Ben-DutkaNot that a terrible earthquake and nuclear crisis didn't have an impact, but veteran gamers will point to other reasons for the massive downturn.
Back in February, Square Enix issued its projected net income of only 1 billion yen ($12.35 million), which was down 90% in a year-over-year comparison. But just before the publisher presents its full-year financial numbers, they've issued a depressing update : for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2011, the company now expects "extraordinary losses" of 12 billion yen ($148.33 million) on revenue of 125 billion yen ($1.53 billion). This is in stark comparison to the 9.5 billion yen ($117.4 million) in profit the company made on 192.25 billion yen ($2.37 billion) revenue the year prior.
Many of the losses are attributed to "a reassessment of unspecified previous acquisitions now worth about 8.8 billion yen ($108.78 million) less due to "a rapidly changing operating environment." Plus, the publisher expects to can a bunch of projects, although we don't have targeted titles just yet. It isn't good news for investors and long-time gamers will wistfully remember the days of Squaresoft, when it seemed most everything the company touched turned to gold. My, how times have changed.
