Forspoken is considered a failure by players and critics, the studio has now been dissolved. Now Square Enix comments on the sales figures and they are said to be poor.
The new game Forspoken from Square Enix has not received a good reception among players and critics. Now the head of Square Enix explains that the sales figures have been very weak. This may also be due to the “difficult” reviews. After all, we have learned from the criticism.
The fantasy game Forspoken has been officially available since January 24, 2023, and has not had a good launch. On Metacritic, the ratings stand at 64%, while on Steam, the reviews are now at 59% with over 3,000 reviews. The studio Luminous Productions has now been dissolved.
Despite promising an unused story and an interesting protagonist, it ultimately failed due to the unsympathetic main character.
Poor sales figures and bad reviews for Forspoken
In a press conference on February 3, 2023, the president of Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda, commented on Forspoken. In his conversation with investors, he explained that the sales of the game had been quite weak following “difficult” reviews. He himself describes it as “lacklustre.” (via videogameschronicle.com).
This also makes him blame the critics for the poor performance of the game, which for 80 euros simply no one wanted to buy. After all, they have also learned lessons from the criticism. He explains:
The game has also received positive feedback for its action features, including its parkour and combat abilities, resulting in outcomes that will improve our development capabilities for other games in the future.
How are players reacting? On reddit many players shake their heads. Many critiques have been justified, and it was not just due to the weak story. The performance was also a disaster, as someone explains:
Additionally, you needed a high-end RTX card [from Nvidia] and even that had problems running Forspoken. The game was simply not ready for launch.
Many believe that the game would have benefited from another release delay to at least elevate the game to a reasonable technical standard.
How is Square Enix doing anyway? The large publisher Square Enix has not been doing well for years, with many game releases failing and big successes being absent. In the past, several games have tanked. This includes the expensive Babylon’s Fall, which had to die after not even a year. This was supposed to be the new service game from Square Enix that would regularly bring in money.
On the other hand, Square Enix at least has a strong long-term performer that is currently keeping the publisher afloat. And that is an MMORPG that only a few years ago turned around and can now attract thousands of players daily:
After a year full of flops, a 10-year-old MMORPG is Square Enix’s salvation
