Today Square Enix announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2020.
In the tables below you can see that net sales were slightly lower year-on-year, but profit figures were all considerably higher.
The same can be said for the Digita Entertainment business, which includes games.
Below you can read a breakdown of the gaming business. Net sales were lower year-on-year, and the HD games sub-segment (basically console games) registered an operating loss.
On the other hand, both net sales and operating income increased year-on-year for mobile games thanks to the strong performance of Dragon Qust Walk and Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe.
Both net sales and operating income also grew for MMORPGs thanks to the launch of expansions for Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X and the resulting increase in monthly subscribers.
Both net sales and operating income for MMORPG and mobile games recorded record high values since 2016.
“The fiscal year ended March 31, 2020 saw the launch of the console title “DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition” and the posting of sales from early shipments of “FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE,” which was released in April 2020. Net sales nonetheless declined versus the previous fiscal year, which had seen the release of multiple major new titles. In addition, weak additional sales of titles released in the previous fiscal year and the booking of impairment losses related to the content production account resulted in an operating loss of the HD Games sub-segment.
In the smart device and PC browser area, net sales and operating income increased year on year given strong performances from “Romancing SaGa Re;univerSe” and “DRAGON QUEST WALK,” the latter of which was launched in September 2019.
In the area of massively multiplayer online role-playing games, the launch of expansion packs for “FINAL FANTASY XIV” and “DRAGON QUEST X” and the resulting growth in paying monthly subscriber numbers led to greater net sales and operating income than in the previous fiscal year.
Net sales and operating income in the Digital Entertainment segment totaled ¥188,687 million (a decrease of 7.8％ from the prior fiscal year), and ¥35,357 million (an increase of 21.9％ from the prior fiscal year), respectively.”
We learn that Square Enix shipped 3.18 million units of games in Japan, 13.29 million in North America and Europe combined, and 1.62 million in Asia, for a grand total of 18.09 million units, which was considerably lower compared to last year’s 26.62 million units.
Lastly, the presentation mentioned that in the short term Square Enix plans to increase the rate of digital sales and promote games-as-a-service.
In the medium term the company plans to shift to the cloud with cloud distribution and the development of cloud-centric-games.
If you’d like to compare, you can check out the results for the previous quarter, released in February.
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