Today Square Enix announced its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year, related to the period between April 1 and June 30.
As you can see below, both net sales and operating income grew sharply year-on-year.
Net sales for the whole company grew from 53.3 to 87 billion yen (+63.2%), while operating income grew from 7.1 to 24.5 billion yen (+241.4%).
In the second table, which breaks down the results by segment, we can see that the driver of the growth mentioned above is definitely the Digital Entertainment business, which means video games.
Further graphs showcase the trends for net sales and operating income among the three sub-segments of the Digital Entertainment business.
HD games grew “sharply” thanks to Final Fantasy VII Remake and licensing income.
MMOs also grew due to growth in monthly paying subscribers for Final Fantasy XIV, which continues to be a consistent success for Square Enix.
Lastly, smartphone and browser games also saw an increase in revenue and income thanks to War of the Visions: Final Fantasy Brave Exvius and Dragon Quest Walk.
Interestingly, we hear that physical sales of Final Fantasy VII Remake were lower than initially expected due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic that limited production and shipments. On the other hand, digital sales grew “significantly,” which bolstered profitability. the launch of Trials of Mana is also mentioned as a factor for the HD games’ segment success.
If you’d like to compare, you can check out the results for the previous quarter, released in May.
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