Hmmmm...that's a lot of bullshit.
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1. Enhance development productivity by shifting from quantity to quality and focusing on fun.
Translation: "We are risk-adverse, and instead of looking into why our multitide of titles failed, we are just going to generalize that 'quality, not quantity' is the lesson here because everyone knows that and it's an easy thing to sell to people instead of admitting we just suck."
So basically they're just saying "Hey we messed up, but it's an innocent mistake is all!" lol.
Lame. Copout.
2. Diversify earnings opportunities by shifting to a multiplatform strategy
I'm fine with this.
I mean, it's a no-brainer. And whatever executive was saying "no multiplat" should be fired. But overall a good strategy.
I just hope that they accommodate the PC and other platforms better. Japanese ports to PC tend to be very, very, very lazy. Dragon's Dogma 2 was a good Japanese port/multiplat release, and even that has some serious quality of life and UI issues (it's cumbersome).
3. Create greater foundational stability by rebuilding overseas divisions from the ground up and new HR and management systems.
This seems to contradict point 1. So you want to focus on quality but fewer titles...but you want to open up more studios?
Sounds like they're looking into more ways to exploit consumers on a regional level, i.e. "North Americans like BR games, while Chinese gamers like free-to-play and will pay by the hour with subs" and so on. That's assuming a lot though I admit.
As for creating new HR and management systems...why? The company I work for has about 15 people making product, and about 30 managers....and it sucks. Serious "Office Space" vibes lol. Management and a culture of "failing upwards" is the problem, you don't solve this by making more management.
Maybe you should focus on a grounds up approach; more studios, more titles, more developers....let them manage themselves.
4. Strike a balance between shareholder return and growth investment.
Ah, so this is ultimately a business decision, not a company or quality or consumer decision. The ol' "what's good for the shareholder is good for the customer" [misguided] belief.
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Honestly, I wouldn't believe any of this crap. Their best game recently is Powerwash Simulator, probably a decent profit off that game vs investment, yet they can't do well with the Final Fantasy IP? Oi vey.
Honestly, the TL;DR: version of this is "We've been coasting off old IP's and nostalgia for so long we forgot how to actually create something good and now we are going to do some business voodoo to make it sound like we still know what we are doing".
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