Square Enix Pivots Back to Being a 3rd Party Publisher
Realized their mistake & since jumped out the Sony ship
Went on Steam on June 13th 2024 and saw this on the Steam banner at the time shown below.
Turns out, Square Enix did release the entire Kingdom Hearts franchise on Steam.
Now this isn’t the first time they put their games on Steam minus the poor ports. (Looking at you Final Fantasy 13/13-2!)
The company been putting their games on there far back in 2013. I thought nothing of it at first until the recent Nintendo Direct a week later shown many Square Enix games remade and/or ported other platforms (in this case the Nintendo Switch).
Throughout the direct, I spotted four Square Enix related games whom three of them are also coming to Steam. (5:22, 13:45, 38:35 mark respectively)
One out of four is original with the rest being remakes. Despite this, Square’s been releasing more titles to other platforms beyond Playstation.
Coming back to Kingdom Hearts and thought to myself, why the sudden influx of games that used to exclusive to consoles (PlayStation & Nintendo) coming to the PC platform? After digging a little bit and these releases from Square Enix isn’t really so sudden actually.
What’s Going On?
Square Enix is considered part of the Triple-A space in the gaming industry. Common knowledge considering their most recent big budget games Final Fantasy 16 last year and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.
What do these two have in common? They’re only available on Ps5 as a timed exclusive due to an partnership agreement between Sony and Square Enix. Well… was for Square had prematurity cut ties with them in 2024.
Between laying off employees from the US/Euro branches.
Making “interesting” business decisions say NFT’s (non-fungible token) for example?
Selling off assets to other companies.
Games underperforming despite being hits.
To now starting this year cutting back their numerous projects going on in the background.
Square Enix had been very mismanaged for a couple years now. Throughout most of the companies history there’s always going on in that company. What kept them from going further into the red was their successful MMORPG: Final Fantasy 14. Thanks to Yoshi P and his team they were able to stay afloat up until now.
Not even that can save them from freefall hence them breaking contract from Sony. That is why we’re seeing changes in their strategy coming into 2024.
The Near Future?
As the time of this writing, Square Enix isn’t letting up on expanding their brand. Not only for to 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 really does show that the times have indeed changed. A win for the customers and to Square Enix. The “three year reboot” plan on slide 13 (able to download to see for yourself below) is a sneak peek for 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