As previously reported, Square and Enix held a joint news conference to discuss various aspects of their merger in Tokyo today. Current Square president and CEO Youichi Wada said the new company is aiming to increase its ordinary profit ratio to more than 30%. To reach this ambitious goal Square Enix aims to increase the sales of Enix games in the US, in particular the sales of the Dragon Quest series. In North America Enix flagship series has never been as successful as Square's Final Fantasy. Synergy effects are expected to appear particularly in the development of online games and mobile content as well as localizations for overseas markets. For the fiscal year 2005/2006 Square Enix is projecting sales of 15 million units, consolidated sales of 100 billion yen (818.47 million USD) and a consolidated operating profit of 35 billion yen (286.45 million USD).
Enix reported that it has shipped 515,000 copies of its recently released PlayStation 2 RPG Torneko 3 in Japan and projected sales of 810,000 copies for its second key title of the fiscal year, Star Ocean Till The End of Time, which is due to be released in March 2003. The company is currently developing 25 titles (80% PS2, 10% GameBoy Advance and 10% PC games). Currently there are no plans to develop titles for GameCube, Xbox or WonderSwan Color.
Square announced that there are currently 184,000 subscribers to its PlayOnline service. Since the service will break-even when the total number of subscriptions reaches 200,000, the company is optimistic to reach the return on investment point very soon.
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Updated: 11.29.02 - 12:44 PM |
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| Chris Winkler |