Another Square Enix Financial/Title Loss Report...

I Am Setsuna developer Tokyo RPG Factory is struggling after its excellent, Square Enix-backed JRPG failed to find an audience in Japan. The company’s financial reports show a 244 million yen loss (~$2.41 million) after being posted in the Official Gazette in Japan.

In Japan, the game sold 33,629 copies on the PlayStation 4 and 27,994 copies on the PS Vita during its opening week, which, while impressive for what is essentially an original IP indie game, is mere pennies for a mega-corporation like Square Enix.

It remains to be seen how well the game sold in North America, and I have a feeling it will actually do better here. These kind of retro throwbacks to classic series tend to do better with the North American nostalgic fans than they do with the Japanese ones.

Tokyo RPG Factory is a new studio founded by Square Enix that’s dedicated to developing “classic” style JRPGs. Hopefully, Square Enix will see that this venture has promise in at least creating goodwill in its fanbase and will allow the studio to explore its potential even more with another chance.

It’ll be tough to convince Square Enix that classic JRPGs are a good thing if nobody buys them.

Wait, they lost 2.4m on the game, or for the quarter? The article indicates it's for the game (which would be sad), but your post title indicates quarter.

Wait, they lost 2.4m on the game, or for the quarter? The article indicates it's for the game (which would be sad), but your post title indicates quarter.

I just finished I Am Setsuna last night and try as I might to want liking the game it has some serious baked in flaws. For a game demanding the price it does, it sets itself up.

Pros:
- The piano soundtrack is fantastic.
- Chrono Trigger style battles.
- Art and worldfeel.

Cons:
- It lifts a FF storyline entirely. Like wow, really.
- Convoluted accessory system.
- Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too short. Like the game collapses halfway through.
- No replay value.
- Laughably broken battle system. You can break the game from the beginning and oneshot nearly everything.

I'd conclude by saying this game makes for a good foundation for a return to old-school RPGing but it's not a complete game and like Tales of Zestiria it feels like a test platform for a better game down the road.

It wasn't SE who had the loss, it was Tokyo RPG Factory.

Fix the title again, and your OP.

No need to. SE's publishing investment in the studio so its technically their loss.. Stop trying to defend SE's status on this loss...

I bought it and haven't played it yet, but this is more or less what I expected.

I don't get what you mean about ToZ though; the Tales games have had the same basic structure forever, at this point you either like them or you don't (I do, and liked Zestiria, even if it wasn't my fave of the series).

Japan needs to stop with the complexity for complexities sake.

Was I am Setsuna their only project for the reporting period? Did SE actually post the loss? Is SE the only publisher for Tokyo RPG Factory (i.e. their only investor/owner)? Is this a child company of Square Enix?

I Am Setsuna was developed by Tokyo RPG Factory, a studio created by Square Enix and staffed by external staff to produce role-playing video games (RPGs).

From what I can find it's their only game

Thanks for clearing that up.

At least we know that A) It is a child company, and B) they are separate entities.

So, we know that SE neither absorbed the loss nor the principle owner of the company. That answered a couple of my questions.

Still a misleading thread.

The concept originated from plans to re-create a game similar to classic RPGs from the genre's golden age. The staff was made up of developers who agreed with this vision. The battle system was specifically based on the Active Time Battle system used in Chrono Trigger. According to Hashimoto, Chrono Trigger was used as inspiration due to its popularity, it being a favorite of the assembled development team, and the fact that there were few spiritual successors to it on the market.

The character designs were done by toi8: he was brought in at an early stage, and his designs were likewise meant to reinforce the atmosphere. The game's music was composed by Tomoki Miyoshi, a young composer whose first notable score was for Soul Calibur V. Almost all tracks were performed on solo piano played by Randy Kerber, who had worked on major films including Forrest Gump and Titanic.

$19 billion dollar per year profit company

Yen but yeah, it shouldn't affect them

SE's $19 billion dollar per year profit company

If FFXI goes down. Everyone is going to blame this game.. XD :P