Ever since its announcement a while ago, Forspoken was supposed to be Square Enix’s “golden child” with third-person action/adventure. Alas, that’s not the way it went.
The game is barely registering on the sales charts, and game critics – including us – weren’t exactly fond of the release. But now, it appears Square Enix is paying a much higher tab for this dud than we could’ve expected.
According to lead writer Allison Rymer’s Linkedin profile page, an updated job listing indicates that she “wrote the bible, script and downloadable content for a fantasy AAA video game with release date set for fall 2022.” And, yes, it includes a link to a Forspoken trailer, so it’s that one.
But here’s the kicker. In the description, she noted that the game had a “$100,000,000+ budget”. Which…is ridiculous considering that it’s an original franchise and not, say, Marvel’s Avengers, which cost about the same when everything was said and done. Square Enix recently confirmed that the game “flopped” when it came to sales; and, as a result, Luminous Productions, its developer, was recently closed, with all its employees going to Square Enix directly.
Though this isn’t official confirmation of a price tag, it does tie in with Square’s financial woes as of late, including the failure of Avengers and, most recently, Babylon’s Fail, which ceased service just a few days back.
Can the company bounce back with Final Fantasy XVI later this year? We shall see. But there’s one thing to be sure – it likely won’t take a chance again like it did with Forspoken.
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