Square Enix Loses ₯5.7 billion due to Poor Console Sales
by William D'Angelo, posted on 05 February 2013 / 5,356 Views
Square Enix has released its financial report for the nine month period which ended December 31, 2012. The company posted a loss of 5.7 billion Yen, which is the total opposite of a 5 billion Yen profit for the same period a year ago. Revenue for game sales did increase to 102.7 billion Yen, from 95.7 billion Yen.
"During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2012, the Company has not recovered the operating loss posted in the six-month period ended September 30, 2012," said Square Enix in a statement to GamesIndustry International. "[This is] primarily due to the increasingly difficult condition of the world-wide console game market, under which the Group is struggling to achieve a fair expected return on its investment."
"On the other hand, content for other platforms such as PCs, smartphones and SNS such as ‘Sengoku Ixa,’ a browser game, and ‘Final Fantasy Brigade,’ a social networking game for Mobage, are generating an acceptable profit."
"In addition, newly released game titles, such as ‘Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur,’ a social networking game released in April, 2012 serving more than 1 million registered users, have been expanding at a satisfactory pace. Registered users of Final Fantasy Artniks,’ a social networking game released in November, 2012 for Gree, exceeded 1 million at the end of December, 2012."
Despite the losses for the nine month period, Square Enix expects to report a profit for the full fiscal year which ends March 31, 2013. The company is hoping that Tomb Raider will be a success. The game is set to be released in March 5.
