Square Enix shutters another two games in Japan, continuing a worrying trend

I spend an awful lot of my spare time playing Final Fantasy XIV; it is a masterpiece. Final Fantasy 8 is my favourite game of all time, and I worship Yoshi-P. I feel it is important to just state that upfront, because what in the hell is happening over at Square Enix?

If you have read my stuff either here or over on AppSpy, you will probably have noticed I use any opportunity to take a pop at Square. They have single-handedly created and destroyed many of my favorite mobile games. And now, they are shutting Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Dragon Quest of the Stars over in Japan.

Both of these have been shut globally for a while, but seeing them close in Japan is a shock. Square has run a few games specifically in Japan that haven’t been released worldwide, so I always thought they were pretty safe over there. But perhaps not. Their mobile games are dropping left, right, and centre, and it starts to make you wonder why.

I am far from a game developer, so I can’t say how much it costs to create a run a game, but for a big beast like Square, it can’t take that many resources. Or at the very least, they could do what Nintendo did with Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp and release a purely offline version. This would have been perfect for Nier Reincarnation, Kingdom Hearts X, Final Fantasy Record Keeper, and many others.

The worst part is that the announcement is always the same. “Sorry, we can’t deliver the experience we want, goodbye." That is rubbish. If your game has been running for ten years with a player base, you are delivering what people want. So it isn’t that. Perhaps it is that ever-looming beast: profitability.

If you look at the Square Enix financial report for the end of the 2024/25 fiscal year, it is dire. Digital Entertainment specifically is down 40 billion yen, which is hard to ignore. This seems to be a trend across Square; sales are down. Besides FFXIV. Yoshi-P is carrying Square. Could this really be a case of cutting off the arm so the body may live?

This is worrying not just for the mobile division, but perhaps Square as a whole. Even their strongest asset, FFXIV, is taking some punches. The latest expansion, Dawntrail, hasn’t been as positively received as it could have been, and with the Mare Synchronos mod being forced to close, that community might also be on the out.

For all the grief I have given it, Square has been a huge part of my life since childhood. Seeing them struggle for such a long time is a huge worry, and we keep losing so many great mobile games for it. They need to make another hit soon, or I fear the worst is yet to come. Save us, Yoshi-P.