FFX Delay & Square’s First Deficit

Squaresoft has announced that they will delay the release of Final Fantasy X from May until July, creating the first financial deficit in the company’s history. Square CEO Hisashi Suzuki explained the delay by revealing, “The quality of the completed software was a bit lacking. In order to keep the brand’s image, the decision was made to delay the sale of the product and take a higher step in increasing the product’s quality.” Square announced that their sales figures for this fiscal year will be 71,500,000,000 yen (approximately 715 million dollars), 11,800,000,000 yen below their estimated sales of 83,300,000,000 yen (approximately 833 million dollars). As a result, the anticipated stock dividend of 20 yen per share for this year will be nullified. This is the first time that Square will end a fiscal year in the red, and with a zero dividend since their opening to the stock market. The major reason behind the deficit compared to expected gross income is the delay of Final Fantasy X from this fiscal year to Square’s next fiscal year.

Source: Madman’s Cafe