Square Enix a little less rich than was hoped

Disappointing sales numbers for Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII bring Square Enix bring down company's fiscal year

April 18, 2006

Square Enix cut its estimated results for its fiscal year by 47% today. The company is now estimating approximately 15 billion yen (or $128 million U.S. dollars) in operating profits for its 2005 fiscal year, which ended on March 31. The company had earlier published an estimate of 28.5 billion yen (or $242 million U.S.). The company also dropped its estimated net profits by 43%, and its revenue forcast by 8%.

Square Enix relied heavily on this year on two major releases in Japan: Kingdom Hearts II and Final Fantasy XII. Both of these games sold fewer copies than expected. Final Fantasy XI performed very well, but other poor investments quickly overshadow this success. Taito, which the company acquired last year, did not meet Square Enix's expectations.

The strongest point in Square Enix's fiscal year is the above-expected sales for its DVD animated film, FF7: Advent Children.