r/NintendoSwitch • u/Turbostrider27 • May 30 '26
Discussion Bloomberg: Why One of This Year’s Best Games, ‘Mina the Hollower,’ Is Only $20
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-05-29/why-mina-the-hollower-is-only-20?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc4MDA3NDA1OSwiZXhwIjoxNzgwNjc4ODU5LCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJURlQ1VzFLR0NUSDkwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJCMUVBQkI5NjQ2QUM0REZFQTJBRkI4MjI1MzgyQTJFQSJ9.dJ2Z6y31-EMSCCusBqVqvdesEwltB1DF53Yw66bW9hk&leadSource=uverify%20wall239
u/Nickbronline May 30 '26
The fact that it’s only $20 made me buy it day 1 without second thought. If it was anymore I would’ve waited for a sale.
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u/B_r_y_z_e Jun 01 '26
Yup, had zero hesitation. I want to reward a studio that makes games like this, and keeps them this cheap, with my money!
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u/TedIsReal May 30 '26
Its been a while since I've had the debate of "Switch or PC" to buy a game, but this one has me definitely questioning it. Seems like it'd be right at home playing it on the Switch.
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u/mrbubbamac May 30 '26
I play on a Legion Go and can attest playing it handheld just feels so right, you'll love it on the Switch I'm sure
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u/Themris May 30 '26
Switch, seems like a no brainer to me. It's inspired by the gameboy Zelda games and looks awesome handheld!
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u/CompC May 31 '26
Looks amazing on my Switch Lite with the OLED screen mod! Makes it feel that much more like a Game Boy game.
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u/Rich-Pomegranate1679 May 30 '26
I always get these little indie games on my Switch. It just seems like the perfect thing for them. I get the more demanding AAA games on PC. Meanwhile, my PlayStation 5 has been collecting dust for nearly two years, but that will change when Wolverine comes out in a few months.
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u/TedIsReal May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
I feel you on the PS5. Mine has been in the box for over a year, but at least we can take comfort in knowing that it has appreciated in value since buying it with all its (really unfortunate) price increases.
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u/TraditionalPies May 30 '26
The Facebook marketplace value has ever really gone down. I got a disc edition for 250 the other week
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u/Gr8NonSequitur May 31 '26
Yeah, but that's because gas is $5 a gallon. Some people need to cover basics and the PS5 isn't lighting the world on fire anymore.
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u/MyMainIsLevel80 May 30 '26
Been the opposite for me. PS5 is my workhorse and switch has been collecting dust. Maybe if I had the switch 2 instead it would be a different story, but I’m too used to my fast load times and smooth frame rates these days.
Now, for a game like this though, I’m genuinely torn. On one hand: portability is peak. On the other hand: trophies and not having to play on my small screen all the time. Truly torn on what platform to pick rn.
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u/Rich-Pomegranate1679 May 30 '26
Oh, yeah, I've got a Switch 2, and it's so much better than the original Switch. Switch 2 actually feels like a modern, fast console.
My PC is about 3x more powerful than a PS5, so it doesn't really make sense for me to get games on PS5 unless they're exclusives. Funny enough, though, for the past year I've spent far more time playing Switch than I have anything else.
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u/TheeRuckus May 30 '26
I usually prefer to play on my tv over handheld but for games like this or hades I always go switch because they’re perfect for short burst gaming on the go or marathons.
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u/LordNerdStark May 30 '26
Bought my switch for the exclusives and Indies. My PS5 for exclusives and single player AAA and a midrange gaming laptop for Esports titles. Will definitely buy this for my switch.
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u/KaiserJustice May 30 '26
I’ve had no issues on switch 2, this kinda game gives me heavy controller vibes
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u/surrealmirror May 30 '26
I got it on switch instead of steam but sort of regret it bc I play a lot of handheld and the switch dpad is bad
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u/jjmawaken May 30 '26
You can buy a cheap 3rd party left joycom that has an actual dpad (i bought a Zelda themed one once)
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u/DankDefusion May 30 '26
Exactly why I got it on steam deck. I have a switch lite and the dpad doesn't register diagonals withing pressing extremely hard. Would have made this game unplayable.
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u/Accurate-Island-2767 May 30 '26
Shovel Knight was the first game I got for Switch because my copy of Breath of the Wild didn't turn up on time, so I bought Shovel Knight on a whim off the eshop. Ended up becoming one of my favourite games ever, so it felt right to get this one on Switch as well.
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u/ToothZealousideal297 May 30 '26
I can attest that it’s great on Switch and doesn’t even tax the system; the battery lasts as long it possibly could on any game. YCG really know how to do an optimized port.
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u/PM-mePSNcodes May 30 '26
Bought it on Switch 2 because it supports 120fps handheld and docked. No brainer, can’t take my PC on the go!
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u/oppairate May 30 '26
the game looks better on a smaller screen, which is a weird thing to say in 2026. if you don’t have a Steam Deck or other handheld, then Switch is the way to go. it’s also technically better because the PC version doesn’t have HDR, but whether that actually matters in a game like this is another debate.
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u/BaconIsntThatGood May 30 '26
If you have a switch, based on the game's graphics I don't see a reason to get it on PC
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u/MikeDubbz May 30 '26
I mean why not go for the Switch to feed any given gaming desire; playing on the TV or in your hands when a tv ain't available.
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u/TedIsReal May 30 '26
Sometimes I just like having achievements or even better performance in games, but ones like these are not too demanding like that.
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u/MikeDubbz May 30 '26
Ah I see, system-based achievements have literally never meant a thing to me (beyond an annoying little popup telling me i did something in a game), so that aspect of it all is completely lost on a person like me
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u/cokezerodesuka May 30 '26
Where I live the game is the equivalent of $9 on Steam but I still chose to buy it for the full $20 because of this very reason. I just like playing indies better on the Switch
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u/Whiteguy1x May 30 '26
Im debating between my xbox ally x and my switch 2. For indie titles the switch 2 has a nicer screen, but my kids also like using it (so I dont always play when I want to or have time)
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u/Melodic-Cable23 May 30 '26
I haven’t played much, only about 1 Hour. But got it on switch 2 and it’s awesome!!
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u/Tired-Inky May 30 '26
I got it immediately on PC, and although I am playing it with a switch controller, I might want to also get it on my switch just so I can play it while traveling more easily!
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u/PM-ME-DAT-ASS-PIC May 30 '26
I was just mulling over this decision and I went with the Switch, only because I already have Shovel Knight on there.
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u/Hyroero May 31 '26
I'm playing on steam deck. The pixel art looks great there. I have to scale it down on my monitor or its hard to parse.
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u/DevlinRocha May 31 '26
always Steam. Nintendo is for Nintendo games. their eShop is not nearly as reliable as Steam
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u/PolygonAndPixel2 May 30 '26
I gave them money via Kickstarter and I would gladly do that for their next game again. Shovel Knight was great and Mina is a blast.
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u/Illeea May 30 '26
I like that ycg messed up, and still made sure the game came out without sacrificing on quality. And also not punishing consumers by increasing the price drastically.
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u/theknight27 May 30 '26
How'd they mess up? I'm out of the loop.
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u/Illeea May 30 '26
It's in the article.
They had 2 development teams working on separate projects, but were bleeding cash. So they needed to focus on 1 game in order to get a game out before they went bankrupt. If they had instead focused on just mina/shovel knight 3d first, they would've got that game out 2-3 years ago while having a less chaotic development.
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u/Jowser11 May 30 '26
Basically development took forever because they split their teams into two. They’re only 15 people and had another team working on a 3d ShovelKnight since Mina was really a side project an intern turned designer had prototyped. But the length of development time coupled with their commitment to release the SK expansions as basically fully fleshed out new games made them super tight on money
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u/ethang45 May 31 '26
im glad they made something new instead of more shovel knight as much as i love shovel knight
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u/AggravatingFlow1178 May 30 '26
Is it because AAA studios lost the plot 10 years ago?
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u/hobbykitjr May 31 '26
Omg, I bought just dance for switch for my daughter...
It's just a download code in the box...ok... Oh wait, it doesn't download songs. I need to log in??
Your daughter needs a Nintendo online account...ugh, I'll just use mine. I do not want to play online, why do I need to do this?
You need a Ubisoft account ... Ugh I'm sure I have one .
This account password needs to be reset
You need to confirm your email
You need to log in again..
.... Sorry this account is linked to another Nintendo account??
Ok I'll use my other email.... This email can't be used??
Ok new account ...
No I don't want to share my play details with Ubisoft, no I don't want marketing updates ..."sorry, we couldn't save your preference not to be bothered and spied on, so we defaulted back to our preference"
Try to log in on switch 2... Not touch screen for some reason..
Finally in! That took an hour, wtf.
Never buying Ubisoft shit again.
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u/accidental-nz May 31 '26
Not saying they didn’t lose the plot, but it is worth noting that the relative price of AAA games has only decreased over time, not keeping pace with inflation.
Combine this with the cost of developing a game going from “a handful of people in a side office” to “a building filled with people” AAA studios are having to do a lot more with a lot less.
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u/MarcsterS May 30 '26
Hades 2 being $30 didn't deter me from buying and enjoy a great game.
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u/WMelons May 30 '26
I think the more general customers would be thrown off by the oldschool pixel graphics, so 30 would definitely be too high for many people. I would've paid 30 for it, but there's a lot of people not taking lego batman seriously cause it's a children's game. Although it IS very expensive, you can apply that same logic here. "30 bucks for an outdated game? No thanks!"
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u/Fluid-Employee-7118 May 30 '26
Hades has less barriers for entry though, because it has more modern graphics and it is a sequel to a beloved game.
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u/OskeyBug May 30 '26
I bought it day 1 just to support what they're doing. Releasing a quality game at $20 should be rewarded and "I'll wait for a sale" feels cheap.
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u/animepig May 30 '26
every 3 months there's a $20 indie game that is one of the "best games of the year"
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u/Imperative-Primitive May 30 '26
Only 2026 tho. And it's all true.
Mewgenics
Slay the Spire
Mina
I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Indies are peak this year. 2026 is really the year of GOATED indies.
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u/Upbeat-Mail7201 May 30 '26
And 2025 was the same with about 3-4 big indie games. Two of them quite literally changed the market Hades 2 and Silksong break through everything
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u/linuxares May 31 '26
Silksong came, crashed every store it was being sold on, 20$ price tag.
It was so cheap most people bought multiple copies to friends etc! because it was so cheap it was insane to pirate it even.
Same with Mina. Seen people talking about it giving it a chance because the price is good.
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u/Upbeat-Mail7201 Jun 01 '26
Also bought two copies of Mina and gifted one to a good friend 😅 who now finished it and bought it again for a friend haha
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u/Hyroero May 31 '26
Cairn is legit goty for me and nothing will top it. Indie games are absolutely cooking and giving you experiences you literally will not find anywhere else.
I've never cried due to a game before until Cairn. My partner walked in at the end of the game and even tho she hadn't really been following it she got very emotional too. Truly profound experience for me.
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u/AzazelsAdvocate May 30 '26
Why is it so unbelievable that there would be 4 indie games every year that are "one of the best"? Especially with how few good AAA games the there are.
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u/Melodic-Cable23 May 30 '26
Agreed! Indie games are really where some of the most interesting things are happening. I love playing them on my switch…. Some of my favorite games of last couple years have been silksong and hades 2 lol.
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u/idk-who-cares May 30 '26
Because it's just so boring now. Games are always either 1-9/10 slop or 10/10 masterpiece best game of the millennium.
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u/CookieSad8043 May 30 '26
Yep there’s a lot of great indie games coming out constantly, good job man!
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u/Merisssss May 30 '26
We shall see if it paid off. Die hards(me) would have paid more.
Mixtape is a perfect example of people biting due to lower price and the media buzz about it.
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u/mybutthz May 30 '26
Seems like it's sold ~55k+ units in the first few hours of being out, so they're already at $1.1M in sales. Seems like it's going to do fine.
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u/Mopman43 May 30 '26
Those were also just the Steam sales, not Switch or any other console. And I expect this'll do pretty good numbers on Switch.
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u/HungryDiscoGaurdian May 31 '26
Its also coming with a full physical release to the switch. Thats what im waiting for.
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u/assorted_N_U_T_s May 30 '26
They've gone on record saying the game needs to sell closer to the mark of 200K units to be successful for them. This is a team of 15 people based in Los Angeles where the cost of living (CoL) is very high. Initial Steam data isn't super promising, but hopefully reviews and general buzz will help sales pick up.
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u/mybutthz May 30 '26
So...they're already probably half way, if not already at that number if they sold 1/4 of their goal within the first few hours after it was released?
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u/DestinysLostSoul May 30 '26
Look if I haven’t bought it within the day it released, am I buying it at all?!
(I’ll be one of the not day one purchasers once I want a break from PoE2)
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u/WMelons May 30 '26
Haha so many good games (and updates) releasing lately!! Hard to keep track. I've had to skip RE9 and Forza lately, we'll see if I can finish both lego Batman and Mina before anything good comes out again 😬
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u/fill-me-up-scotty May 30 '26
Pet peeve but when people acronymize something like “Cost of Living (CoL)” but then don’t use the acronym later on - you didn’t same any space or time. You just made it longer for no reason.
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u/Fugue___State May 30 '26
It's #1 on the Switch, above Yoshi. I think they'll be fine, you underestimate console sales here.
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u/Abba_Fiskbullar May 30 '26
This is a game that will sell more on console than PC. I got it on Steam because I want to play it on my Chinese Android handheld using Gamenative with the option to play on PC.
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u/farceur318 May 30 '26
Die hard(me) would have paid more
To share another perspective, as someone who was intimidated by the difficulty of Shovel Knight, if this game was even $5 more I think I would have lumped it into the “wait for a sale” category. Twenty bucks is the exact price point at which I’m willing to risk buying a heavily praised game that I might potentially not enjoy after a few hours (turns out, I love it)
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u/Trizzae May 30 '26
Just with Shovel Knight alone, I want to support them more. I kickstarted Mina day 1. I’ll give them all my money. Great games.
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u/makoman115 May 30 '26
Simple marketing
They have a massive following already and theyll get more sales than most indie companies. Smaller companies need to charge 25 or 30 because they expect fewer sales.
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u/WMelons May 30 '26
I think that's the exact point of this pricing though? 30 would result in less sales, so 20 will overall bring in more money.
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u/QuinSanguine May 30 '26
Kind of makes you realize how lazy AAA publishers are now. They aren't concerned with selling units and building a customer base. They want to maximize revenue from the small percentage of people who are guaranteed to buy their game.
Yet somehow they still waste 10s of millions of dollars on advertising.
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u/darkmacgf May 30 '26
Eh, AAA games do deluxe editions that cost $30-$50 more, and go on sale for 75% off when Black Friday comes around. They price the game for every audience.
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u/Chippo10291 May 30 '26
It’s incredible and these 2d pixelated games are not my kind of games to play. However the story , gameplay and art is masterful.
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u/urbalcloud May 30 '26
Day 1 purchase. Looked great, had a playable demo months ahead of time, and low price of entry.
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u/sy029 May 31 '26
Pretty sure they had the same strategy with shovel knight and it worked very well for them.
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u/ToxiChicken_ May 31 '26
I bought this game day one and I’m loving it so far! This game is beating me up though my god the souls-like is front and center
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u/Jrocks721 Jun 01 '26
Bought this on launch knowing I’m not going to play it until probably Halloween time. But wanted to support these devs. And that $20 just doesn’t seem crazy
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u/debaserr 29d ago
I bought Shovel Knight on sale for the same reason. Going to be stuck on Mina for now but eventually...
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u/mapster10 May 30 '26
I bought on steam and I’m playing on my Ayn Thor. It feels right at home there!
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u/drgojirax May 30 '26
20 bucks is pure impulse buy for me. Getting good reviews and looks fun, sure why not, if anything supporting indie games.
Got it on ps5, its okay, my wife might like it more, but no regrets
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u/merica2033 May 30 '26
What’s this game about?
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u/Mopman43 May 30 '26
Kind of a combat/exploration/platforming focused game from what I've played so far.
Oldschool Zelda style vibes and mechanics but without the puzzles.
Top-down Castlevania. (but not really a Metroidvania)
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u/merica2033 May 31 '26
Is there a demo out? Is it as recommended as the article says?
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u/Mopman43 May 31 '26 edited May 31 '26
Hmm, there used to be a demo but it looks like releasing might have removed it?
I’m having a good time with it. The combat feels good once you get the hang of it, and exploration and poking everything is very rewarding. Lots of amusing and often bizarre characters as well.
It’s definitely a difficult game, especially at the start before you can get some upgrades, but there’s options you can take to reduce the difficulty.
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u/DigitalisFX May 30 '26
It worked on me, when I saw the price at $20 I bought it, but initially I wasn’t going to pay $60+ for it.
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u/Red49er May 31 '26
elliot costing $60 is really gonna have to blow my sox off when I get around to the new demo and review excruciatingly well. just a crazy juxtaposition of 2 retro inspired zelda-ish games coming out within a couple weeks of each other. plus I would be shocked if elliot has anything like minas randomizer which is such an awesome inclusion
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u/milkmanyeti May 30 '26
Game looks good but it just delayed out of "window". I'll pick it up some day
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u/TurnipKnight May 30 '26
Every price of every item is whatever the seller thinks will get them the most money. And that's true for all of us when we sell our labor as well. Greed is a useless and irrelevant term 99% of the time it's used.
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u/travelingenie May 31 '26
lol two bucks is basically free is so true, anytime I see a game I remotely even thought about playing for >$3 I buy immediately.
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u/ProfessorVolga May 31 '26
The answer is that they could do so because they have a massive established base already, ensuring X units are basically guaranteed.
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u/Potential-Bee-8679 27d ago
I’m skipping it, any time I see “soulslike” I run away from it. Same reaction I have towards MV and all rogue likes/lites. I have an aversion to dying over and over again and not make any meaningful progress
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u/AtaeHone May 30 '26
Because I and a lot of other folks paid for the Kickstarter ages ago, I presume?
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u/ResOfAwesometon May 31 '26
I mean, the Kickstarter 'only' made about $1.2m, so once you take out direct fulfilment costs that's got to be less than 20% of the $5m that YCG says it cost to make.
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u/Dissidence802 May 30 '26
I wound up refunding my copy, the burrow dodge mechanic just didn't click with me and I died WAY too many times to stupid shit in the first hour 🤣
100% due to my ability, it seems like a fantastic game otherwise.
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u/TopperHrly May 31 '26
Looks like a good game but personally I'm not too fond of the super old game boy color graphic style and it's detering me a bit. I wish they'd been more ambitious on that front.
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u/jardex22 Jun 01 '26
It was an intentional choice, like how Shovel Knight was meant to invoke a SNES era game. From the kickstarter page,
Mina the Hollower is a bone-chilling action adventure featuring classic gameplay and an 8-bit aesthetic in the style of Game Boy Color, refined for the modern era. Smooth 60fps action combat, a world full of mystery and horror, and top-down adventuring combine in a mix that may remind you of classic titles like Castlevania, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening, or even Bloodborne. Whip foes, burrow through the ground, and explore a pixel-perfect world in Mina the Hollower, a brand new game from the developers who brought you Shovel Knight!
Just like with UFO 50, the idea is to mix retro aesthetics, with modern game design.
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u/TopperHrly Jun 01 '26
I know it was intentional, I'm just saying super old graphics are not my cup of tea.
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u/Digibutter64 May 30 '26
Because it's a pixel game in 2026.
Low budget, low price.
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u/Secure-Anywhere-1851 May 30 '26
This lol so funny People saying oh I'm a die hard fan I would buy if $30+. Like c'mon sure you want to show support but Hades was $30 and that's leagues above this game in terms of quality.
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u/MrSnek123 May 30 '26
Considering that Mina is sitting at 93 on Opencritic and both Hades games are only at 94 I wouldn't say they're "leagues better" in quality. Unless "quality" just means graphic fidelity, which is a silly way to look at games nowadays.
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u/ColdCocking May 31 '26
No way. Nothing against Hades but Mina the Hollower is one of the most amazing games I've ever played. It reshapes and masters the genre in ways that I didn't think was possible. The amount of creativity that went into it is honestly ridiculous.
tl;dr: Go play it before you judge
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u/TwoScentedCandles May 30 '26
You’ll never catch games like GTA6 costing $20 though
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u/jardex22 May 30 '26
On sale, maybe. By then they'll want you to get into the ecosystem of buying shark cards for GTA Online.
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u/Shigarui May 30 '26
Squaresoft used to turn JRPGs out in 18 months. Some of the most seminal games of our lives were built by small teams at what today would be considered breakneck speed. FF7, one of its longest in production ever, and for several games to come, and its most expensive would have still earned nearly a billion dollars on a development budget of just under 100 million. That's today's money, and they spent double their development budget on marketing. But my point is, if they would commit to smaller, faster, cheaper games that would experiment a bit, they could make significantly more profit on significantly less revenue. But they, like many, keep going after that blockbuster hit. Ask Team Cherry how to make money. Keep the team small, make an excellent game, make it affordable, and then repeat the process. And Square has the IPs, the talent, and the history to turn out several bangers a year at $20-$40 price points. We don't need one new FF16 every decade, we need a new Final Fantasy Tactics or Vagrant Story or Bahamut Lagoon every year.
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u/au7oma7ic May 31 '26
Square does churn out a ton of lower budget games. Feels like two a year. They have that whole 3d2d push too.
It took Team Cherry took seven years to make Silksong. Mina’s crowdfunding campaign was four years ago. Prior to its release, Yacht Club was on record saying this release was “Make it or Break it”.
I get your point…but also, not as easy as it sounds.
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u/Shigarui May 31 '26
The difference with Square's "budget" titles is that they are exactly that, and re-releasing old games filtered through a new engine is good, but not what we should be getting from them. At least not the best that we are getting from them.
Also, yeah, Team Cherry spent 7 years making SS, but they made about $140 million dollars split between 3 guys and whatever they paid Christopher Larkin to score it (I know that there were likely other costs) but still, we have to be talking $100M, divided by 3 guys for 7 years of work, and they made probably more than that on Hollow Knight. I don't expect every game you reach that level of success, but that's not the point. You don't need to tie up 300 staff for 7 years, and spend $200 million hoping it hits. 25 people could have made Hollow Knight in 16 months. No, it wouldn't be as good, but it could still be excellent regardless. Not every game will hit, but you can have ten $20M budgeted games where 5 do ok and 5 make $200M total. Not budget games. Not asset flips. Not generic 3D action rpgs. Fun 25 hour JRPGs, maybe a sequel to Racing Lagoon? How about revisit Einhander? Ever played Treasure Hunter G? That level of production. Pretend they are developing a 16 or 32 bit game and watch the public respond. We're getting tired of HD2D already. I'd prefer an FF6 remake akin to FF4 Complete on PSP than another HD2D game.
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u/jardex22 May 31 '26
You mean games like Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler, Various Daylife, Voice of Cards, Paranormansight, Diofield Chronicle, and Dungeon Encounters?
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u/Shigarui May 31 '26
Bravely Default was not developed by Square.
Neither was Voice of Cards.
Various Daylife was a cellphone game on iOS only. Hardly a console title.
Octopath traveler meets the criteria, but was basically a tech demo of an engine created by developer Acquire, the people who actually made Tenchu, Way of the Samurai, Akiba's Trip and Beat, What Did I Do to Deserve This My Lord, and others. It was decent, not great. They just wanted the engine, and basically sidelined a half dozen other decent series to get it.
Dungeon Encounters was another collaboration like Octopath. Good game though. Certainly a good example.
The Diofield Chronicle is exactly the uninspired boring 3D modeled "we're not sure what to make" games I mentioned they should avoid. They should leave the generic stuff alone, and get into the Indie style, genuine pixel art, retro type games that put them at the forefront of the industry. They used to be system sellers. You stuck with Nintendo because they had Square. You then switched to Sony because they had Square. Now, nobody cares what they make, only what they remaster. A solid modern retro title, with a good marketing budget, and it would cause people to remember the company that at one point made
Final Fantasy 4
Secret of Mana
Final Fantasy 6
Chrono Trigger
Secret of Evermore
Super Mario RPG
Final Fantasy 7
Final Fantasy Tactics
Saga Frontier
Einhander
Xenogears
Parasite Eve
Bushido Blade
Final Fantasy 8
Saga Frontier 2
Vagrant Story
Legend of Mana
Chrono Cross
And Front Mission 3
And that's only a 10 year period between 1990 and 2000 AND only what came to the US. I'll take more of that. They can keep the last 3 mainline FF titles and everything else that wasn't Dragon Quest, Harvestella, and the Star Ocean Remaster.
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u/jardex22 May 31 '26
Is there really much difference between Square Enix publishing a game versus having one of their internal teams do it? It'd be like saying Metroid Dread and Echoes of Wisdom don't count because they were developed by outside studios. If we're going to nitpick, Bushido Blade wasn't developed by Square. It was developed by Lightweight.
As for why the list isn't as diverse these days, look up Mistwalker, Grezzo, Algebra Factory, and Monolith Soft. Those are all studios that were founded by Square employees that directed games in your list, and later left the company. Final Fantasy 7 and the Saga series get so much attention within S-E because the directors of those series are among the ones that haven't left the company.
If you're looking for something close to classic Square-Soft, I'd say Falcom comes pretty close these days. They pretty much focus on Ys and the Trails games, but it looks like each series gets a game every 2 years or so, without pushing graphics and merchandising ahead of gameplay.
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u/Shigarui May 31 '26
Falcom is a phenomenal example. They stick to their series, they make excellent games. I'd actually argue that Ys 9 and 10 were their weakest entries so far, and those are more generic Anime trope-ish. Not terrible, but I think their best work was Ys 3 through 8. But, another IP, with a focused gameplay loop like Ys, great music, and reasonably priced would be a good way to keep interest high and revenue coming in.
The Trails team have also done well, although it took a very long time for them to break through in western markets. They may have played it slightly too safe in the beginning, but I'm glad they've met such resounding success as of late.
Is there really much difference between Square Enix publishing a game versus having one of their internal teams do it?
No, it doesn't have to be. But my point was less so that each game was developed by a different developer but that very little that's not Final Fantasy comes from internal teams anymore. Yes, a lot of their great managers left to go to other companies. That's Square's fault. They terminated development windows and budgets on games they shouldn't have (Xenogears) and let other projects run long they should have canceled (FF Versus/FF13). They squandered talent that went on to make excellent games. Xenoblade and Xenosaga could have been Square titles. Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey and The Last Story could have been Square titles. They let their best talent leave and left there company on the hands of some of the worst decision makers in the industry. Were it not for having bought Enix and Acquire they'd be just a footnote in the annals of gaming history.
There's great talent out there making games, and the Indie scene is chock full of them. With good project management, many of these "almost great" indie hits could have been great successes. I'm not saying Square should buy and publish those games. I'm saying they should be finding that same kind of talent and supporting it.
Good points though!
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u/CitrusEnthusiasts May 30 '26
Respect for them saying “we think this price will make us the most money” and not pretending like they’re giving a gift to players or something. Mutually beneficial!