Square Enix has announced that it plans to change how games are developed with the aim of improving quality in the long run. The president of Square Enix, Takashi Kiryu, confirmed the development restructuring in the briefing for this year’s financial results. He also confirmed during the call that there are more details that the company will share more information in spring.
The new development pipeline that is being implemented will shake up the organizational structure, and so, will take a while to nail down. According to some analysts who were also present in the call, the new development structure will be up and running from April onwards.
Furthermore, Square Enix plans on moving as much of its development in-house as possible, and reducing outsourcing to external studios especially when it comes to high-priority games. This should allow for better quality control while being cheaper overall.
Square Enix Restructuring For Improved Game Quality
The reason for this drastic change in all development processes is likely the share price drop near the turbulent launch of Final Fantasy 16. The price dropped by almost 15%, which was a massive blow after what the publisher hoped would be a massive success. FF16 was considered one of the best releases of the year in Japan, but its reception in the West was comparatively underwhelming. The leadership, as well as the director, believed that the game was far better than it needed to be, but that was evidently not the case. Making things even worse, FF16 launched in the same month as Diablo 4, which was probably one of the biggest reasons for its lack of sales.
The new development pipeline will be implemented soon after the release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which is currently the biggest game on Square Enix’s calendar. And if all goes to plan, we should see the fruits of this restructuring within the next three to five years.
