Square Enix Lowers Forecasts

Final Fantasy creator and Eidos owner Square Enix announced it has lowered its earnings forecast for the six month period ending September 30, 2010, reporting "slower sales growth" for new titles among the list of reasons for the revision. The company lowered its net sales forecast to 68 billion yen ($843.8 million), down from a previous forecast 76 billion yen ($943 million). Both of which were below the company's results from this time last year, when it recorded 90.5 billion yen ($1.12 billion) in net sales. The forecast for profit fell to 1.7 billion yen ($21.1 million) from 2.4 billion yen ($29.8 million), both of which were below the company's recorded net income of 2.68 billion yen ($33.3 million) last year. Square Enix reported several reasons for the lowered forecast, including slower sales for new game releases, losses on "sale of property," and more. The announcement comes shortly after the company laid off staff at Danish developer Io Interactive, something a spokesperson called "a natural part of any studio's existence when you ramp-up and ramp-down on projects."