Could Microsoft be buying Square Enix next? Bloomberg (alternate link) has shared a new report that discusses how the Final Fantasy maker hasn’t been doing good at all lately, having lost as much as $2 billion of its market value since the release of its latest big-budget game, FINAL FANTASY XVI, which launched exclusively for PS5 on June 22, 2023. Despite receiving what appears to be generally favorable reviews and being one of the most popular RPG franchises ever, FFXVI failed to meet Square Enix’s (and, apparently, others’) sales expectations.
“Flooding the market with unfinished, bad or untested games is a bad move,” Tokyo-based developer and gamer Michael Prefontaine said, listing Marvel’s Avengers, Forspoken and The DioField Chronicle as examples of poorly-thought-out games. “The company has overstretched itself on too many titles without proper oversight.”
The Tokyo-based firm has long relied on its feted franchise to supercharge growth — a formula that lifted its value five-fold in the decade leading to the launch of the latest Final Fantasy in June. But the game’s sales underwhelmed, and things got worse in August after the company reported a sharp profit decline. Shares plummeted by double digits, a dozen analysts tracking the stock cut their price target and long-term investor Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Asset Management Co. slashed its holdings in the game company.