The development Forspoken reportedly cost Square Enix more than 75 million US Dollars, and, as a result, it will face significant challenges in breaking even.
According to senior analyst at MST Financial, David Gibson, Forspoken cost more than 10 billion Yen to make, which is over 75 million US Dollars, with most of that likely to be written off. He noted that this is a significant figure, given that company wide profits are close to 50 billion Yen, which is around 374 million US Dollars. As such, the game is likely to face significant challenges in breaking even.
Despite charting at the 7th spot in the NPD games list during the month of January based on sales revenue, it was considered below Square Enix’s expectations. Given the massive investment, it’s not difficult to see why that is the case. AAA game development has become an extremely expensive and risky undertaking for publishers in the current landscape. The marketing budget for Forspoken was likely quite high as well, as the game had major advertisements on display at popular places, such as the Times Square, as well as a CG trailer.
It also didn’t help that the game got a lukewarm reception from critics. Gibson expects that Square Enix will suffer major losses as a result of Forspoken. He believes that it may perhaps have been related to the company’s decision to replace its CEO.
Previously, it was reported that Luminous Productions, the developer behind Forspoken, was planning to work on other projects, including a sequel before getting shut down. RPGSite owner Alex Donaldson had shared details regarding the status of Luminous Productions, revealing that the studio had been planning other projects, including a sequel.
However, it had recently been announced that the development team will be redistributed throughout Square Enix from May 1, 2023. This is also likely to mark the end of Luminous Engine as a tech, he added. Donaldson further stated that Luminous Productions had designs on and was in the preliminary stages of work on some other games, including outlines for a Forspoken sequel.
