We’re about to start getting Q1 financial reports across the games industry, but the teaser from Square-Enix isn’t exactly exuding confidence that it’ll be bringing its investors good news.
Square published a notice to investors yesterday, telling them it “expects to recognize extraordinary losses” thanks to its canceled games – to the tune of $140M US. Its formal earnings report is due out on May 13th.
“At the meeting convened on March 27, 2024, the Board of Directors of SQUARE ENIX HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (the ‘Company’) voted, in light of the myriad changes underway in the environment surrounding its Group, to revise the Group’s approach to the development of high-definition (HD) games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources. As a result of a close examination of the Group’s development pipeline undertaken in keeping with this revised approach, the Company expects to recognize approximately ¥22.1 billion in content abandonment losses on its books for the fiscal year ended March 2024.”
As GIbiz notes, some of the games not canceled – like FFXVI and FFVII Rebirth – nevertheless underperformed. We’re assuming that the release of Final Fantasy XIV’s Dawntrail expansion this summer will be a bright spot for the year for the company.
