More Reviews
REVIEWS Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D Review
Gamers have gone bananas for Nintendo's 3DS, but can this port of Retro Studios' 2010 Wii game make the jump to your portable?

Pandora's Tower Review
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but swords and chains excite me. Should you climb the towers in Xseed's JRPG/adventure hybrid to save your cursed (and tragically whiny) girlfriend?
More Previews
PREVIEWS The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot Preview
Ah, the joys of destroying your friend's castle and the pains of your friend destroying yours. Alas, such is friendship.
Release Dates
NEW RELEASES GRiD 2
Release date: 05/28/13

Fuse
Release date: 05/28/13

Remember Me
Release date: 06/04/13

The Last of Us
Release date: 06/14/13


LATEST FEATURES GR Showdown: Are There Way Too Many Remakes And Reboots?
Gamers continually complain about the lack of innovation from publishers and developers, but in this tough economy, it would seem that sequels and remakes are their bread and butter. Are there not enough new IPs?

Tips For Surviving Metro: Last Light's Mutants And Men
On higher difficulties, 4A Games forces players to utilize stealth and combat planning, but with these tips and the right tools, you'll make short work of the opposition.
MOST POPULAR FEATURES 7 Best Video Game Franchises Of All Time
Gaming is home to some incredible IPs. Here you'll find a slightly objective, yet heavily biased, list of the absolute best of the best.
 
Coming Soon

LEADERBOARD
Read More Member Blogs
FEATURED VOXPOP nick_olsen
Welcome home, Mario; we’ve missed you!
By nick_olsen
Posted on 05/13/13
[ Editor's Note: As Nick Olsen is a writer for Theory of Gaming, this won't be counted in the monthly Vox Pop prize. However, it is very much a worthy read. ] By Nick Olsen Co-founder, Theory of Gaming In 1985 Nintendo started a revolution when it...

GAMING NEWS

Square Enix Loses Billions of Dollars

Posted on Thursday, May 12 @ 10:34:35 Eastern by Blake_Morse

If you get a call from Square Enix anytime soon asking if it can borrow some money and maybe crash on your couch for a couple of weeks, don't be surprised. The Japanese publisher that's been a leader in the RPG market for years with series like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger is reporting monumental loses of 12 billion yen over the 12 month period that ended this month (May 2011). It's a pretty monumental loss considering they'd predicted that they would make a profit of 1 billion yen.

Of course, the earthquakes and tsunami that devastated Japan were a major factor, but I'm sure Final Fantasy XIV's failure to launch helped out, along with less than stellar performances from some of their other titles as well. Because of the major losses, they've been forced to cancel development on several games that were in the works to try and push themselves out of the red:

"Under a rapidly changing operating environment and more prudent estimates of future cash flows, the company plans to write down goodwill (approximately 8.8 billion). Further, as a result of introducing a tightened selection standard regarding title line-up to strengthen the revenue base of the company's digital entertainment segment, project development cancelation and related losses (approximately 4.5 billion) are expected. Additionally, damage and losses during closures at, and restoration of, amusement facilities resulting from the Tohoku Pacific Ocean Earthquakes and Tsunami caused an extraordinary "loss on disaster" (approximately 0.6 billion)."

Despite all that, Squenix is still confident that they'll make a profit next time, only shortening their 12 month sales forecast down from 130 billion yen to 125 billion yen. Let's hope none of that comes from a new MMORPG.

[Source]

Tags:   square enix


More from the Game Revolution Network




Comments
  • Kese_Arcade
    Kese_Arcade

    Joined: May 2011
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 11:02 am
    I'm not surprised. Square's quality has dipped hard since I was a kid in the early 90s. FF13 was one of the worst games I've ever played, well compared to the 12 that came before it anyway.
  • Kese_Arcade
    Kese_Arcade

    Joined: May 2011
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 11:07 am
    I'm not surprised. Square's quality has dipped hard since I was a kid in the early 90s. FF13 was one of the worst games I've ever played, well compared to the 12 that came before it anyway.
  • Daddio
    Daddio

    Joined: Nov 2008
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 12:13 pm
    I thought 12 had good intentions, and was really hoping 13 would have upped the anty on it but sadly, they once again completely changed the gameplay and turned 13 into a shitbox.
  • 213EDD
    213EDD

    Joined: Sep 2007
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
    You people are overreacting FFXIII was not that bad. It was innovative! But It also had one of the worst cast's ever.... so +/- on this review I DONT KNOW
  • 213EDD
    213EDD

    Joined: Sep 2007
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 12:36 pm
    You people are overreacting FFXIII was not that bad. It was innovative! But It also had one of the worst cast's ever.... so +/- on this review I DONT KNOW
  • Kese_Arcade
    Kese_Arcade

    Joined: May 2011
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
    lol What? So removing towns, sidequest, puzzles and generally everything that makes an RPG interesting leaving only empty completely un-interactive hallways to walk through for 40 or 50 hours is innovative? We have very different definitions of that word then. I remember talking about all the cool things you could do in every other FF game, snowboarding, card games, optional sidequests, secrets, coherent well written stories and characters.

    I'm sorry but FF13 Beautiful Hallway Simulator was one of the worst games I've ever played period. Graphics don't compensate for terrible gameplay. The only people that truly thought that was a great game were blinded by the words Final Fantasy written on the box art. If that game had any other name the fanboys would have a completely different tone.
  • sandineyes
    sandineyes

    Joined: May 2008
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
    "Billions of dollars"? Isn't that misleading? If it is a loss of 12 billion yen, that is about 148 million US dollars. Still a lot of money, but clearly less than a billion.
  • Rinnon
    Rinnon

    Joined: Nov 2005
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
    Have to agree with you Kese. But the fact is... we all bought the game. I bought it, it sounds like you bought it. All those people who said they hated it bought it. So, financially... Square is happy with the results. The trick has to be, snub XIII-2 when it comes out, so they get the picture. But yeah, I haven't looked to Square for quality RPGs for a long time. That ship sailed at the end of the 90s. Lately, Atlas has been the company I follow for jRPGs.
  • TurinAlexander
    TurinAlexander

    Joined: Sep 2006
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 3:48 pm
    "You people are overreacting FFXIII was not that bad. It was innovative! But It also had one of the worst cast's ever.... so +/- on this review I DONT KNOW "

    Um, FFXIII was so stripped down it was barely a game. The game world was one long hallway with the occasional (and very short) side hallway. There where no quests to speak of up until the last quarter of the game at which point the only quests were to walk around the single open area in the game and kill the mobs that lived there. The combat was stripped down to barely existent, all you had to do was press a single button over and over again, until you were low on health, then you got to press a shoulder button to break the monotony. The story actually had a bit of potential, but pretty much fell apart about halfway through, and didn't make much sense by the end. The characters were so horrifically one dimensional that I felt like I was still playing an 8 bit game.
  • De-Ting
    De-Ting

    Joined: Nov 2006
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
    12 billion yen...so they lost, what, $12? :P

    These are the jokes.
  • Kese_Arcade
    Kese_Arcade

    Joined: May 2011
    Posted: May 12th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
    @ Rinnon I agree entirely. I bought it but I found it for like 12 dollars so it wasn't much of a net loss. It was actually the first time a major FF dropped and I didn't buy it day one. I just had a bad feeling about it. Turns out I was right. I don't know why I even kept playing 13. It was clear after about hour 10. I remember saying to my friend, "dude... this is just not getting better". I kept playing just to see where it went, turns out that was nowhere. After 13 though... No way am I buying 13-2. Maybe Versus but I'll wait and see.

    @ TurinAlexander That game was so busted. Why was it in development that long? There's nothing to do other than walk foward and press X. I beat the whole game doing that. And why would that Bartandelous (sp?) dude need the humans to destroy themselves? He killed a bunch of people the first time you meet him. He can kill you! Let me stop right there. Jesus Christ...

Post a Comment
LOGIN or REGISTER to post a comment or rate this article.
More On GameRevolution