Forspoken: Square Enix's $100M game that sold 29,055 copies in Japan in week one

Forspoken — Square Enix's PlayStation 5 exclusive developed by Luminous Productions, the studio behind Final Fantasy XV's engine — reportedly cost more than $100 million to make, per its lead writer's own description of a 'fantasy AAA video game ($100,000,000+ budget)'. It was the flagship new IP of Square Enix's 2023.

Released January 24, 2023, it opened to 29,055 physical sales in its first week in Japan and drew mixed reviews — a 64 on Metacritic for PS5 and just 30% critic recommendation on OpenCritic. Its dialogue and 'cringe' moments became memes within days of release.

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda called the sales 'lacklustre' and said they posed a 'considerable downside risk' to the year's earnings. In May 2023, Square Enix announced Luminous Productions would be folded back into the parent company — a public admission that the studio's flagship project had failed.

The game's cringe dialogue became memes before launch, and the studio was folded back into the publisher five months later.

A $100M new IP lives or dies on first impression: Forspoken's reveal footage and dialogue became jokes before launch, and the meme was the only thing that traveled faster than the reviews.

The game launched into a genre it could not own: an open-world action RPG with nothing distinct to say, priced and positioned as a flagship while critics found it generic.

Square Enix staked its new-IP strategy on one bet: a 'lacklustre' opening week had no second project to soften it — the folding of Luminous was the strategy's collapse.

A $100M new IP lives on first impression: Forspoken's cringe dialogue became memes, week-one sales were 'lacklustre', and Square Enix folded the studio back in.