Square Enix has never been shy about publicly noting its disappointment when a game underperforms, and now the company says that Forspoken's sales have been disappointing enough to put its entire financial outlook for the year at risk.
They've actually been saying this for a bit - since a financial results briefing held on February 3 - but those comments have just been officially translated. (Thanks, RPG Site.)
"Reviews of Forspoken, which we released on January 24, 2023, have been challenging," chief accounting officer Atsushi Matsuda said. "However, the game has also received positive feedback on its action features, including its parkour and combat capabilities, so it has yielded results that will lead to improvement of our development capabilities of other games in the future. That said, its sales have been lackluster, and while the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings."
Unfortunately, it seems like those new titles might not be moving the needle, either. Despite being a certified banger, Octopath Traveler 2 has been a sales disappointment in Japan, and given its utter lack lack of marketing, you'd be forgiven for not realizing that Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo, a top-shelf visual novel with some serious developer pedigree, exists at all.
Square Enix is still excited about blockchain games, though, so when those land with a wet thud I look forward to everyone's Square-themed takes on the 'who killed Hannibal' meme.
The publisher does at least have new games for 2023 like Final Fantasy 16 on the way.
