Today Square Enix published the questions and answers session of the latest quarterly financial presentation hosted by the publisher, and CEO Yosuke Matsuda offered interesting information about the Final Fantasy VII Remake and more.
First of all, Matsuda-san was asked whether the publisher is satisfied with the initial 3.5 million units shipped by the Final Fantasy VII Remake.
On the other hand, he opted not to comment on the possibility to releasing the game on other platforms.
“We are pleased that we were able to top 3.5 million units given that we chose to produce and ship fewer physical disks due to the impact that we foresaw from the coronavirus outbreak.
Disk sales were lower than we had initially anticipated, but growth in digital sales increased their percentage of the whole, which we expect to lead to a better gross margin.
We will refrain from commenting on the possibility of offering the title on additional platforms for now.”
Interestingly, still talking about the remake he also outlined the fact that the publisher has plans to capture new customers, but it looks like Square Enix intends to avoid tactics that rely solely on dropping the game’s price.
“Capturing new players is key. I will refrain from going into the details, but we have plans for initiatives to capture players throughout the year, so please keep an eye on our progress. I also note that we will not engage in any marketing strategy that relies solely on pricing.”
Since the HD games segment (single-player games for consoles) underperformed in the latest financial results, Matsuda-san was asked what the plan is to improve their profitability. He believes that quality will be the key.
“Everything comes down to the quality of our games. We are going to work hard to ensure we develop high-quality games that our customers can enjoy over a long period of time.”
Last, but not least, he announced that Square Enix won’t host its own E3 livestream. It will instead announce individual titles when the time is right.
“Our Group will not be live streaming its own event because the coronavirus pandemic will prevent us from assembling all the visual assets from the various studios and titles. We intend to unveil new titles going forward on an individual basis at the appropriate timing.”
The Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently available for PS4 and you can read our extensive review.
