Square Enix Takes $150m Loss

[FinalEvangelion]

(Reuters) - Japanese video game maker Square Enix on Thursday slashed its full-year net profit forecast by more than 90 percent to far below the market consensus and said it will postpone the launch of two key game titles.

Square Enix said in a statement it is delaying the rollout of the latest installment in its "Deus Ex" game series until the financial year starting in April. It had initially planned the launch for the January-March quarter.

The company is also postponing the launch of "Final Fantasy 14" for Sony's PlayStation3 game console for an unknown period. The game was originally slated to hit store shelves in March in Japan.

Square Enix cited slow sales and industry criticism of some of its major game titles launched earlier this year, and said it wanted to concentrate on achieving high quality for its upcoming titles.

"We came to realize that our management priority is to improve the development of our digital-entertainment products," the company said in the statement.

Square Enix, known for its blockbuster "Dragon Quest" franchise, cut its net profit forecast to 1 billion yen ($11.9 million) for the year ending March 31 from 12 billion yen previously. That is far below the average forecast for an 11.3 billion yen net profit in a poll of 20 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

It chopped its operating profit forecast to 8 billion yen, from 20 billion yen previously and below market expectations for 20.4 billion yen.

The game maker is holding a news conference in Tokyo from 4 p.m. (0700 GMT). President Yoichi Wada will attended.

Square Enix shares closed down 1.4 percent at 1,599 yen ahead of the announcement.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BF11H20101216

Serves them right for all the stuff recently. Does this mean Wada is done for?

It's funny seeing how all the Japanese companies that try to Westernize fail.

[Batman1980]

Well the upside to this(to me) means there's now a chance we will finally see Final Fantasy 7 revitalized for the PS3.

[saprano]

Does anyone even care about square anymore? I don't.

[tarvis]

I certainly hope not. Part of the problem is that they keep releasing all their old games rather than making new ones. Kill Final Fantasy, for all I care.

[Batman1980]

Originally Posted by saprano

Does anyone even care about square anymore? I don't.

To be honest I haven't liked a S-E game since Final Fantasy X, which is why I keep putting off getting Final Fantasy XIII. Will get 7 on disc eventually, although I will say I don't like VI as much as I used to, that game has not held up well at all.

[Maximus]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

Well the upside to this(to me) means there's now a chance we will finally see Final Fantasy 7 revitalized for the PS3.

BY PS3 you mean 3DS, right? D:

[DonRSD]

this is what they get making games for ps3 AND 360 now.
they shouldve stuck to ps3 only and make the game epic, instead of downsizing it to play/fit on 360 discs.

if i were a game manufactor....i would do it like genesis/snes days

make the game for the better system (snes back in the day, ps3 today) and port 'what i can' to the weaker system (genesis back in the day, 360 today)

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

To be honest I haven't liked a S-E game since Final Fantasy X, which is why I keep putting off getting Final Fantasy XIII. Will get 7 on disc eventually, although I will say I don't like VI as much as I used to, that game has not held up well at all.

Final Fantasy VI is my favorite of the series. Skipped VIII, played a little of IX, till I found out a completely random thing stopped me from seeing the complete ending, and stopped playing X immediately when I was throwing beach balls at evil fish.

My issue with XII is what I feel is wrong with a lot of the intended Westernization of Japanese games. They just do it wrong. Games like Mass Effect are popular because they marry the old school CRPG mentality of player driven narrative with an easy to pick up combat system. Then you have XII which inexplicably limits your ability to control your characters by slowly doling out Gambits in an inane fashion and has a completely melodramatic narrative that seemingly has no connection to the world you're running around in.

Platinum Games, on the other hand, seems to get it.

[FinalEvangelion]

Originally Posted by Maximus

BY PS3 you mean 3DS, right? D:

Same graphics for FF6 and FF7 then?

Final Fantasy IX was the last game from them that I truly enjoyed. After that, it was all about removing features from the games.

[TL OWNS U]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Stormcrow

Well the upside to this(to me) means there's now a chance we will finally see Final Fantasy 7 revitalized for the PS3.

And while they're at it, they should remake Final Fantasy 8. 2nd best FF game ever (behind FFX).

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by DonRSD

this is what they get making games for ps3 AND 360 now.
they shouldve stuck to ps3 only and make the game epic, instead of downsizing it to play/fit on 360 discs.

if i were a game manufactor....i would do it like genesis/snes days

make the game for the better system (snes back in the day, ps3 today) and port 'what i can' to the weaker system (genesis back in the day, 360 today)

That kind of mentality would only serve to hurt Square Enix more. Final Fantasy XIII would not have been a different game had it continued to be exclusive to a platform. If someone did not buy Final Fantasy XIII as it is, I fail to see what exclusivity would have done to change their mind.

Edit - For that matter, Final Fantasy XIV is first released on the PC. The most capable platform of the bunch. Look how that turned out.

[aphex]

Originally Posted by tarvis

That kind of mentality would only serve to hurt Square Enix more. Final Fantasy XIII would not have been a different game had it continued to be exclusive to a platform. If someone did not buy Final Fantasy XIII as it is, I fail to see what exclusivity would have done to change their mind.

Edit - For that matter, Final Fantasy XIV is first released on the PC. The most capable platform of the bunch. Look how that turned out.

I disagree.

SE needs to get its reputation back by making good games. If ffxiii was what it was originally planned to be (before making it completely linear for the 360), the game may have been way better.


ffxiv is a joke, final fantasy should have never lent its name to a mmo imo.

[TL OWNS U]

Originally Posted by aphex

ffxiv is a joke, final fantasy should have never lent its name to a mmo imo.

Final Fantasy 11 was an MMO and from what people said, it was one of the best MMOs of all time.

[DonRSD]

zelda > final fantasy

[Excalibur-king]

This is what happens when you stay away from your core audience and try to reach a wider audience.
poor square this is pretty bad. I remember back in the PS2 days when everygame from Square was gold, and you knew when you were buying a Square game you were quality, but now look at this. My god how times have changed.

[tarvis]

Originally Posted by aphex

I disagree.

SE needs to get its reputation back by making good games. If ffxiii was what it was originally planned to be (before making it completely linear for the 360), the game may have been way better.


ffxiv is a joke, final fantasy should have never lent its name to a mmo imo.

Considering how much recorded dialogue was in the game, the story would have been largely the same. As would the combat system. I fail to see how exclusivity would have made up and exceeded sales accrued from release on the Xbox.

As far as FFXIV, FFXI was popular enough. It's not that it's an MMO, it's just a terrible game that runs poorly on PCs.

[Terjyn]

Originally Posted by tarvis

That kind of mentality would only serve to hurt Square Enix more. Final Fantasy XIII would not have been a different game had it continued to be exclusive to a platform. If someone did not buy Final Fantasy XIII as it is, I fail to see what exclusivity would have done to change their mind.

Considering Final Fantasy XIII originally had pictures of an airship, towns, a world map, and by S-E's own words(paraphrased) "Cut out more material than is contained in most games", there is little evidence to support your claim that the game wouldn't have been different had it been exclusive.

[aphex]

Originally Posted by TL OWNS U

Final Fantasy 11 was an MMO and from what people said, it was one of the best MMOs of all time.

I personally didn't enjoy it, and have never heard people say it was one of the best. It didn't steal any thunder from WoW that's for sure.

I'm just saying I think final fantasy has always been about the story, so why make an mmo on it?

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by saprano

Does anyone even care about square anymore? I don't.

I don't unless they made like games off of their manga series. But with all of these great Japanese developers out now, who needs Square?

[TL OWNS U]

Originally Posted by aphex

I personally didn't enjoy it, and have never heard people say it was one of the best. It didn't steal any thunder from WoW that's for sure.

I'm just saying I think final fantasy has always been about the story, so why make an mmo on it?

Can you name 2 MMOs that stole WoW's thunder? Really I don't think I've even heard of 1 MMO stealing WoW's thunder.