Square Enix Plans To Move Away From Fully Owning Studios Because Of Rising Development Costs

Square Enix revealed that it will pursue other approaches other than outright owning studios, according to Square Enix's Q1 FY2023/3 financial results briefing session for investors.

President Yosuke Matsuda said that though the company's traditional policy has been to own studios, it is looking to diversify into "joint ventures, equity-method affiliates, and minority stakes." The reason is due to the increasing costs of developing games in recent years, games not selling well come with increasing downside risks.

"I want to identify ways of allocating capital to studios that give us greater flexibility," Matsuda said. This is in line with Square Enix's recent pruning of studios. It sold Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal, and Square Enix Montreal to Embracer earlier in 2022.

In the same briefing session, Square Enix did not provide more details about its blockchain plans and told investors that it will reveal more details in future announcements.

Square Enix released a FMA mobile game--currently only available in Japan with no global release date set yet-- and has other titles in the pipeline. Forspoken and Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion are set to release soon-- Forspoken in January 2023, and Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Reunion on December 13, 2022.