Square Enix's digital entertainment division lost 16 million pounds this half year, and in total the company's lost 42 million. Ouch.

I do wish they'd finally polish up their FFs and release them all through Steam. They should release their whole catalogue on Steam, really. No physical or distribution costs, and you just know PC people will be all over that RPG goodness.

Don't die, Squeenix! Just make good games again (you knew how to do it, once), and let the unwashed PC players have at your bounty!

That is how I feel about THQ. It is sad but we may loose two of the better companies.

They rely too heavily on the FF franchise.

I don't think it's going anywhere quite yet, but SE do have to sort themselves out soon.


They have terrible, terrible marketing. The only thing they really put any effort into promoting is FF. A lot of their other games are really good, and they barely get a mention anywhere. They need to do something about that.

Edit: Also, decent PC support. Come on, show some love already.

Their last few major releases have had great PC versions.

Sleeping Dogs and Deus Ex has great support. Both were also excellent games.

I think they'll be alright. Final Fantasy still sells whether fans like it or not, as do Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and a handful of their new IP. Eidos has performed fairly well since the acquisition as well, with no real signs of slowing down now with Hitman and Tomb Raider looking pretty good. It would seem that Sleeping Dogs didn't really pan out like they'd hoped, but it appears to have little to do with the actual quality of the game. It could also signal the start of a succesful franchise if they can manage to get gamers interested in a sequel.

Speaking of Final Fantasy, this whole Lightning's Saga thing will be wrapping up next year, allowing them to finally start fresh with the series. Versus XIII (yeah, I know) is apparently taking so long because the project has evolved considerably since its announcement, and while Final Fantasy XIII has sort of been the face of the franchise for the last few years, a recent interview with Square's Julien Merceron suggests that Versus XIII has become the title they're pouring their hearts into; a game that pushes the boundaries like the "golden era" of the series.

Their Agni's Philosophy tech demo will also be running on "something other than a PC" this June (hey, that's E3!), so expect to see some next gen console(s) and a glimpse into what Square hopes to do with them.

Ya, but those are their Western studios, right? I mean they should really release their Japanese stuff on PC-- and not just shoddy ports, a la FF7/8 and the other few titles they've bothered to release on the platform ...

Edit: erm, I just realised the OP might be interpreted as me saying Squeenix doesn't make good games anymore. That's not what I mean. I'm referring more to their Japanese studios with that, sadly. There are some gems, and then there are also lots of mistakes ... Nobody wants another Lightning game, for example.

Sad, they made good games but I stopped buying because I had to find out they had went steamworks when Front mission evolved arrived in the mail (no mention of steam at the time of purchase)

Odd how that is the only thing that made it bad for you.

well, I didn't enjoy being punished for doing what is supposed to be the "right thing" that incident is what got me to speak up against the Steamworks requirement, I bought it because I was trying to avoid Steamworks (New Vegas)

I'm sure they'll be fine. Sure the golden era of Final Fantasy and their other JRPGS has passed but they still do well along with all the other games they publish. All I really want from them is Kingdom Hearts 3.