Today, Square Enix has launched their official merchandise store as a part of the existing web store on the Square Enix website.
The original store was hacked into back in October of last year, resulting in Square Enix shutting it down permanently. Now, fans will be able to purchase Play Arts figurines and other products from the websites store.
Today, Polygon has discovered that Square Enix North America’s President and CEO Michael Fischer has left the company.
This comes piled on top of news from back in March that Yoichi Wada would be leaving the company because of a 13 billion yen loss in revenue for the Fiscal year, and the recent layoffs that hit Square Enix’s North America branch. Fishcer’s Linked In page now states he is the Vice President of Digital Music and Video for Amazon Japan.
Currently the company is in the process of being restructured following what Yoichi Wada called poor sales of Hitman: Absolution, Sleeping Dogs, and Tomb Raider.
Square Enix and Eidos-Montréal have announced that Thief will be releasing on the Xbox One and have given us the new image above to show off its visuals.
“The team at Eidos-Montreal is thrilled to confirm that THIEF is coming to Xbox One. The next generation of home consoles allow us to create the best and the most immersive THIEF game ever. The feedback we have received so far is simply amazing and we can’t wait to show more of THIEF at E3 this year”
said Stephane D’Astous, General Manager, Eidos-Montréal.
Thief will be available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC sometime next year.
Game Director and Character Designer Tetsuya Nomura was on hand during the inaugural episode of ‘Square Enix Merchandise Radio’.
When asked about Final Fantasy Versus XIII- the long awaited title that was rumored to have been cancelled and may or may not now be Final Fantasy XV, Nomura said:
“It’s a delicate situation within the company… The date for our next reveal is set and we are working toward preparing information for that. Perhaps the details as to why information couldn’t be released might be touched upon with the next information announcement.”
With E3 just months away, could we finally get an update on this title that fans have been demanding information for for the last several years? We’ll be there, and we’ll let you know what we hear!
via Nova Crystallis
During today’s Nintendo Direct, Nintendo announced that they will be publishing Square Enix’s 3DS RPG Bravely Default: Flying Fairy.
Being asked for by fans since it’s release last year in Japan, Nintendo has answered the call and is helping to release the game outside of Japan. The game will be released sometime in 2014.
We have confirmed that there have been layoffs at Square Enix’s offices in Los Angeles.
We can confirm that Square Enix’s Los Angeles office has eliminated a number of positions as part of the corporate restructuring announced last week. This is an unfortunate situation and we are offering assistance and severance packages to any employees affected by this, we want to thank them for their hard work and sincerely wish them well in the future.
This news comes after President Yoichi Wada said he would be stepping down from the company as a result of a 13 billion yen loss for the fiscal year. The company is currently going under restructuring. Final Fantasy XIV Director/Producer Naoki Yoshida said on the games official forums that “the plans, stance and structure of the development team will not be affected.”
We’ve contacted Square Enix to see whether or not those involved in Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV were affected following today’s announcement however they were unable to comment further.
You can see updated info about this situation after the jump.
For those that missed it, Final Fantasy III is now available on the Ouya.
This marks the 5th time that the game has been released stateside since its debut on the Nintendo DS. However, Square Enix isn’t stopping there. Today we received word that Square Enix veteran and Final Fantasy III Director, Hiromichi Tanaka, will be returning to the company to oversee further ports of Final Fantasy III.
“Currently, the team is constructing a brand new engine for graphing calculators” Tanaka told us. “I figure, if Naoki Yoshida can take Final Fantasy XIV and make it look great on low end hardware, then I can do the same thing with Final Fantasy III! We feel that the graphing calculator market is brimming with potential for games. Why would kids want to do something productive like homework when they could load up Final Fantasy III on their overpriced calculators?”
Currently, the TI-83 Plus is the only new port for the title that has been confirmed. When we asked Tanaka about other platforms he said “Wii U? Probably not. However, if the calculator version takes off we may look into a pen and paper version, or perhaps even look at bringing Final Fantasy III to the abacus! I mean… really, it’s been on just about everything else! We have to think outside the box when bringing Final Fantasy to as many people as possible”.
When asked if there would be any changes to the game for the hardcore Final Fantasy fans Tanaka told us “Well… and this isn’t official yet, but we’re considering changing the name. Originally in North America, Final Fantasy III was really Final Fantasy VI. So we’re thinking about switching those around. Lately, other directors in the series have said that making things more “Final Fantasy” is a good way to go. What better way to make this latest port more Final Fantasy than to confuse people with the numbers?”
Currently there is no release date set for the TI-83 Plus version of Final Fantasy III… or is it Final Fantasy VI? Either way, keep checking back for the latest information!
Happy April 1st!
Square Enix was revising their forecast for this fiscal year and noticed that things weren’t going quite as they had hoped.
Previously, Square Enix had a profits forecast of 3.5 billion yen. Unfortuneatly that number has now gone in opposite direction. By a lot. The estimated loss is 13 billion yen (or $137.9 million).
As a result of this, Square Enix President Yoichi Wada has announced that he will be stepping down as part of major reform and restructuring in the company. This restructoring will cost the company 10 billion yen, which is why their profits are now a loss for this year. This will include a disposal of content and evaluation of other content, each costing 4 billion yen.
Yosuke Matsuda will assume the presidential role while a shareholder meeting in late June decides who will take the helm.
