‘Dragon Quest X’ sales below expectations- Since when? I thought it was doing well?

[benao87]

spurgeonryan said:

Dragon Quest X, an expensive online RPG with Square Enix at the helm, has not met the company’s expectations, and is a big reason for the studio’s recent financial issues.

MSN Japan has reported that this major publisher/developer is in the red for the first time since the merger of Square and Enix, falling well below expectations for the period of April to December 2012. Certain segments, like mobile games, are finding a moderate degree of success, but the significant investment that is Dragon Quest X has yet to attract a true following.

“The slump is reportedly down to the company’s new online RPG venture, Dragon Quest X,” MSN states. “While the disappointing financial turn for the company can be partially attributed to the burden of running the new online service, it is also down to game sales not meeting expectations. The Wii (and soon to be Wii U) game is however, making ‘steady progress’ according to Square Enix.”

Some MMOs are a bit of a slow burn, so there’s still time for Square to grow the game into something worth bragging about. However, only so much money can be sunk into Dragon Quest X before it’s labeled a failure.

Square isn’t what it once was, but do you still think it can produce profitable, memorable experiences?

http://stickskills.com/2013/02/10/dragon-quest-x-sales-below-expectations/

What, what, what? So, is it a big reason, or just partially a reason?

The article do recognices the actual statement from S-E "The operation of “DRAGON QUEST X,” a major MMORPG, started in August, 2012, has been showing steady progress" Here.

It even states that they have not turned profit "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."the only games that recieve high praise are social games.

The whole "not reaching expectations" is speculation from the journalist, what about FFXIV, or Sleeping Dogs, for all that we know all console games are underperforming.

I'll just quote the whole thing.

• Digital Entertainment
The Digital Entertainment segment plans, develops, distributes and operates digital entertainment content primarily in the form of games. Digital entertainment content is offered to meet customer lifestyles across a variety of usage environments such as consumer game consoles (including handheld game machines), personal computers and mobile phones (including smartphones).

During the nine-month period ended December 31, 2012, the Digital Entertainment segment as a whole 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.

In the area of content for other platforms such as PCs and smartphones, “SENGOKU IXA,” a browser game, and “FINAL FANTASY BRIGADE,” a social networking game for Mobage, are generating an acceptable profit. In addition, newly released game titles such as “Kaku-San-Sei Million Arthur,” a social networking game released in April, 2012 serving more than 1 million registered users, have been expanding at a satisfactory pace. Registered users of “FINAL FANTASY ARTNIKS,” a social networking game released in November, 2012 for GREE, exceeded 1 million at the end of December, 2012.

The operation of “DRAGON QUEST X,” a major MMORPG, started in August, 2012, has been showing steady progress.

Net sales and operating losses in the Digital Entertainment segment totaled ¥57,827 million (an increase of 7.7% from the same period of the prior fiscal year) and ¥392 million (operating income of ¥12,451 million in the same period of the prior fiscal year), respectively.