Square Enix blames loss on struggling console market

Struggling to achieve a fair expected return on its investment in console titles.

Publisher Square Enix has said it is struggling to make a return on its console releases, blaming the increasingly difficult position of the worldwide console market.

Square Enix reported a 5.7 billion yen loss for the nine month period ended December 31, 2012, despite a rise in sales to 102.7 billion.

"During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2012, the Company has not recovered the operating loss posted in the six-month period ended September 30, 2012, primarily due to the increasingly difficult condition of the world-wide console game market, under which the Group is struggling to achieve a fair expected return on its investment," Square Enix said.

Last week Square Enix announced that Sleeping Dogs was the best-selling new IP of 2012 in the UK.

"We felt we had a hit on our hands in Sleeping Dogs and to be the UK's best-selling new IP of 2012 is a fantastic achievement," said Lee Singleton, general manager, Square Enix London Studios. "Our goal was to set new benchmarks in the open world genre with best-in-class combat, driving and story-telling, and hopefully gamers feel that we've done that with Sleeping Dogs. We will continue to do that in 2013 with the downloadable content still planned for release."

However, the publisher didn't mention Sleeping Dogs or fellow triple-A console release Hitman: Absolution in its financials, but did state that browser title Sengoku IXA and social game Final Fantasy Brigade are making an "acceptable profit". MMORPG Dragon Quest X is also "showing steady progress".

Currently on the release slate from Square Enix are Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest 7 and Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX.

Source: square-enix.com