Square Enix has released a detailed transcript from a November 2023 financial briefing, where the company’s president Takashi Kiryu describes plans for future development.
Kiryu made a series of statements during a Q&A at the briefing. They addressed some of Square Enix’s potential weaknesses, and solutions for them.
Kiryu mentions that Square Enix aims to “achieve greater diversity in our title portfolio” and strengthen internal development capabilities.
So, Square Enix plans to “take on new challenges” and is willing to include inorganic means of improvement.
Kiryu cites limited diversity in Square Enix’s portfolio, and that “customers have come to enjoy content from a variety of genres”.
This implies that Square Enix could begin to concentrate more on original IP, and not just existing blockbusters.
Kiryu also adds they want to structure Square Enix’s development “to ensure higher quality from each title by slimming down our lineup”.
This suggests that Square Enix fans are likely to see fewer title releases in the coming years. That may disappoint some, especially if the company slows down some of their major franchises.
However, as Kiyru pointed out, a thinner development lineup would surely allow the developers more time to focus on improved content and performance.
Square Enix appears to have bold plans for the future, but longtime fans seem to support a new strategy.
Takashi Kiryu first joined Square Enix as president in 2023, and also recently mentioned interest in being more aggressive with AI.
So, fans can probably expect Square Enix to take even more big swings in other aspects of the industry.
Sony announced this week that Foamstars, published by Square Enix, launches onto PlayStation Plus on February 6th.
For more on the latest gaming news, you can read about the newly announced layoffs affecting Lords of the Fallen publisher CI Games.
Remake Parasite Eve then that adds diversity
I certainly hope that this doesn’t mean that they are going to slim down on their actually good lower budget titles development to waste all the money and resources on garbage like Forspoken.