With the recent announcement of Deux Ex: Human Revolution‘s delay into fiscal 2011 and the poor reception, critically and otherwise, of Final Fantasy XIV, Square Enix has announced a reduction in their earnings expectations. And it’s a big one.
This comes soon after Square Enix’ record sales year in 2009, but the big ticket items for 2010 and 2011 don’t seem to be pulling in commensurate numbers. With an earnings forecast reduction of over 91 percent, from "12 billion yen (approx. $142.4 million USD) to just 1 billion yen ($11.9 million)", the outlook for the remainder of the company’s fiscal year looks bleak.
Check out the full statement from the Square Enix "Revisions to Consolidated Results Forecasts" for the explanation of this pessimistic view straight from the company, or check out the company’s Investor Relations page for a full read-out on their financial standing.
With weak sales performance of console game titles that have been newly released during the current
fiscal year as well as harsh market feedback regarding a key title, the Group recognizes the
reinforcement of development capability in our Digital Entertainment segment as our most critical
managerial issue.
We therefore have decided to spend additional time to further polish our upcoming game, DEUS EX:
HUMAN REVOLUTIONTM, resulting in a shift in release timing from our prior plan of the current fiscal
year to next fiscal year.
Additionally, since recognizing that our FINAL FANTASY® XIV service has not yet achieved the level of
customer satisfaction that fans of our FINAL FANTASY franchise have come to expect, we have
restructured the development organization and will continue the free trial period until we can present
customers with a clear plan outlining FINAL FANTASY XIV’s new direction. Furthermore, we have
decided to delay the release of FINAL FANTASY XIV for the PlayStation®3 Computer Entertainment
System, previously planned for early March 2011, in order to include all of the improvements we are
planning rather than simply converting the current Windows® PC version.
As a result of the factors described above, the Company revises its consolidated results forecasts.
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