Sq. Enix has admitted it expects to have misplaced a staggering 22.1 billion yen (practically $141 million) in its 2024 fiscal yr, which ended this previous March. The rationale for that is what the corporate is asking “content material abandonment losses.”

Whereas Sq. Enix doesn’t specify any additional than that, it very a lot sounds prefer it has cancelled (or no less than re-scoped) a few of its in-development video games. On the very least, we all know, per IGN, this solely impacted its HD video games division, which covers console and PC initiatives, so it appears its cell video games have been unaffected.

In a gathering held on March 27 (the small print of which have been solely shared on April 30), Sq. Enix defined this was as a result of firm revising its strategy to growing HD video games, because it needs to be “extra selective and targeted within the allocation of growth sources.” This strains up with what Sq. Enix president Takashi Kiryu mentioned again in February, the place he revealed plans to overtake how the corporate makes video games in an effort to enhance general high quality and revenue margins, per a Bloomberg report (through VGC).

When Sq. Enix shared the monetary outcomes for the six-month interval ending in December 2023 (through Enterprise Wire), it confirmed that whereas general gross sales have been up by 0.8% in comparison with the earlier yr, earnings have been down by roughly 42%. Remaining Fantasy 16 bought three million copies in its launch week in June, which Kiryu mentioned was “in keeping with our expectations” in an August monetary outcomes briefing, however he was reported to have instructed analysts the sport had failed to satisfy Sq. Enix’s high-end expectations, partly attributable to gradual adoption of the PlayStation 5 (per Bloomberg).

Sq. Enix clearly hasn’t named exactly which video games have been affected by its revision. On the very least, we will assume massive title titles like Kingdom Hearts 4 and the third entry within the Remaining Fantasy 7 Remake trilogy haven’t been cancelled. These are extremely anticipated releases and the type of video games Sq. Enix will anticipate to show a revenue. If something, it might divert its sources to the event of these video games.

The corporate’s subsequent excessive profile releases are the Remaining Fantasy 14: Dawntrail growth in July and Visions of Mana, which is slated to launch both within the second or third quarter of 2024. It additionally has two Dragon Quest initiatives within the works—Dragon Quest 12 and a remake of Dragon Quest 3—however each of them have been MIA for a very long time.