Square Enix announced its financial results for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2019, and the company revealed that it also has major plans involving new IP, suggesting that there’s already something in the works that the company is expecting success from. Square Enix has had a relatively quiet 2019 after the release of Kingdom Hearts 3, but things will quickly begin picking up for the company later this year, as Final Fantasy XIV Shadowbringers and other titles, like Dragon Quest Builders 2, help bolster its offerings.
Square Enix is a company that’s chiefly known for its major AAA franchises like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, but the publisher and developer has been looking to enrich its portfolio with new properties over the last few years. Titles like I Am Setsuna, Octopath Traveler, and a reinvigorated Tomb Raider series have helped maintain a steady flow of game releases, which has been helpful in keeping Square Enix in the spotlight, something the company’s previously more sporadic release schedule could sometimes struggle with.
According to Square Enix, a major part of the company’s business plan moving forward will be investment into new IPs. The company announced that it planned to “aggressively” invest in new IPs on an ongoing basis, with the idea being that the creation of these new products will inevitably enrich the company’s games portfolio, offering more opportunities for games and spin-offs down the line.
Square also revealed that most of the games planned for this fiscal year will be released in the second half of the schedule, meaning that the next six months will likely rely heavily on Shadowbringers and Dragon Quest Builders 2 to buoy the company into a busier fall and winter. The company then noted that it would have several game announcements at E3 2019 this year, but not just there, with information on different unannounced titles coming at some point this month. That’s exciting news for fans, and reiterates the fact that Square Enix is committing to bringing new IPs to its portfolio as quickly as possible.
Just what those new IPs look like, however, is a complete mystery. Given the success of the company’s RPG releases — and, perhaps, the even more telling disappointing Left Alive performance — it would make sense for Square to focus on that genre. Apparently, we won’t have to wait too long, though, and if nothing else, the commitment to a new IP, or several of them, will make for an incredibly exciting next month-and-a-half of Square news.
