Square Enix expects to sell 5.23 million fewer video games this fiscal year than it did last year, according to a document (PDF link) released alongside its financial results for the year ended March 31, 2014.
The sales forecast refers to Square Enix's Digital Entertainment Segment, which "plans, develops, distributes and operates Digital Entertainment content primarily in the form of games." The company's Amusement Section handles the development and distribution of arcade games machines.
In total, the company expects a decline from 17.23 million to 12 million units. Square Enix forecasts the biggest decline in the North American market, where it believes sales will drop from 8.2 million to 3.8 million. Square Enix also expects sales to drop from 4.6 million to 3.40 million in Japan, but expects a sales increase from 4.08 to 4.8 million games in Europe.
The company did not provide a sales forecast for the "Asia, etc." region, which last year sold 0.34 million games. However, in a different part of the document, Square Enix revealed plans to expand "overseas activities primarily in Asia," and called out new titles for online and smart devices coming as the result of local partnerships and the release of Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn in China this summer.
Square Enix does not explain why it expects a significant drop in sales next year. However, analyst David Gibson wrote on Twitter that the company's forecast "implies no [Final Fantasy 15] in the year ending Mar 2015." We've reached out to Gibson and Square Enix for comment.
For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, Square Enix expects Digital Entertainment net sales to reach 89 billion yen, a decrease of 5.6 percent compared to 94.6 billion yen for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014.
The company also plans to release "new major titles" for smart devices in the coming year, including a "full-scale" Final Fantasy title for smartphones, which is "coming soon." For more on Square Enix's recent mobile offerings, you can read Polygon's Hitman Go review and watch a trailer for the game below.