Square Enix Mocked For Hosting Pride Month Art Contest Amid Fiscal Woes
Ryan Pearson
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While Square Enix is promoting a contest with their LGBT Pride mascot, others have mocked it and pointed to their recent failings.
Maxine Caulfield (Hannah Telle), Alex Chen (Erika Mori), and Chloe Price (Ashly Burch ) watch the sunset in Life Is Strange Remastered Collection (2022), Square Enix
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Coinciding with the upcoming Pride Month, Square Enix announced a contest via Twitter earlier this month. “Our Pride ambassador, Mina, represents diversity and freedom. Show us your creations of Mina by including #myminadrawingcontest in your Twitter post for a chance to win! #inclusionforall.”
Square Enix announces a drawing contest with their Pride ambassador Mina via Twitter
Despite the inclusive message, it was met with scorn by some. “#SquareEnix is Virtue singling. Activism should not be in games,” @thelevyeffect dismissed.
@thelevyeffect dismisses Square Enix’ contest as virtue signalling via Twitter
@iuntue, an account dedicated to highlighting bad translations and localization, was far more blunt. “I hope Square goes bankrupt.”
iuntue wishes ill on Square Enix via Twitter
@Pettan_Enjoyer clearly felt Square Enix needed to focus on their products more. “So how about videogames? Square is kinda suffering right now I think you need to focus less on this garbage and more on making products.”
Pettan_Enjoyer implores Square Enix to focus on their games via Twitter
“You do realize that all this pride marketing is only pushing away a good chunk of your user base? People don’t want political crap shoved in their faces,” @ash3sr3turn denounced.
Ash3sr3turn insists Square Enix will only drive fans away with LGBT appeals via Twitter
Cartoonist George Alexopoulos made his point succinctly. “Maybe focus on making video games that don’t suck on launch.”
George Alexopoulos demeans Square Enix for not focusing on their games’ development via Twitter
Square Enix posted again half-way through contest deadline, but this time disabling comments — something they would also do when discussing Asian-American Heritage Month. This didn’t stop users being critical, however.
One such user was @Vrasda_Macka. “Entered the hashtag, there’s like 4 drawings, 3 with only double digit likes, and the only one with decent support is one mocking the event. Squeenix, you gotta quit while you’re ahead….”
Vrasda_Macka notes how Square Enix’ contest has backfired via Twitter
The user @Vrasda_Macka was alluding to replied with their own entry to the original contest post, managing to garner more attention that Square Enix may have anticipated
“Here’s my entry! It was a difficult decision, but I decided to go for a style that was truly representative of the message Square Enix is trying to convey,” @Scratch_Point_Z mockingly boasted.
The user’s design shows a crudely drawn version of Mina, wearing a white shirt with a trans flag, and a black and brown flag. The black and brown flag has “13/50” on it, a touted figure that claims that, while black people make up 13% of the US population they contribute to 50% of violent crime.
The trans flag has “41%” on it, another purported statistic claiming 41% of trans people commit suicide before the age of around 30.
Scratch_Point_Z offers a mean-spirited entry to Square Enix’ contest via Twitter
Compared to other entrants under the #myminadrawing hashtag, @Scratch_Point_Z has over 530 more likes than the second highest-liked, albeit genuine, entry under the hashtag. This is also over 220 more likes than the Square Enix’s initial post promoting the contest, and 127 more likes than both contest both combined at this time of writing.
Mina was previously revealed and named by a fan in 2021 (taken from the Japanese word for “everyone”, 皆), and a subsequent interview with the mascot revealed they were non-binary and wanted to help raise awareness for LGBT matters. The same interview mentioned all profits from the company’s Pride Mascot apparel went to charities GLAAD and Stonewall.
They had also previously raised over $10,000 for Outright Action International as part of a donation drive for a Life is Strange inspired denim jacket.
Square Enix’ “interview” their LGBTQ+ Pride mascot Mina via Square Enix
Those who were mocking Square Enix over their current failings were also on the mark. GamesIndustry.biz’ Jeffrey Rousseau reported the company’s full-year sales had dropped 6% year-on-year. Profit was also down 3% year-on-year, and digital entertainment revenue down 12%. Across various subsections, HD games were down 10%, mobile/PC browser games down 13%, and MMOs down 14% year-on-year.
YouTuber and political/media commentator Razörfist discussed Square Enix’ recent failings, noting how it had been a gradual decent. In summation, he argues Square Enix failed its western studios, got too involved with their projects, and gave more budget to save their failing Japanese projects such as Final Fantasy XV and the initial launch of Final Fantasy XIV.
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Square Enix then shifted blame to their western studios’ losses for their poor finances, even while their Japanese games had performed far worse. This included losses totaling $77 million from 2016 to 2018. Final Fantasy XV‘s lengthy development also saw it sell 2 million less than Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided — the latter two developed in the same amount of time with less of a total budget.
Square Enix would then turn their fortunes around with the reboot of Final Fantasy XIV and its expansions, along with Final Fantasy VII Remake. The company also sold their western studios last year, which were snatched up by the Embracer Group, along with IPs such as Tomb Raider, Deus Ex, Thief, and Legacy of Kain.
Adam Jensen takes down two foes at once in Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), Square Enix
“I actually have a more pertinent query no one seems to be asking,” Razörfist pondered. “The last time Final Fantasy f—ed the family dog, they had Human Revolution and Hitman to defray the cumbrous cost of their paint thinner-swilling stupidity.”
“So: what happens, not if, but when the Final Fantasy cash-cow craps the bed once again for old time’s sake? Only now having purged the pay-roll of any and all white devils, there no longer exists anyone in the now non-existent western side of SquEnix to mollify the fiduciary consequences of your own crippling incompetence!” Razorfist ranted. He closed that Square Enix needs a buyout to survive.
Andrea Rhodea (Trevor Devall) owner of the Honeybee Inn in Final Fantasy VII: Remake (2020), Square Enix
Square Enix support ESG initiatives — also known as Environment, Social and Governance. These typically involve diversity and green initiatives in both what a company produces, and how it runs — though Square Enix’s own 2022 report makes no mention of LGBT.
Touted as essential to some investors, and diluting the company’s product or service to some consumers, Razörfist had previously proposed “go woke, go broke” was a misnomer. Instead, he put forward that companies “go broke, get woke, then croak” attempting and failing to court a buy-out.
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