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Square Enix has reportedly confirmed it’s ‘looking to sell stakes’ in its studios

Lunatic_Gamer

Gold Member
square-enix-games-480x270-1-1280x720.jpg


The publisher held a conference call on Friday to discuss its most recent financial results, and following the call Japan-based analyst David Gibson took to Twitter to summarise its plans.














Following the conference call, the publisher’s share price rose, and at the time of writing, is currently 11% higher than its price when the market closed yesterday.


 

Sepia6

Neo Member
Matsuda is blindly firing in all directions like someone getting lost in the woods at night and being cornered by a pack of wolves. It's obvious where this is going. Expect Sony to acquire Tokyo and all of its IP in the next 6 months. This ship has sunk.
 
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Kimahri

Banned
They should stop chasing the most beautiful graphics in the world and huge ambitious games and lower the scope.

Go back to making games like the PS1 and PS2 games, just innovate a bit, expand the scope somewhat.

And do more like the 2DHD games.
 

Jaybe

Member
Interesting… not sure why a buyer really wants to be in a JV situation on a studio by studio basis vs outright studio purchase, stake in Square, or Square acquisition in full.
 
They should stop chasing the most beautiful graphics in the world and huge ambitious games and lower the scope.

Go back to making games like the PS1 and PS2 games, just innovate a bit, expand the scope somewhat.

And do more like the 2DHD games.
Like....

Octopath Traveler
Triangle Strategy
Live A Live
Bravely Default 2
I Am Setsuna
Lost Sphear
Oninaki
World of Final Fantasy
DioField Chronocile
Trials of Mana
Voice of Cards
Neo the World Ends With You
SaGa Frontier

Stuff like that? Yeah, they should do that.
 

Kimahri

Banned
Like....

Octopath Traveler
Triangle Strategy
Live A Live
Bravely Default 2
I Am Setsuna
Lost Sphear
Oninaki
World of Final Fantasy
DioField Chronocile
Trials of Mana
Voice of Cards
Neo the World Ends With You
SaGa Frontier

Stuff like that? Yeah, they should do that.
Yep, precicely that.

Also, I hope that FFIX remake is a one to one remake just with gorgeous 3d graphics and locked but panning camera angles.

Just give us the original, just not wothblurry pixelated backgrounds.
 

CatLady

Selfishly plays on Xbox Purr-ies X
As much as I hate exclusive bullshit I'd rather Sony buys them than some Chinese megacorp.

With that being said I am surprised we arrived at this point. They had such low expectations of CD/Eidos. 300 million for the IP that was included on top of the studios seems insane. Wish they left the Marvel shit alone

As long as Xbox doesn't buy them, I'm good. I do not want Xbox turned into a weeb box. Sony manages to moneyhat a lot of the bigger Japanime games anyway so they might as well own them.
 

Relique

Member
As long as Xbox doesn't buy them, I'm good. I do not want Xbox turned into a weeb box. Sony manages to moneyhat a lot of the bigger Japanime games anyway so they might as well own them.
I am never too worried about a Microsoft acquisition of Japanese studios, at least not a complete one. Japan recently put extra restrictions in place for such acquisitions so they're very unlikely. Doubt they'd want to jump through all the hoops

They might be able to get a stake in it, sure. But I doubt they can outright buy them that easily
 

Thabass

Member
So... FFVII Rebirth and Part 3 in danger or no?
Doubtful. Those are already in the pipeline and being developed, so I imagine the budget has been set aside for those games.

What COULD be in danger are future Final Fantasy titles. Including the next game (not XVI, but maybe XVII). Also, if FFIX Remake is a real thing, that could be scratched as well.
 
Also, I hope that FFIX remake is a one to one remake just with gorgeous 3d graphics and locked but panning camera angles.
Same. I definitely don't think they'll do the FF7, not really a remake, but a sequel thing. But, I also don't think it will get even half of that budget either.

I just hope it isn't a Chrono Cross situation.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
Considering the quality of the translation (western titles cannibalized sales of the rest of the group? really? I can't pretty much guarantee they didn't say that) I'll wait for the official transcript by Square Enix over the usual Twitter charade.

Also, selling stakes of some of the studios doesn't mean that Square Enix wants to sell itself. As a matter of fact, that means that they have no intention to (having studios in which external investors have stakes means that it'd be harder to sell the whole company).

Lastly, Anyone who thinks Square Enix is actually in trouble hasn't seen their results in the past multiple years.
 
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Kimahri

Banned
Same. I definitely don't think they'll do the FF7, not really a remake, but a sequel thing. But, I also don't think it will get even half of that budget either.

I just hope it isn't a Chrono Cross situation.
They already did the Chrono Cross thing. It's out there with new character models.

So yeah, it won't be that. I just hope they don't change the story.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
Microsoft should fly over and finish what they tried 20 years ago.

Fly to Japan. Buy Square Enix and Sega. Leave Japan, and fly into the screaming weeaboo shockwave coming from North America. Phil can land, and retire with a smug look on his face. Greenberg will start posing with giant swords and hedgehog helmets. Game over.
 

Woopah

Member
If this is focused on the West then it doesn't look like the intention is to sell a stake in existing studios, but instead establish new studios as joint ventures.

Considering the quality of the translation (western titles cannibalized sales of the rest of the group? really? I can't pretty much guarantee they didn't say that) I'll wait for the official transcript by Square Enix over the usual Twitter charade.

Also, selling stakes of some of the studios doesn't mean that Square Enix wants to sell itself. As a matter of fact, that means that they have no intention to (having studios in which external investors have stakes means that it'd be harder to sell the whole company).

The final "END #SquareEnix" tells me that this person is just looking to be sensational as usual instead of making a serious analysis. Anyone who thinks Square Enix is actually in trouble hasn't seen their results in the past multiple years.
I think the "END" is talking about the end of his report, not the end of SE as a company.
 

Labadal

Member
Maybe this is why they are trying to release everyrhing as soon as possible. They have a bunch of games coming out one after another.
 

PhaseJump

Banned
I am never too worried about a Microsoft acquisition of Japanese studios, at least not a complete one. Japan recently put extra restrictions in place for such acquisitions so they're very unlikely. Doubt they'd want to jump through all the hoops

They might be able to get a stake in it, sure. But I doubt they can outright buy them that easily

SNK is owned by Saudi Arabia. Microsoft has all the reason in the world to grow it's market share or lock it's cash into a strong investment.
 

Abriael_GN

RSI Employee of the Year
If this is focused on the West then it doesn't look like the intention is to sell a stake in existing studios, but instead establish new studios as joint ventures.


I think the "END" is talking about the end of his report, not the end of SE as a company.

aaah gotcha. Thanks for clarifying. Well, the other points stand.
 
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Relique

Member
And Tango Gameworks is owned by Microsoft. Points to consider.

1) I never said it was impossible.
2) SNK is tiny in comparison.
3) Saudis slowly acquired SNK by increasing stake in the company over time.
4) The legislation that I am talking about is very new and doesn't apply to companies of all sizes.
5) Large Japanese developers/Publishers have historically leaned towards mergers with other Japanese companies. I.E. Square-Enix, Bandai-Namco, Koei-Tecmo etc.
6) I never said it was impossible...
 
They should stop chasing the most beautiful graphics in the world and huge ambitious games and lower the scope.

Go back to making games like the PS1 and PS2 games, just innovate a bit, expand the scope somewhat.

And do more like the 2DHD games.
They are burning money in plenty of lower scope garbage in the last few years like Balan, Quiet Man, Left Alive and friends.
Yes, what they really need is kill any ambition left and became the B tier studio they are always secretly craved to be.
 
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