[230914]Square Enix May Be in Serious Trouble Following Final Fantasy 16 Launch

https://gamerant.com/final-fantasy-16-sales-numbers-square-enix-profits-down/
A new report suggests Square Enix is in serious financial trouble, even after the launch of the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy 16.

Japanese gaming giant Square Enix may be in serious financial trouble after the launch of Final Fantasy 16. Prior to its launch, Final Fantasy 16 was easily one of the most highly-anticipated new game releases of the year. And when it finally released to the masses, it was mostly well-received. In fact, Final Fantasy 16 earned rave reviews from critics and managed to sell a few million copies, but it seems like it may not be performing as well as expected.While Square Enix has said it is pleased with Final Fantasy 16's sales, and even though the game has broken some records, other reports indicate that the game's sales are not living up to expectations. The latest report is the most concerning yet, as Bloomberg has reported that Square Enix may struggle to recover the $2 billion in value that it has lost since Final Fantasy 16 launched.Bloomberg recently spoke to analysts about Square Enix's big profit drop in the wake of Final Fantasy 16's launch. According to the report, Final Fantasy 16 has not been successful enough to undo the damage done by high profile failures like Marvel's Avengers and Forspoken. Separately, IGN sources have told the publication that Final Fantasy 16 sales have "slowed considerably." Analysts in the Bloomberg report said that Square Enix's problems stem from "flooding the market" with lackluster games, while employees at Square Enix have pointed the blame at the company letting producers have too much control over projects.

While Final Fantasy 16 seemingly may not have the legs that Square Enix was hoping for, the company is not giving up on the blockbuster RPG. In fact, Square Enix just recently confirmed that Final Fantasy 16's PC port is in active development, plus it is planning on releasing two major DLC expansions for the game. Time will tell if this effort will be enough to solve Square Enix's financial woes, but the company has other major releases on the horizon to consider as well.Final Fantasy 14 has a new expansion on the way, plus Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is set to launch in 2024. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth has potential to be one of the biggest new releases of 2024 period, so perhaps it will be the beginning of Square Enix bouncing back from its financial troubles. If Square Enix is ultimately unable to resolve these issues, though, perhaps the company will look at selling itself off. The Final Fantasy brand is still huge, after all, and Square Enix has a massive backlog of classic games that other companies would no doubt want to get their hands on.Final Fantasy 16 is available now for PS5 with a PC version also in development.

机翻：
《最终幻想 16》发布后史克威尔艾尼克斯可能陷入严重麻烦

一份新报告显示，即使是在备受期待的《最终幻想 16》推出之后，史克威尔艾尼克斯也陷入了严重的财务困境。

日本游戏巨头史克威尔艾尼克斯在《最终幻想 16》推出后可能陷入了严重的财务困境。 《幻想 16》无疑是今年最受期待的新游戏之一。 当它最终向大众发布时，大多受到好评。 事实上，《最终幻想16》获得了评论家的好评，并成功卖出了几百万份，但看起来它的表现可能并没有达到预期。尽管史克威尔艾尼克斯表示对《最终幻想16》的销量感到满意，甚至 尽管该游戏打破了一些记录，但其他报告表明该游戏的销量并未达到预期。 最新的报告是迄今为止最令人担忧的，因为彭博社报道史克威尔艾尼克斯可能很难收回自《最终幻想 16》推出以来损失的 20 亿美元价值。彭博社最近向分析师谈到了史克威尔艾尼克斯在 最终幻想 16 发布。 根据该报告，《最终幻想 16》的成功还不足以弥补漫威《复仇者联盟》和《Forspoken》等备受瞩目的失败作品所造成的损害。 另外，IGN 消息人士告诉该刊物，《最终幻想 16》的销量已经“大幅放缓”。 彭博社报道中的分析师表示，史克威尔艾尼克斯的问题源于平庸的游戏“充斥市场”，而史克威尔艾尼克斯的员工则将责任归咎于该公司让制作人对项目拥有过多的控制权。

虽然《最终幻想 16》似乎没有达到史克威尔艾尼克斯所希望的那样，但该公司并没有放弃这款风靡一时的角色扮演游戏。 事实上，Square Enix 最近刚刚确认《最终幻想 16》的 PC 端口正在积极开发中，并且还计划为该游戏发布两个主要 DLC 扩展包。 时间会证明这一努力是否足以解决史克威尔艾尼克斯的财务困境，但该公司还考虑即将推出其他主要版本。《最终幻想 14》即将推出新资料片，此外《最终幻想 7 重生》也将在 将于 2024 年推出。《最终幻想 7 重生》有可能成为 2024 年期间最大的新作之一，因此也许这将是 Square Enix 从财务困境中恢复过来的开始。 不过，如果史克威尔艾尼克斯最终无法解决这些问题，该公司也许会考虑出售自己。 毕竟，《最终幻想》品牌仍然很庞大，史克威尔艾尼克斯积压了大量经典游戏，其他公司无疑也想获得这些游戏。《最终幻想 16》现已推出 PS5 版，PC 版本也在开发中。