Lack Of Major Releases Sees Square Enix Q1 Profits Tumble

Square Enix has posted financial results for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, noting a drop in revenue and a decrease in profits year-on-year. The Final Fantasy developer and Eidos (Tomb Raider franchise) owner noted that it did not release any major titles during this period, citing this as the reason for the lower figures. It also said, however, that it had seen "robust growth" on PC and smartphone, with its community portal site Nicotto Town and online sim game Sengoku Ixa. Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, explained, "In a quarter without major title releases, our Group's sales and profit were lower compared to the previous fiscal year." "At the same time, however, we are making solid progress toward our targets for the full fiscal year ending March 2012." "As we stated at the start of the year, we are focusing all efforts on rebuilding the Group businesses during the current fiscal year toward generating a substantial earnings recovery from the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013 and beyond." Square Enix reported revenues of ¥24.5 billion ($311.7 million), down 25 percent compared to ¥32.5 billion ($413.5 million) in the same quarter of the last fiscal year. Profits were down 62 percent, to ¥690 million ($8.8 million) from ¥1.8 billion ($22.9 million) year-on-year. Looking forward to the rest of the fiscal year, the company estimated that it will see ¥130 billion ($1.7 billion) in revenue for the period ending March 2012, compared to ¥125.3 billion ($1.6 billion) last fiscal year. Profits-wise, it forecast income of ¥5 billion ($63.6 million), compared to a loss of ¥12 billion ($152.7 million) year-on-year.