According to a new interview by VentureBeat with the head of Square Enix Montreal Patrick Naud, the company will be abandoning its Go franchises. Naud said:
“I have to say no [we’re not working on other ‘Go’ games], I’m sorry.”
“Lara Croft Go,” “Deus Ex Go,” and “Hitman Go” are all turn-based mobile games that are based on popular Square Enix franchises. All of these titles sell on iOS and Android for $4.99 and include a variety of in-app purchases that can be made after the initial game is purchased. However, selling premium mobile games in today’s market is becoming increasingly difficult.
Naud said that these games are no longer profitable and it doesn’t make sense to continue working on them. The company will instead shift into a direction of developing free-to-play games on mobile. In a statement, Naud said:
“It’s one of the challenges we have today is the premium mobile market is diminishing. You’ve got more and more high-quality free titles so there are even fewer and fewer people inclined to try something that will not be free.”
It is still unclear which titles the company will pursue in the free-to-play mobile market, however, we can imagine that some of its well-known IP might make it in.
