Square Enix: We take too long to make games

[Pristine20]

Onyxmeth said:

Pristine20 said:

Onyxmeth said:

shakarak said:
Based on sales their portable division seems most profitable.

I'm fairly certain it is. It would probably take 4-5 DS projects to equal the cost of making one HD project.

 

 

Your statement can be interpreted like "making 4-5 DS games would always be more profitable than 1 HD project". Things are never that simple. I'm pretty sure one cod4 would always yield waaay more profit than 5 "The world ends with you". Initial cost can be worth it with appropriate planning.

I'm not saying that statement like we're living in a vacuum. I know how much the DS projects make, I know there are remakes with very low costs, and I've seen what Square's recent console games have made. Thus far, it's pretty obvious what's doing better. However I'm not an idiot. I know Final Fantasy XIII is going to be more profitable than 4-5 DS projects. Unfortunately, most of Square's console efforts are not pulling anything remotely close to FF numbers, and many of the DS titles clearly outsell them.

Then again, I can make the point that Dragon Quest IX can likely pull that FF XIII-like level of profitability(or be in the ballpark) and still cost consideribly less to create.

 

I see you were only talking in the frame of S-E's endeavors alone. I wasn't sure what you meant thats why I phrased my response with doubt. You're right, S-E has definitely performed much better on handhelds than consoles this gen. This is why I used the term "poor planning". However, assuming a moneyhat was really involved with S-E's projects this gen, it is plausible that they've actually been very much worth it. It's hard to believe that CEO's couldn't conceptualize things your average gamer can figure out.

You're right, DQIX would probably make more profit than FFXIII for PS360. This also has to do with planning and demographics. However, I'd question your judgement if you argue that FFXIII for DS would be more profitable than FFXIII for PS360 if they chose that path instead. Some games are just better served on some platforms.