Square Enix Shares Tumble by Most in 13 Years on Weak Outlook
- Big titles released on PlayStation fell short, president says
- Games development overhaul seen taking time to bear fruit
Square Enix’s mobile games have also been struggling, with many games shut down in a little over a year due to poor sales.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergShares of Square Enix Holdings Co. tumbled 16% in their biggest decline in 13 years after its president said sales of recent big-budget games disappointed and that it would take years for a recent reorganization to bear fruit.
Sales of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Final Fantasy XVI and Foamstars — all released exclusively for Sony Group Corp.’s PlayStation in the previous fiscal year — fell short of the Japanese game publisher’s expectations in both revenue and profit, Takashi Kiryu told analysts the previous day. The company now expects to earn an operating income of ¥40 billion this year, widely missing the average of analyst estimates of ¥57 billion. Its sales and dividend outlook also fell short of expectations.