as I noted earlier, while also enabling our developers to expand their skill sets."

But, at the same time, Square Enix also appears to be very aware of its reputation as the