Publisher sees April-Sept. revenues sink 25% to $836 million, as profit falls 36% to $21 million; DQ Monsters: Joker 2, Kane & Lynch 2 sell 1 million.
Square Enix provided investors and analysts fair warning of its rocky April-September quarter earlier this week, when it revised its revenue projections for the period downward by 10 percent. True enough, the Japanese publisher has now released its official financial report for the sixth-month period, and it reflects a steep decline from the same period a year ago.
For the first six months of its in-progress fiscal year, Square Enix reported sales of ¥68.05 billion ($836 million), down 25 percent from the same period a year ago and in line with its revised forecast. The publisher's profit revision also accurately pegged its actual net income for the fiscal half-year, coming in at ¥1.72 billion ($21 million), a 36 percent year-over-year decrease.
As Square Enix said earlier this week, the cause for the earnings declines was anemic receptions of some of its new releases. Square Enix released a handful of high-profile titles during the period. Included among these were Front Mission Evolved, as well as Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, and Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.
The publisher today noted that two of its new releases passed the million-unit milestone: Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, which released in Japan in April, and August's Kane & Lynch 2. All said, the home gaming segment pulled in revenues of ¥35.18 billion ($432 million), with operating income tallying ¥6.48 billion ($79.7 million).
The publisher expressed disappointment over its arcade business in Japan, which the publisher said "remained at unsatisfactory levels under the current difficult market conditions." Net sales for its amusement business totaled ¥23.54 billion ($289 million) for the April-September period, as operating income came in at ¥1.98 billion ($24.3 million).
Tom Magrino has covered the games industry since 2006. He's been compared to Steve Martin by Ozzy Osbourne and Daniel Craig by Tim Schafer. His voice, heard largely on GameSpot's podcast, recalls that of Kermit the Frog. It ain't easy bein' Magreen.
With the absolutely abysmal games Square has been releasing in the last 5 years, I'm surprised they're still here. After the last 2 FF sequels, which went from awful to horrid, their future looks bad. They have a bit more time though, at least until the last brain-dead fanboy figures out they're no longer a company making great games and are now just a money hungry, incompetent and uninspired bunch of dinosaurs who couldn't make a good game if their lives depended on it.
Shame I wish Squaresoft is still here like in the PS one days and Hironobu Sakaguchi is still the producer/director of Final Fantasy series.
they should get a nice bump when The 3rd Birthday game comes out as well as the PSClassics of Parasite Eve 1&2 hit PSN. I own both original games but i'll love playing them on my PSPGO.
@ thelegendlives5 O, my bad, but then FF IX doesn't count cause it was released in 2000. Now I'm just trolling though lol.
@TheTrueMagusX1 I can't disagree with anything you said, the term classic is certainly subjective, and from my point of view, as in my opinion is that square was once a better company than they are now. They are probably bigger and making more money, but that's more like quantity over quality. Also, they are riding on their great reputation as the Japanese RPG giant. That reputation is well earned of course, and I am not saying they are making crap games now. I am just saying that the overall quality of the games they make now is lower than before, and hopefully in the near future they will go back to their prime. I never played Xenogears or Vagrant Story, so I can't comment on their quality, but if they are so great, then that adds to my point that they made better games in the last decade. I also don't care for the bad games we're seeing or the ones we're not seeing. I care for the number of triple A games they release, and I think that number was higher in the nineties, even if there was a ton of crap games for every good game, that doesn't change much. You may not agree with me, but I respect the civility in your discussion, hopefully everyone online respects the others so that discussion are civil and not flaming. Cheers :)
@RPG_Fan_I_Am I am aware that chrono trigger was an SNES game, but its in 1995 so we can count it as second half of the nineties which is 1995 to 1999, so we can certainly count chrono trigger there because I wasn't talking about consoles but rather the quality of games made by square during that period, and thanks for the support :)
damn FF14 was not so cool as it should be that's why theyr profits fallen, they should create some cool new games adn it will be good for all of us.
I think the problem is that the market has changed and Square has not. They are making games that were once thought of as "epic" ten to fifteen years ago, but they are not keeping up with the changing market. With the way technology has changed, real-time combat is the new "in" thing. I mean, look at Oblivion and how amazing that game was. The old Final Fantasy games were amazing because they had nothing else to compare to. Now, however, Final Fantasy can be compared to Mass Effect, Fallout 3, and several other RPGs released over the past 5 years or so. I think the way we define RPG is changing and a turn-based battle system just isn't going to cut it anymore.
Back in the day when people thought RPG they thought SquareSoft nowadays I hear RPG and I think Bethesda. SquareSoft has not evolved with the times, oh sure their FMV cut scenes are works of art but...does that even matter? They have constantly been reinventing their franchises for the last decade rather than peging down something that works and developing that further than their next release date.
@clockworkengine Whatever you say dude! @thelegendlives5 What one considers a classic Subjective. The games you listed as Classics I can consider them that, but the fact is there are more then five, I would add Xenogears, Chrono Cross, and Vagrant Story to that list. None the less I think Square had released many great games in the 2000s, aside from Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy X. The Dragon Quest games, Star Ocean Till The End of TIme which has one of the bravest plot twists in recent memory,. but again you may not agree with me on that front and thats fine. I am saying that Square releases alot more and is a bigger company then it once was, so ultimately we are seeing more games then usual. To be honest games that we did not see like Treasure Hunter G were not very good games, so back then we just did not see the bad games. Now we see everything.
Huge expectations for the Lara croft so-called game on PC was their big mistake, as PC gamers did not see it as a Tomb Raider game as they had hoped.
@thelegendlives5 umm Chrono trigger was designed for the super Nintendo in 1995. I think you meant to say Chrono Cross. Both are amazing games though and I mix them up from time to time so I forgive you :) they both also fit in your time line from 1995 to 2000, but its 6 years. just counting 7,8,9 and tactics its 3 years. yea I know it pointless info but I felt like supporting you.
Perhaps if they would have released Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep via PSN, they wouldn't have been THAT disappointed.
I thought Kane and Lynch 2 was a good game. Very intense, loved the shaky-cam visuals, but it was short. There's a lot of potential for the series, but it needs a break for now. I'm sincerely hoping that the cancelled project mentioned last week isn't Hitman 5. We need Agent 47 back. As for Square's RPGs, I can't really say I am a fan. I hope they get back on their feet, as the industry needs companies like Square.
@TheTrueMagusX1 I am well aware of the fact that we didn't get a lot of square-made games, but let's look at the second half of the nineties. Square made FFVII, VIII, IX, FF tactics and of course Chrono trigger. That's five classics in five years. If we look at 2000 to 2010. I can honestly count two classic, and that would be the amazing Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts. After that its pretty much downhill. I am a huge square fan, and will always have faith in them and I am pretty sure they'll return to their formal glory in the future. Never tried "The Word Ends With You". Unfortunately, I don't have a DS.
@thelegendlives5 There is a huge difference in what we got in the nineties and what we got today. The nineties were a different landscape particularly the JRPG as that it was very very very niche, more so then it was back in those days. Square did release alot of games, and I mean alot but we did not get many of these titles. We never got titles here like Treasure Hunter G, or LiveaLive, and mind you those were not their best titles. The titles we got were the better of the Square titles, and it seemed they were better back then. Now adays we get mostly everything they do get so it seems we get more junk. My opinion, I think Square is still a solid company, not the best, bu they have put out their share of great little games in the recent years, particularly the Word Ends With You. If you have not played that Legend, I highly recommend it, and then maybe you will have some more faith in Square.
Come on Square, you can do better than that. Look back at the nineties and wake up for God's sake, we're not getting great JRPG's anymore. Bioware and Bethesda are making much better RPG's now. Wake up, damn it!!!
@clockworkengine Ok, so why then did you attempt to invalidate my opinion in the first place, where now your back tracking and saying its really subjective? You even said not to belittle my opinion,but you did in the first place, and now your backtracking to make it look you like you were being subjective. The fact was you were not, and now your trying to back track to make it look like you were saying something you were not. Sure your right we will never agree, but your attempt to invalidate my argument earlier proves you never were trying to be subjective in the first place.
@TheTrueMagusX1 Hey you mentioned a lot of games, and I played several. It's like the argument my friend gives me all the time about smartphones. He says "why get a smartphone when I've got 100 other devices that together do all the things your phone does". FFVII had em all. Just one game. Whereas you mentioned a game each for all the features of ff7 (death of the heroine, emotional evocation, etc...), FVII had em all, and more. Which one of all the games you mentioned, by the way, was the first to incorporate real 3D graphics and breathtaking FMV sequences? PS: Whether or not Xenogears strikes more emotional chords than VII is completely subjective as both of us played both games to the end (probably multiple times) and we both feel differently. In fact this entire discussion is subjective, and we simply won't agree. That's what I meant by if you get it, good, if you don't you never will.
ff13 was garbage...go back to building off of 6,7,8,9...even 10...those brought success and people fell in love with the franchise...now they are loyal and buy crap like ff13...like me
That's what they get for not adding Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep to the Playstation Network/PSP-Go. Could have made mad money.
Even though I'm glad Square's taking some risks with new franchises and series, I'm disappointed to see the results... Though I haven't played FF-XIII yet, I know there's a lot of people who didn't quite care for it. I'm not going to ask for a remake of an old game, just a more fundamental return to the concepts that made the first games that Square popped out great. Build on them in a different direction, and proliferate. If I had to advise them anything right now, I'd say stay away from the shooter genre, Square. Dirge was a steaming pile of crap, and Kane and Lynch are mediocre, at best. Take a little more time to fully develop your games (I'm looking at you, FF-XIV), and then things will look up for you.
@ all the annoy FFVII Fans would you stop asking for a remake, While I would much enjoy a remake of the game, so don't get me wrong, remaking FFVII would cost square alot of money to produce. They also wouldn't make alot of money off of it atm. the game itself would take about 8 years minimum to reproduce. Square enix likes to operate on 4 man teams so it would probably take even longer. Again, don't get me wrong, I would love a FFVII remake, all I'm saying is it wouldn't help square make money now. atm the best thing for square to do is look at what it has done, and change its current development teams. They should also increase their team sizes. atm they are trying to produce quantity instead of quality with 1 new game atleast every 2 years. thats an insane thing to attempt with the ps3/360. now if they could get it started out right, it would only actually take about 3-4 teams to do that goal though. if they merged their teams, and say each game takes 8 years to make now. with 4 teams they could start making 1 new game every 2 years. they could also make another team to produce psp/ds games and prolly decrease the team sizes slightly.
I don't want Square to "go back to its roots" by releasing classic game remakes or churning out tons of sequels (although there are a couple I would like). They used to be the absolute best in the jrpg business. Now they have a huge stable of mediocre games. Release a few well made games a year. Maybe some rpgs with a little innovation and don't have "Final Fantasy" in the title.
@WilliamSmith45 The game was running on 360 at the TGS.. Dahhhh! No not every one wants a remake. Sad but true. And why would they need the old team from 7 to do it... Has everything to do with copy right. VS13 comes out next year by the way... What took so long was that they are ported it to 360. 2011 it will be out. Remember, FF13 will never come out for 360... And it did. Never say never.
Kane and Lynch sold a million?? What the... Square Enix needs to think more before they develop their games. REMAKE FINAL FANTASY ALREADY!!! Front mission evolved and all those weird i want to be special xbox 360 and ps3 games like Nier were fail. You dont have to be so fresh Square Enix.
FFXIV is not a major part of this particular report, since it came at the end of the reporting period and actually sold a large amount for a PC mmo at launch (something like 640k units according to Wada's comments elsewhere). FFXIV is definitely problematic, but I have some slim hope they will make it a better game before the PS3 launch in April. SE needs to get back to the Square days where they were releasing hit, original IPs like it took no effort at all. Yoichi Wada's policy of just rereleasing old games and buying western developers hoping they make something good isn't a good or sustainable strategy, and if he had any part in FFXIV being released in that state he should be sacked.
@Hatemachine25 No Problem. I do know that Square Enix does retain the rights to Xenogears. Xenogears and Xenosaga while they are made by the same lead developer and they both carry much of the same themes they are unrelated. Square is releasing new Xenogears media though however in the form of a ochestrated soundtrack that is coming soon.
Ahh true enough thanks for the clear up there lol, thought SE maintained the rights and what not, my bad.
@Hatemachine25 Just a correction on your part. Xenosaga was not made or published by Square Enix. Xenosaga was made by Monolith software which consisted of may of the team members that made Xenogears. Monolith designed the game, and Namco(Namco/Bandai) published. Square Enix Had nothing to do with the game.
@clockworkengine (Continued)The one thing is I get it, I just donot agree. So donot tell me what I donot get and do get. I have been gaming for nearly thirty years, I think I have a better understanding of this hobby then you would think. @WilliamSmith45 As for you, Mass Effect is equally validated as that it is an RPG and I had a pretty emotional experience with that game. The fact of the matter is you admit to only playing the KH series and FFVII. Quite frankly thats kind of sad, as that you are missing a whole other world of gaming thats out there. Your missing out on a whole lot of great games, but if you choose to try anything else or not, thats you. And to both of you my name is TheTrueMagusX1, not Truemaguxx1, or theTrueMagnusX1.
@clockworkengine First and foremost, I saw the importance of the game. Second of all FFVII, I am well aware of that games story. FFVII is important in alot of ways, but the way you feel about the story I did feel that way, back in 1997.OVer the years I have played games that evoke emotion better then FFVII. Ever play Xenogears Clockwork? That game evokes emotion better then FFVII, but again thats just subjective. I understand FFVII better then most people, I think its aged poorly. Also add to the fact that you add that many of FFVII plot devices were well original which infact they were not. Phantasy Star II have you ever played that game? Sure it was in 2D but it did things you claim FFVII did first. First and foremost it had the death of the female love interest as did FFVII. And that too was unexpected. Also you want to talk about Bleak ambiguous endings, Phantasy Star II had one that is more so then FFVII. Its story is not as original as you claim. I get why people love the game, but I am saying its subjective and I have found other games to be far more emotional involving. I found Xenogears, Persona 3 and 4, the Bioware Games, Chrono Trigger, FFVI, FFIX, Suikoden II and III, Planescape Torment, Shadow Hearts 1 and 2, the World Ends With You, and several other games to be more emotionally involving. I reccomend you play some of these games, maybe you will change your mind if not.
Square Enix loss money because of FFXIV.. It's the lowest rated P2P MMO on meta-critic.. And a very VERY incomplete game.. It dosnt even offer pvp for christ sakes.. If you like FF go play FFXI MMO.. Pretty fun and it has a good & fresh take on PvP.
I just can't understand how the folks at Squaresoft went from producing hit games to such mediocrity, FF VIII was kinda a downer for me, but it was STILL a great game, Xengears, Chrono Cross, Front Mission 4, Parasite Eve. These were games that moved a generation of gamers, and now we get failure after Failure, FF XIV, Front Mission Evolved, Star Ocean (can't remember the title that followed) FF X, FF X-2, FFXII, XENOSAGA!!!!! damn it, how could you let THAT one fall so hard?. SE needs to get their act together something fierce, I would actually be afraid if they tried a FF VII remake at this point as what they would try to shovel into the game out of desperation to save their sorry butt's would end up Dooming them at this point.
@thetruemaguxX1 Not to belittle your opinion, but the reasons you cited in your list of ffvii's flaws only shows that you don't grasp the beauty in the game's flaws. When VII was released, there had never been anything like it. VI's story was more epic in terms of kings and empires, and 1000 year wars, and poisoning towns. But VII's story had the power to make the player cry. Final Fantasy VII's fans ARE driven by their emotions. We feel love for it's 3 dimensional, unpredictable characters. It's heartless psychotic and immensely powerful villain. We fell in love with those characters. We cried when Aeris died. We hated Sephiroth and feared him for her death. We stayed up hours past our bedtimes with a desire for revenge that Captain Ahab would have thought was a little overboard. We felt the rush as we stole the tiny bronco as shinra troops shot us down. We experienced Sephiroth's anguish and subsequent wrath at his discovery of the forces behind his creation and legacy. We felt the despair and awe as the prison window zipped open revealing the hulking meteor looming in the sky. And we felt that bittersweet satisfaction witnessing Sephiroth's destruction into the void. Finally, we all stood in awe watching a 30 minute unprecedented ending video, and got pissed at the ambiguous ending! truemaguxX1, if you don't get it you never will. But if ever there was a "you had to have been there" situation, this is it.
@TheTrueMagnusX1 wrote: It has nothing to do with age, as far as FF VII being the best RPD ever made its subjectable. I stopped reading there. The fact that you named Mass Effect is just wrong. ME has nothing to do with FF. The only similarities is that its a RPG. FF VII has its own flava. The only RPGS i play are FF VII and KH series.
Square make some of the best RPG games But do casual gamers play them ? no they rather buy carnival fun games
@WilliamSmith45 No there are various reasons as to why people donot like FFVII. There are older players who did play FFVII at release and did not like it. It has nothing to do with age, and as for FFVII being the best RPG ever, thats subjective. I think the game was important its time of release, and still to this day, but...the game has not aged well in terms of graphics and it needs a new translation. The game is far from perfect. I prefer plenty of other RPGs from FFVII, including FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, FFIX, Baldurs Gates 1 and 2, Planescape Torment, Mass Effect 1 and 2, Vagrant Story, The World Ends with You, so what you said is clearly not fact. And thos games I think are better are not fact. You should learn the difference between fact and opinion as that you are clearly blinded by pure emotion.
@mjc0961 Yeah ur wrong. Maybe a small % dont want a FF VII Remake but the majority of the world does. Why dont you create a Poll on FF VII Forums on gamespot and we will see how many people Do/Dont want a FF VII Remake? Or go to IGN.com or PS3Trophies.org and crearte a poll. Id be interested in the results. But i knoiw what the results wiould be.
Remember SquareSoft, remember the GREAT games they made. Oh what has happened to this company since its merger. Le sigh.
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