@DMeisterJ: Agreed. I guess they made their calculations though.

Maybe some day in the future the 3rd parties can stop making games entirely and just be funded by either Sony or Microsoft not to make games for each other. Then they can fire all their programmers and game designers, they should only need an accountant or two.

Seems like a sustainable plan to me!

what after the countelss species we made extinct....& the way we destroyed this planet...you actually had some faith left?

Well, I guess we should put it into a bit more perspective than just last year, huh? Using VGChartz figures, for January through December.

2007: 7M

2006: 7M

2005: 1.4M

2004: 1.1M + 5.1M = 6.2M

2003: 5M + 1.4M = 6.4M

2002: 1.9 + less than 1M = 2.5 (?)M

2001: 3M + 3.2M = 6.2M

2000:  4.9 + 4.6 = 9.5M

So it isn't the first year they have had a crappy year.

Square Enix generates well over half of their sales from the main series of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. All years have had a main series of this, except for 2002, 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Next year, Square Enix is likely to see a 400% increase, if not more.

One other thing. Nintendo is back in the market.

If you exclude Nintendo, this is Square-Enix market share (among the 3rd parties).

2008 (so far): 9%

2007: 16%

2006: 20%

2005: 6%

2004: 28.5%

2003: 24%

2002: 8%

2001: 22.5%

2000: 30%

So SE is losing a bit market share regularily, but 2008 isn't worse than the previous 2 down-years (no main FF/DQ). 2007 is far better.

The last time a FF and DQ was released in the same year was 2000. It looks like we can see something like that again in 09.

So the question then, will really be how bad the messed up by putting FF13 to Ps3 exclusively.

BTW, couldn't this also be Square Enix going away from Japan? I'll look into that and might post it in another post (if I make this one any longer nobody will read it.)

I hope the fanboys screaming "serves them right" and the likes realize that dumping on them is not going to suddenly make everything go PS3 exclusive. It's not like the console is doing that much better in Japan anyway.

@claude

ofcourse not....all we want is frikking JRPG's on a multiplat level.

We want to PLAY those games not have some mental happiness for them going exclusive to PS3

2007

[PSP] Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII - (753,939)
[NDS] Final Fantasy IV - (612,044)
[NDS] Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings - (524,009)
[NDS] Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fate - (389,845)
[PSP] Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions - (301,796)
[NDS] Final Fantasy Tactics A2: The Sealed Grimoire - (287,871)
[PS2] Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System - (137,040)
[PSP] Final Fantasy Anniversary Edition - (124,839)
[PS2] Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion data disk - (95,576)
[PSP] Final Fantasy II Anniversary Edition - (78,057)
[PS2] Final Fantasy X International (ULTIMATE) - (47,676)
[360] Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess expansion data disk - (15,379)
[360] Final Fantasy XI: Vana'diel Collection - (3,212)

[NDS] Dragon Quest IV - (1,201,771)
[Wii] Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors - (486,222)
[NDS] Itadaki Street DS - (413,537)
[PS2] Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ - (337,091)
[PSP] Star Ocean 1 First Departure - (204,996)
[NDS] Subarashiki Kono Sekai: It's a Wonderful World - (192,955)
[NDS] Heroes of Mana - (98,566)
[Wii] Chocobo's Mystery Dungeon: The Labyrinth of Lost Time - (72,710)
[NDS] Front Mission - (57,153)

that 2007 list more than half those SE games are FF titles.. O.o

That 2008 list is missing The Last Remnant

One other thing that should be noted, is that this list is incomplete.

VGChartz list: http://vgchartz.com/japyearly.php?year=2008&console=&maker=Square+Enix&disp=Japanese+Name&boxartz=1

The problem with the list, is that it only counts titles released this year.

But if you decide not to count them (you really should), the data is also missing.

Look at VGChartz.

S-E has sold OVER 2.3M from new titles.

It appears to me, the Chart Get (the author at least) is purposedly (typo?) ignoring data, as they want to make a point.

Thanks for the good post Oyvoyvoyv. I wish all people here would be trying to discuss things like this.

By the way, confirmed 2009 releases for Japan:

Dragon Quest IX [DS]
Final Fantasy XIII [PS3]
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 days [DS]
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep [PSP]
Final Fantasy CC: Echoes of Time [DS]
Final Fantasy CC: Echoes of Time [Wii]
Star Ocean: The Last Hope [X360]
The Last Remnant [PS3]
Dragon Quest VI [DS]

Also possible: The 3rd Birthday, Final Fantasy CC: Crystal Bearers.

If there will be no delays, then I can see 10-13 millions software sold in Japan during 2009. And correct me if I am wrong but no 3rd party publisher has ever managed to reach that number in Japan.

There's also Blood of Bahamut and possibly Final Fantasy Agito XIII.

Which actually makes me realize that they don't have that many recent announcements for 2009...

Wow Nintendo and Sony will be the ones who put SE in the black next year, just pathetic SE are ignoring the Wii though.