Square Enix attests to Forspoken‘s issues. This is not a huge surprise, but the publisher claims that the issue is not the production quality but rather the criticism of journalists who called for the game to be of higher quality.
With ratings of 67% for Forspoken, Luminous Productions was essentially shut down. The authors intended to create a sequel, however the programmers will now work as Square Enix and no longer operate under their own names.
Yosuke Matsuda discussed the game’s reception at an investor meeting early last month, but the English transcript wasn’t made public until today. Sales of Forspoken were “bad,” according to Square Enix’s president, as a result of “demanding” reviews.
Square Enix observes that some of the feedback was favorable, which should aid producers in creating future works that are better, but the sale of Forspoken may have an impact on the company’s financial results. Yet, a lot will depend on the February and March premieres.
Yosuke Matsuda did not provide an explanation for his remark, but I can confidently guess that some journalists had high hopes for Forspoken. After all, the Japanese were responsible for enticing a large audience to Square Enix’s first next-gen adventure, and the position ultimately let many down.