Giuseppe Nelva
We learn that net sales for the whole group decreased 3.3% year-on-year, while operating income decreased 10.6% year-on-year.
The Digital Entertainment business, which includes video games, saw a drop in net sales by 9.5% year-on-year, while operating income decreased by 16.6％ year-on-year.
This drop in both revenue and income was chalked to lower sales of new games.
That being said, the MMO segment of the business saw sales increase year-on-year thanks to the growth of paying subscribers of Final Fantasy XIV.
Full Metal Alchemist Mobile “got off to a brisk start” but couldn’t compensate for the negative performance of older games, so the overall sales of mobile and browser games also dropped year-on-year.
Incidentally, digital sales took once again the vast majority of Square Enix’s business, earning 108.8 billion yen compared to only 8.3 at physical retail.
Final Fantasy XIV has been a major driver of Square Enix’s business for a while, with CEO Yosuke Matsuda recently praising its performance; recently we learned that it has passed 27 million registered players and is close to 28.
The game is currently available for PS5, PS4, and PC.
Below you can find all the relevant charts for the financial results.
If you want to compare today’s results with historical data, you can check out the results published in August, related to the previous quarter.
