Square Enix, the company prioritizing woke and censored slop, along with action-oriented “remakes” of the beloved Final Fantasy VII, has chosen to further deplete its finances with excessive microtransactions in their recent Sony exclusive “Foamstars.”
Developed by Toylogic, Foamstars for lack of a better word is an obvious Splatoon knock-off, exclusively released for Sony PlayStation 4 and 5 consoles a couple of days ago and it’s already surrounded by controversy.
There’s absolutely nothing of value behind the Square Enix label, the company is focused entirely on subverting the Final Fantasy franchise as an Action RPG rather than turn based, combined with the obvious punches their directors and producers have made to their iconic games of old, proclaiming the original Final Fantasy 7 to be hard to understand alongside being problematic.
Which is why it comes as no surprise that Square continue to deviate off the original’s script with sensitive censorship in the form of character designs and certain themes, such as the removal of rejecting Aerith’s flower, various insults being removed, the increased importance upon Cloud crossdressing and acquiring Tifa’s panties just to name a few.
Square Enix has been experiencing financial losses for years now. Their mobile gacha games are being shut down abruptly, rising production costs are surpassing game sales, and they’re struggling to turn a profit.
The existence of Forspoken and their dependence on Sony’s financial support via limited timed exclusivity contracts sums up Square Enix’s dire situation. But rather than simply backtrack and start producing games that consumers actually want over ESG checkboxes, Square Enix are getting more greedy than ever before with Foamstars.
Foamstars is a vibrant 4v4 team-based third-person shooter, bearing striking similarities to Splatoon as previously noted. The concept revolves around teams engaging in colorful battles where they paint their opponents with colored foam, that many Twitter enthusiasts will undoubtedly proclaim to be “trans coded” given the light blue and pink color scheme.
While not strictly free-to-play, the game is currently accessible at no extra cost for PlayStation Plus subscribers until March 5th. After this period, it will be priced at $30 USD on the PlayStation Store.
Which is hardly a price worth paying for a mundane Splatoon clone confirmed to be using AI generated assets for its in-game icons.
It operates as a live service game, featuring a range of in-game cosmetic options like character skins and weapon camouflages, which can be purchased with real money.
Exactly how much money for such microtransactions though?
Too much goddamn money, with several cosmetic bundles including unique character costumes alongside mundane trinkets are on offer for the low price of $45 USD, which is more than the price of the game itself when it eventually goes on sale properly.
Foamstars provides a range of cosmetic items for players to customize their characters’ appearance. It’s important to note that there are more affordable options available, as the higher-priced microtransactions are primarily bundled offerings.
Players have the option to buy individual skins for approximately $11 or opt for a complete bundle containing their desired skin and additional cosmetic items for $45.
Especially given Square Enix’s extensive track record when it comes to live service mobile games, there’s no doubt in my mind that Foamstars will be shut down within the next handful of years.
Its eventual termination will come sooner rather than later if the game fails to meet expectations which has practically been the staple for every Square Enix title over the past five years.
https://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/ir/library/pdf/ar_2020_07governance.pdf
While microtransactions have become a norm in today’s gaming landscape, the exorbitant prices for basic cosmetics in Foamstars serve as evidence that Square Enix is disconnected from modern gaming audiences, they’d rather focus on increasing their ESG score and backing rather than producing games that actually make a profit.
Their lack of confidence in the product is evident by offering it for free initially, coupled with the unreasonable minimum prices of $11 and $45 for cosmetic options which will eventually cost more than the game itself when its inflow of new players diminishes substantially as the game eventually goes on sale for $30 on March 5th.
The game as a whole offers very little substance, it’s a mundane team shooter that is attempting to entrap unsuspecting players with the alure of being a temporary free-to-play experience before eventually charging money for a barren live service game laced with microtransactions.
Foamstars is bound to be another financial failure for Square Enix as all signs point to this game being shut down after just a single year.
