JoshuaJSlone said:
It's not about impressing people. It's simply about having balanced sheets. When a company operates under a fiscal year, that is their calander system. It means any decision they're making is usually made way in advance in line with this calander system. Release dates are not made when they are announced to the public, they're usually made way in advance in line with development.
For example, DQIX is not being released in March because they're delaying it to be the last game in the fiscal year. It is being released in March because that's the latest that Iwata is willing to wait for the game to be finished. It's been delayed for centuries.
As for the sum of two years being the same, that's not how you evaluate business. A business is assessed on profit margin every year, because you have to take into account ongoing operation costs, expenditure for each year, and then assess profit for that cycle. This allows investors to study and evaluate how well managed the company is, and how resources are being spent in each year to get the profit result for that period.
Note that most of the investors and shareholders probably don't give a crap about the actual games. They care about how their investment in the company is being valued and they care about the company rising in value or retaining its value so they don't lose out on their investment. The fact that S-E is in the games business is of interest to us, because we're consumers first and foremost, and that often clouds the outlook of what certain business practices exist.
