It’s not a secret that Forspoken has been one of the main failures of the yearand that has already cost his studio the future, Luminous Productions. Forspoken launched on January 24 and, barely a month later, it has been revealed that its developer, Luminous Productions, Will have to merge with Square Enix to continue operating.
Although we do not know how it has fared in terms of sales, this information reveals that they have been very bad. The reviews also help to support the hypotheses, since the game enjoys on Steam 59% positive evaluations. On Metacritic, the press gives it an average of 6.3 points out of 10, which differs excessively from 1.7 out of 10 of the users. The best rated version on this website is the PlayStation 5 version, with a user rating of 3.4 points out of 10. So well, it’s not like it’s something positive for the company either. It should be noted that the official price of this game is €79.99all nonsense.
Forspoken started making noise early, promising to be the first game to take advantage of the DirectStorage API, then suffered numerous delays and, to make matters worse, asked for recommended requirements 24GB of RAM, a GeForce RTX 3070 and an SSD to play it at 1440p at 30 FPS. This already made it clear that the optimization was conspicuous by its absence, or of course, that we would be facing the most visually advanced game seen to date. Unsurprisingly, this last example was not the case in point.
To this was added many criticisms linked to the “woke” movement, a very basic gameplay, stupid dialogues or poor character development. We continue with the bad optimization, generic enemies, a bad AI, and of course, all of it linked at a price of a Triple A title. In this way, it is not surprising that Square Enix has now canceled the project.
Luminous Productions: when dissolving a studio is made up with a merger with Square Enix
The studio was already a subsidiary company of Square Enix. In this way, a merger does not make sense. we could talk about that this studio is disbanding and that their workers will be reassigned to other projects. In essence, bureaucratic issues, where a studio that was already 100% owned by Square Enix now disappears under the excuse of a merger. Under the role of the advertisement, this does not change anything, but it really is not. In essence, it seems that only the merger is tied to better oversee future projects, which will be based on Luminous graphics engines.
SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (Headquartered in Shinjuku, Tokyo; Chairman and Representative Director Yosuke Matsuda; hereinafter the “Company”) announces which will merge its wholly owned subsidiary Luminous Productions Co., Ltd. with its wholly owned subsidiary SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. starting Monday, May 1, 2023.
The merger is part of the company’s efforts to further strengthen competitiveness of the group’s development studies, a goal set out in its current medium-term business strategy. SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. has developed numerous high-definition (HD) AAA games and owns a large amount of intellectual property (IP) and content. For its part, Luminous Productions Co., Ltd. has not only development capabilities for AAA titles, but also technical expertise in areas such as game engine development. The combination of both entities will further enhance the Group’s ability to develop high-definition games.
Latest news from Luminous Productions
You may have heard the news that Luminous Productions is merging with Square Enix. Starting May 1, our talented team will team up with Square Enix to bring innovative new gaming experiences to gamers around the world.
Until then, we will continue to focus entirely on Forspoken. We are currently working on the previously announced patch to improve overall game performance (we’ll be posting an update soon) and the downloadable content, “In Tanta We Trust”, is on track for release this summer. Thanks again for your patience and support.
When we founded Luminous Productions in 2018, our vision was to create AAA games that meld technology and art to deliver completely new gaming experiences. Getting the opportunity to do just that has been a dream come true. We appreciate you taking this journey with us and look forward to continuing to create new entertainment and experiences as part of the Square Enix family.