Square Enix blasts 'oligopolistic' market for $134m loss

Square Enix has confirmed its expected extraordinary loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, blaming an "increasingly competitive and oligopolistic" video games market in North America and Europe for poor sales of its products.

The publisher posted a higher-than-expected net loss of ¥13.7 billion (approximately $134.9m/£87.6m) for the financial year, restating that the company's emergency restructuring--announced back in March--has taken a large chunk out of the company's coffers.

Tomb Raider, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs have all failed to meet Square Enix's expectations, though all three games have sold millions of copies.

Right now Square Enix is working on Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII and HD versions of Final Fantasy X and X-2. Eidos Montreal is also readying a next-gen reboot of Thief for 2014.

Square Enix has also a brand new Final Fantasy announcement at E3 2013.

In response to the financials, Square Enix pledged to increase the turnover of its titles, increase its amount of mobile and tablet games, and create titles more specifically suited for the regions they are primarily being sold in; Square Enix's phone and browser games have been hugely successful in the Japanese and Korean markets, for example.

Square Enix now expects to make a net profit between ¥3.5 and ¥6 billion by this time next year.

Former Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada resigned in March after spending 12 years in the role, and the company has made job cuts at its Los Angeles and London studios.