Square Enix Pivots Back to Being a 3rd Party Publisher
Realized their mistake & since jumped out the Sony ship
I went on Steam on June 13th, 2024, and saw this on the Steam banner at the time shown below.
Square Enix released the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise on Steam.
Now, this isn’t the first time they've put their games on Steam minus the poor ports. (Look at you, Final Fantasy 13/13-2!)
The company started putting its games on there in 2013. I thought nothing of it at first until the recent Nintendo Direct, a week later, showed many Square Enix games remade and/or ported to other platforms (in this case, the Nintendo Switch). Double-click
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Throughout the direct, I spotted four Square Enix-related games, three of which are also coming to Steam. (5:22, 13:45, 38:35 mark respectively)
One out of four games is original, with the rest being remakes. Despite this, Square has released more titles on platforms other than PlayStation.
Regarding Kingdom Hearts, I was curious about the sudden increase in games previously exclusive to consoles (PlayStation & Nintendo) coming to the PC platform. After researching, I found that these releases from Square Enix aren’t sudden.
What’s Going On?
Square Enix is considered part of the AAA space in the gaming industry. This is common knowledge, considering their most recent big-budget games, Final Fantasy 16 from last yea, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
What do these two have in common? They’re only available on PS5 as a timed exclusive due to a partnership agreement between Sony and Square Enix. However, Square prematurely cut ties with them in 2024.
Between laying off employees from the US/Euro branches.
Making “interesting” business decisions, say NFTs (non-fungible tokens), for example?
They are selling off assets to other companies.
Games are underperforming despite being hits.
To start this year cutting back their numerous projects going on in the background.
Square Enix has been poorly managed for the past couple of years. Throughout most of the company's history, there have been ongoing issues. Their successful MMORPG, Final Fantasy 14, has been the main factor preventing them from falling further into debt. Thanks to Yoshi P and his team, they have managed to stay afloat until now.
Not even that could save them from freefall; hence, they broke the Sony contract. That is why we’re seeing changes in their strategy going into 2024.
The Near Future?
At the time of this writing, Square Enix isn’t letting up on expanding their brand. Not only for other consoles like Xbox. Now, going further onto the PC platform itself, such as Steam (Epic Game Store doesn’t count) with bringing Kingdom Hearts and more on the way. Breaking up with Sony after a long history shows that the times have changed. It is a win for the customers and Square Enix. The “three-year reboot” plan on slide 13 (able to download to see for yourself below) is a sneak peek at what’s to come.
Let’s wait and see where it goes from here.
Sources
VGC Article on Square Enix US/EU Branches Layoffs
Square Enix sold their Western Studios to Embracer Group two years ago
TechRadar on the Sony/Square Break up
Report on RPGSite on Square Enix Cutting Future Projects
Takashi Mochizuki's Post about Square's Latest Titles Underplaforming on his X Official Statement from the Square Enix Offical Website about NFT's
Square Enix's Website for Investor Relations