Square-Enix posts loses of $150 million

[Great Rumbler]

Square Enix announced revised earnings expectations today. The company says that it will incur a net loss of 12,000 million yen for the previous fiscal year. Its previous forecast from February 3 listed a modest net profit of 1,000 million yen.

The revision is due to extraordinary losses, in part from a "tightened selection standard" for games. This will result in 4.5 billion yen in losses related to development cancellations. A press release announcing the revision did not share specifics beyond this.

The company will also incur a "loss on disaster" of approximately 0.6 billion yen related to the Tohoku earthquake. This is for closures and restoration of amusement facilities.

As these are all extraordinary losses, revisions to the company's forecasts for its other areas weren't as extreme. Sales forecasts are down from the original 130,000 million yen to 125,000 yen. Operating income expectations are down from the forecast 8,000 million yen to 7,300 million yen.

http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/05/12/square_enix_earnings_revision/

[Great Rumbler]

It's almost been 8 months and, as far I know, it's still free to play.

Also: A third of that total is from cancelled games.

[Vizzys]

they just need to stop making bad games

[Sho Nuff]

Is anyone actually playing FF14

[cool breeze]

but it is putting more money into Eidos, right?

new Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman games

[Himu]

GET RID OF WADA

[Great Rumbler]

FF14 was supposed to be their safe bet, such epic fail

So was the Final Fantasy movie.

[HyperZoneWasAwesome]

but it is putting more money into Eidos, right?

new Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman games

Eidos was actually kinda lucky to get bought out by Squeenix.  Were they on their own they probably would have gone under by now, any other aquisition would have dissolved a lot of their development, their wealthy Japanese sugar daddy actually let them bolster their dev time on the games they're working on and doesn't seem too concerned about scortched earth profiteering.

I mean, c'mon, Kane and Lynch 2 before Hitman 5, what sort of money grubbing executive would okay that?  Hell, the Eidos division is probably outperforming the Japanese dudes at Square Enix at this point.

[Great Rumbler]

but it is putting more money into Eidos, right?

new Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, Hitman games

Eidos was actually kinda lucky to get bought out by Squeenix.  Were they on their own they probably would have gone under by now, any other aquisition would have dissolved a lot of their development, their wealthy Japanese sugar daddy actually let them bolster their dev time on the games they're working on and doesn't seem too concerned about scortched earth profiteering.

I mean, c'mon, Kane and Lynch 2 before Hitman 5, what sort of money grubbing executive would okay that?  Hell, the Eidos division is probably outperforming the Japanese dudes at Square Enix at this point.

Yeah, they actually singled out K&L2 as being a top-performer:

While the company cited "weak" console game sales, April's Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 and August's IO Interactive-developed Kane & Lynch: Dog Days both were million-sellers, Square Enix said.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/34647/Weak_Game_Sales_Final_Fantasy_XIV_Subs_Flub_Hit_Square_Enix_Results.php

[iconoclast]

That's what they get for funding Mindjack and Gun Loco

[Vizzys]

That's what they get for funding Mindjack and Gun Loco

dont forget ff13/14

although im sure 13 sold well. it was still bad

[Trent Dole]

That's what they get for funding Mindjack and Gun Loco

I GOT FUNK IN MY JUNK

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

SE's probable solution: more Final Fantasy games!

FFV, FFVI, and FFVII are ripe for remakes.  Maybe make another Fabula Nova Crystallis entry.  The sky is the limit!

[Vizzys]

id take ps1 ff game remakes

or maybe twewy 2

they have many ips

[Shaka Khan]

I'd pay $120 for a Xenogears remake, one where they redo the entire 2nd disk into something actually worth playing, and cutting most of that existential crap.

Too bad I don't trust anyone at SE with that task. Not because Xenogears is some sacred piece of art, just that almost everyone at SE can't be trusted projects like that anymore, even when they're given the time and money.

[magus]

if square-enix fails

1) i don't have to hear people whining more about final fantasy games
2) no more dragon quest game
3) nomura can finaly do games that aren't kingdom hearts

i can see only good thing out of this

[Nintendosbooger]

Well, maybe if they didn't spend 10s of millions of dollars on the pixels that make up their characters' hair and eyeliner, they wouldn't be in this predicament. How about putting forth as much effort on making the games more enjoyable and intuitive.

[Great Rumbler]

Well, maybe if they didn't spend 10s of millions of dollars on the pixels that make up their characters' hair and eyeliner, they wouldn't be in this predicament. How about putting forth as much effort on making the games more enjoyable and intuitive.

Or maybe they shouldn't pour 10s of millions of dollars into a uninteresting, broken MMO? Just a thought.

[Himu]

SE's probable solution: more Final Fantasy games!

FFV, FFVI, and FFVII are ripe for remakes.  Maybe make another Fabula Nova Crystallis entry.  The sky is the limit!

fuck that. give me FF12 international in english with cheevs.

[naff]

Well, maybe if they didn't spend 10s of millions of dollars on the pixels that make up their characters' hair and eyeliner, they wouldn't be in this predicament. How about putting forth as much effort on making the games more enjoyable and intuitive.

Or maybe they shouldn't pour 10s of millions of dollars into a uninteresting, broken MMO? Just a thought.

FF license has a load of potential, putting money into an MMO wasn't inherently a bad decision, designing a bad game with those millions was.

[naff]

SE's probable solution: more Final Fantasy games!

FFV, FFVI, and FFVII are ripe for remakes.  Maybe make another Fabula Nova Crystallis entry.  The sky is the limit!

fuck that. give me FF12 international in english with trophies on NGP

Fixed

[Great Rumbler]

Well, maybe if they didn't spend 10s of millions of dollars on the pixels that make up their characters' hair and eyeliner, they wouldn't be in this predicament. How about putting forth as much effort on making the games more enjoyable and intuitive.

Or maybe they shouldn't pour 10s of millions of dollars into a uninteresting, broken MMO? Just a thought.

FF license has a load of potential, putting money into an MMO wasn't inherently a bad decision, designing a bad game with those millions was.

Hence the "uninteresting, broken" part.

[Diunx]

They should let the people that did FF12 do another one and sacrifice the guy behind FF7, 10 and 13 to some old fire god.

[Great Rumbler]

This is most likely almost entirely on FFXIV's spectacular failure.  Sadly, I can't see Square taking any good lessons away from this.

Most likely, with some additional loss coming from cancelled projects [that were cancelled because of the losses from FFXIV]

[recursivelyenumerable]

I'd pay $120 for a Xenogears remake, one where they redo the entire 2nd disk into something actually worth playing, and cutting most of that existential crap.

Too bad I don't trust anyone at SE with that task. Not because Xenogears is some sacred piece of art, just that almost everyone at SE can't be trusted projects like that anymore, even when they're given the time and money.

They could contract Monolithsoft to do it. They've actually already contracted them before (for some of the modeling/textures in Dirge of Cerberus).

[naff]

Hence the "uninteresting, broken" part.

If only they could see that from the beginning :'(

[Great Rumbler]

Last time Square had a loss this big, the Gooch got thrown under the bus. Wonder who's gonna take the fall this time?

[Cormacaroni]

Is anyone actually playing FF14

oh I'm sure business will pick up once they start charging for it!

[Himu]

Last time Square had a loss this big, the Gooch got thrown under the bus. Wonder who's gonna take the fall this time?

WADA

[Mr. Gundam]

That's what they get for funding Mindjack and Gun Loco

I am going to buy Mindjack when I can get it for $5.

[magus]

yes i'm pretty sure after wada get thrown under a bus they will stop milking all their popular IP and everything will be buttrainbows

amirite?

[pilonv1]

More like upscaled PSP ports

[tiesto]

Hopefully this means there won't be any more FF MMOs...

[Great Rumbler]

Time for Square to pull out the trump card: HD FF7 remake.

[Himu]

HD remakes incoming??

(Image removed from quote.)

FINAL FANTASY 12 INTERNATIONAL.

[Shaka Khan]

That would be so amazing.

[Himu]

This is what happens when you remove backwards compatibility!

Make new games, jackasses.

NOT UNTIL WE GET FF12 INTERNATIONAL

[Trent Dole]

Time for Square to pull out the trump card: HD FF7 remake.

Really don't get why they haven't done this (and the other two PSX FFs) already, they have updated models for a lot of the characters via Dissida and it's not like they'd have to build a new engine for these games or anything.

[Great Rumbler]

Time for Square to pull out the trump card: HD FF7 remake.

Really don't get why they haven't done this (and the other two PSX FFs) already, they have updated models for a lot of the characters via Dissida and it's not like they'd have to build a new engine for these games or anything.

I have a theory, though it's just that, of course, but I think the reason Square hasn't done an FF7 remake is because they want to sell lots of FF7 spinoffs and such. And they think, rightly or wrongly, that no one will be interested in spinoffs when the real thing is out there.

[Himu]

Time for Square to pull out the trump card: HD FF7 remake.

Really don't get why they haven't done this (and the other two PSX FFs) already, they have updated models for a lot of the characters via Dissida and it's not like they'd have to build a new engine for these games or anything.

But they would have to build the entire game from scratch again. Do you think they have the capabilities to supply an FF7/8/9 remake in hd with new models and keep all the content from those games? In comparison to FF13, those games look like fucking Oblivion or Fallout in terms of content.

And look how long it took to make FF13.

It seems to me they'd rather concentrate on making new games instead of completely remaking old ones.

[Great Rumbler]

I'd buy a FF7 remake with updated models and high-resolution backgrounds/CG. And I'm probably not the only person.

[Himu]

I would too. But most people expect third person view, not with backgrounds. So S-E probably expects to fulfill fan expectations, which are entirely too unrealistic.

Because remember, they'd have to redo every pre-rendered bg because those are too low resolution.

They probably think it's too much work.

[recursivelyenumerable]

I do think they'll eventually do an FF7 remake, but people are seriously overestimating how much stuff could be reused. It will cost just as much as a new FF would.

If we're fantasizing about stuff that won't happen, I'd like an FF12 enhanced port with a fully orchestrated soundtrack. The music composition for that game is great but the synth really lets it down. (And while they're at it, have Sakimoto write a new piece for the ending to replace Uematsu's icky pop song.)

[Himu]

Could ANYTHING be re-used?

[Positive Touch]

honestly if they just rereleased ps1 & ps2 collections - with or without the international content included - and add some cheeves i'd prolly have to take myself to the er for priapism

[Himu]

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

If the NGP's fate wasn't so up in the air, I could see the remakes landing on there.  Nice graphics without having to spend tens of millions of dollars.