Square Enix and Nintendo co-develop losses after canceling several projects

2024 has been a tough year for the video game industry and it seems that Japanese developer Tose (a team that has worked on countless Nintendo projects since the Famicom era and has also helped Square Enix over the years) has suffered financial losses due to the cancellation of several projects.

The co-development studio, which was involved in the Switch versions of Paper Mario and Crisis Core, reported a nine-month loss 367 million yen (about $2.28 million) in its third quarter earnings report (which ran from September 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024) due to customer project cancellations due to “policy changes” and “other factors.”

Not only is Tose “one of Japan’s largest video game outsourcing companies,” but it has also been labeled a “ghost developer” – as it is not always credited on projects. However, this has changed over the years, with its official website listing at least a selection of the projects it has contributed to (since the Game Boy generation).

Although it has lost some projects and cannot get a return on investment, the goal is now to recover with a regular launch of games that are still in active development. This news follows Square Enix canceling several unannounced projects in May 2024Tose also developed the Legendary Starfy series and assisted on other games such as Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, WarioWare: Move It!, Splatoon 2, and Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster.