With no fewer than 657 employees as of May 31, Tose is a pillar unknown to the public that has nevertheless developed or contributed to the development of 2,385 games since the early 1980s. Voluntarily remaining in the background, Tose is the go-to studio for the main players in the Japanese video game industry, both on console and mobile (and, for a time, arcade). The kind of company that is not supposed to be short of work, except that Tose has just announced an operating loss of 599 million yen (3.4 million euros) and a net loss of 367 million yen (2.1 million euros) for the period from September 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024. A situation that contrasts with the profits that Tose generally records each year.
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At the end of its first fiscal half-year, Tose had already announced the cancellation of two development projects due to a change in policy by its customers. The kind of mishap that shakes up an organization, especially since Tose reports a ” insufficient communication with the customer regarding compensation. » While Tose obviously doesn't name the client in question, it's hard not to make a connection between these sudden cancellations and the recent misadventures of publishers like Square Enix and Bandai Namco, two regular Tose clients, who have each confirmed the cancellation of several games in recent months. To name just a few recent projects, Tose notably developed Dragon Quest Monsters: The Shadow Prince, Dragon Quest Treasures, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion and Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster for Square Enix and co-developed Scarlet Nexus for Bandai Namco.
Forced to revise its forecasts downwards, Tose plans to end the fiscal year with a net loss of 296 million yen (1.7 million euros) while turnover should be limited to 4.83 billion yen (27.7 million euros) instead of 5.52 billion yen (31.7 million euros). Although Japan does not generally experience mass layoffs With much stricter employment protection laws, the fact that a company like Tose is reporting losses for the first time in over a decade is indicative of the rethinking of some publishers' decision to be more selective and to focus on in-house development.
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