Square Enix upwardly revises annual results forecast

Square Enix has upwardly revised its financial results forecast for the business year ended in March 2014 following better than expected sales of a number of titles.

Ahead of the publication of its consolidated financial results later this month, the Japanese publisher raised its previous sales and profit guidance, citing "strong" sales of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, an "encouraging start" for mobile game Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light, and "favourable sales" of both Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD and Tomb Raider Definitive Edition

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Square also noted that it has "pushed forward cost reduction efforts on a group-wide basis" and posted foreign exchange gains from the weaker yen.

For the business year ended March 31 2014, Square has raised its net sales forecast from 140-150 billion yen to 155 billion yen (£902m/$1.5b), and its net income guidance of 3.5-6 billion yen to 6.6 billion yen (£38.4m/$64.9m).

Following a poor reception to 2010's Final Fantasy XIV, Square announced in October 2011 that it would be giving the troubled game a complete overhaul as part of a version 2.00 update, which would go on to become A Realm Reborn.

The original game transitioned to the alpha version of A Realm Reborn in November 2012 before launching on PC and PS3 the following August, and on PS4 on April 14 2014.

Square claimed in mid-April that Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn user account registrations had topped two million worldwide.

News Games division hit by weaker than expected sales of key console titles