Square Enix Delays Deus Ex, Slashes Yearly Net Profit Forecast By 90 Percent

Japanese video game publisher Square Enix has delayed the launch of the latest installment in the Deus Ex series to the next financial year while slashing its full-year net profit forecast by more than 90 percent. The firm's Deus Ex: Human Revolution was originally slated for release in the January to March 2011 quarter, but the company will now "spend additional time to further polish" the Eidos Montreal title, which will launch at some time from April 2011 onwards. Overall, the company cut its net profit forecast to 1 billion yen ($11.9 million) for the year ending March 31st, 2011, from 12 billion ($142.8 million) yen previously forecast. In addition, Square Enix's revenue forecast was dropped from 160 billion yen ($1.90 billion) to 130 billion yen (1.54 billion). This compares very poorly to Square Enix's fiscal year to March 2010, which included the launch of Final Fantasy XIII, but had 192 billion yen ($2.28 billion) in revenue and 9 billion yen ($110.7 million) in profits. Deus Ex: Human Revolution now joins another key title in the company's line-up, Final Fantasy XIV for PlayStation 3, in being pushed back to the next financial year. Square commented that the newly launched PC MMO has not yet "achieved the level of customer satisfaction that fans of our Final Fantasy franchise have come to expect." As a result, they "have restructured the development organization and will continue the free trial period until we can present customers with a clear plan outlining Final Fantasy XIV's new direction." Overall, the company explained: "With weak sales performance of console game titles that have been newly released during the current fiscal year as well as harsh market feedback regarding a key title, the Group recognizes the reinforcement of development capability in our Digital Entertainment segment as our most critical managerial issue."