In yet another indication that traditional videogames publishing isn't in the rudest of health, Square Enix has recorded a 5.7 billion yen (£39.1 million) loss for the nine month period ending 31st December 2012 - down from a profit of 5 billion yen (£34.5 million) in the same period in 2011.
That's despite a rise in sales of 7.4 per cent year-over-year to 102.8 billion yen (£705 million). Square predicts that it will return to profit by the end of the business year on 31st March, presumably off the back of Crystal Dynamics' Tomb Raider reboot in particular.
"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, 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," reads a Square Enix statement.
Moving forward, Square Enix intends to redouble efforts to convert existing licenses according to changing consumer tastes. "The Company views the expansion of content and services that conform to emerging customer needs led by the fundamental change in the business environments, and the launch of full-scale commercial services for major MMO titles will establish its profit base, and is focusing all efforts on an earnings recovery from now on."
For the 12 months ending 31st March 2013 the company predicts a sales rise of 17.3 per cent year-over-year to 150 billion yen (£1 billion). Profits, however, will apparently decline 42.2 per cent to 3.5 billion yen (£24 million).
Where do you think the firm behind Final Fantasy should go from here? Ta, CVG.
15 comments so far...
terry cheyne on 5 Feb '13 said:
how about making shock horror a good final fantasy not the diarrhoea of the last 2
battfink83 on 5 Feb '13 said:
agreed, and why dont they actually try to bring out some new games of old IPs? you cant make profit if you dont have anything to sell,,,,,,,,
Drainwater on 5 Feb '13 said:
But they obviously know what the consumer wants and that isn't it. /sarcasm
baggieal on 6 Feb '13 said:
Pretty much agree with whats been said so far, the last two Final Fantasys for me have being nothing short of utter dreadful, maybe if they went back to making Final Fantasy games that the fans actually enjoyed instead of this modern franchise that every bloody company seems to want to turn all their games into then they would actually start making money again.
For me Final Fantasy stopped being a great game series with the last one on the playstation 2, (12 i think?) theyve torn out the heart of the game and what made it great by removing the open world aspect and being able to talk to near enough everyone in the game, explore where you wanted to go and just now making it a linear pile of s**t.
The sequel to the latest pile of rubbish they claim is a Final Fantasy game is the first one ive never brought on the day it came out since i brought number 7 back on the good old playstation.
Square Enix is sadly going the same way as Capcom and Resident Evil, they had a great franchise and made some brilliant games but now each one is getting worse and worse, trying to make it too modern to fit in to the masses that play the likes of COD etc and are ignoring the fans and what we actually want / expect from the likes of Resident Evil and Final Fantasy, both franchises need a massive kick up the a**e IMO.
Rant over.
Johnbhoy69 on 6 Feb '13 said:
Ive neither loved nor hated the previous 2 Final Fantasy games... They havent been the most engrossing of games and some of the characters were highly irritating. If Square Enix are losing money its because they have pissed off a lot of loyal fans in my opinion.
I got into final fantasy when I was 12 and 14 years later Square Enix are failing to better games that were released nearly two decades ago on less powerful machines. All they seem to do now is throw all their time and money into fancy CGI cutscenes and give little thought to gameplay or story. Did anyone understand...or care for that matter about the plot of FF 13-2?
I still buy their games yes, maybe I still have hope with every new release that it will be more akin to the Final Fantasy of old or maybe my mother dropped me on my head as a child I dont know. Now, not to sound like a fan boy but if Square Enix want to see an increase in profits then a remake of Final Fantasy VII is a possible way to do this.
Having recently played through the Playstation one classic there are significant changes that need to be made of course yet Square have laid out a great template with the CGI movie Advent Children. I personally loved the seemingly dystopian feel to Midgar. It really worked and gave the movie a very grown up look that the game just didnt have back then and not forgetting the voice acting really enhanced the characters individual personalities.
And surely if Square dont want to run the risk of cocking up a classic then how about a direct sequel?
CunningSmile on 6 Feb '13 said:
I've never been a fan of Squenix as a developer, purely because I can't see the appeal of the Final Fantasy games and really dislike JRPG in general, but over the last few years since buying out Eidos I've really come to like their work as publishers.
Deus Ex and Sleeping Dogs are two of my favorite games over that period, and although I'm sure it'll be a bad Tomb Raider game I'm looking forward to the reboot. It'll be a real pity if they decide to pull away from that side of the business (especially before getting someone to do a new Legacy of Kain)
FishyGinger on 6 Feb '13 said:
Thing is their games plummet in price so quickly which can't be good. Sleeping Dogs was 20 after about a month and Deus Ex was the same price as a used pack of KP dry roasted nuts (300g) after the same time. They were both excellent games too.
CunningSmile on 6 Feb '13 said:
I think a big part of that is they don't advertise as aggressively as Acti or EA and so they fail to get the early sales. It's certainly not the quality of their games that holds them back, but that weird cultural insistance the Japanese have that brand loyalty is more important that attracting customers.
terry cheyne on 6 Feb '13 said:
i agree with you completly but i would not let square anywhere near a remake or sequel to 7 i don't think they have the
talent any more
give to the people who make the persona games they have yet to make a single bad game
Grummy on 6 Feb '13 said:
If they want a profit boost, announce and release a HD collection of Final Fantasy 7, 8 and 9 all in one set and watch people go bonkers.
baggieal on 6 Feb '13 said:
I would happily buy that
Completley forgot it was Square Enix who made those two, two of my favourite games of the last few years, espcially Deus Ex, utter amazing game, but yeah it is odd how the price of those two games plummeted so much in price, especially when they were actually superb games.
MasterChiefJ117 on 6 Feb '13 said:
I feel the problem with Final Fantasy is that it's ' Gaming style' of 'turn based' fights worked well when the technology wasn't able to run a game with such graphical quality in real time. ( From the NES to the PS2 and Xbox)
Now that we have games like Skyrim, Fable3, Fallout3 or dare I say it in this forum Nintendo's Zelda Skyward Sword, that give people battles in real time I feel that Final Fantasy will never be the big franchise it was in the past but remain a niche market for loyal Final Fantasy fans.
Perhaps the future of Final Fantasy lies in a rich sand box world with the same great story telling as the past and the beautiful Japanese art style But with real time battles and a fully open sandbox world. Now I would love to buy that for my shiny new Xbox 720.
SidTheSloth on 6 Feb '13 said:
I see where you're coming from with that, and by all means i'd happily buy something like it too - but whilst i do love my 'action/real-time RPGs' i feel there is a layer of tactical elegance that they can never quite match as opposed to the turn-based style, relying more on skills etc. Not saying either is better, but you're quite right that the action/real time has become more prominent as technology has allowed it too, but a good turn based battling system can be just as engaging - XCOM anyone?
The big issue i have with FF/Squenix, is that for every new title in the series, they basically throw away the previous battle system, both the good parts and bad, and start again!! If you're always reinventing the wheel when do you spend time to perfect it? Materia from 7 was fabulous, as were the limit breaks from 8, the skill system from 9 and some good stuff i can't remember from 10 & 12 - throw all that together with maybe the paradigm system from 13 (but not the disengaging auto-battle system) and they could create something tactically beautiful - or admittedly something horrific!
ChillieBonBon on 6 Feb '13 said:
I agree with the whole combat turn based problem but like Sid said, if its done right (XCOM) then it can be as big a hit as a real time combat game. To be honest, I didn't get into the final fantasy series, mainly because of a) the combat and b) the characters were punch in the face annoying.
Drainwater on 6 Feb '13 said:
Now this guy knows what the consumers want. /serious