Square Enix reported higher profits in its last financial year, with game sales also seeing a slight but noticeable uptick largely thanks to the explosive popularity of Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker.
Net sales across all Square Enix divisions rose from 332.5 billion yen last year to 365.2 billion yen in the year ended March 31, 2022, with earnings in particular rising from 26 .9 billion yen to 51 billion yen.
The company’s digital entertainment arm responsible for gaming reported a smaller 263.9 billion yen rise in sales to 279.6 billion yen. This is actually more impressive for Final Fantasy 14 when you break down where that increase came from.
Square Enix divides its game sales into three parts: MMOs, HD games, as well as browser and mobile games. As the company points out in its latest annual report reportHowever, HD game sales were down slightly year-over-year as the previous financial period saw the release of blockbusters like Marvel’s Avengers and Final Fantasy 7 Remake (even if Square Enix said the former was underwhelming). Meanwhile, browser and mobile game sales rose by 2.9 billion yen, an extremely small gain compared to the segment’s previous growth of 21 billion yen.
It was Square Enix’s MMO segment that showed the biggest increase, up to 62.2 billion yen from 39.8 billion yen a year earlier: a total jump of 56% and a significant portion of the company’s overall sales profit. This segment includes Final Fantasy 14 and Dragon Quest 10 Online, both of which received new expansion packs in the third quarter of last year. That said, Square is quick to point out that Final Fantasy 14 was the main financial backer.
“Net sales increased year-over-year in the MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) games sub-segment due not only to a strong increase in the number of monthly paying subscribers for ‘FINAL FANTASY XIV,’ but also to the release of an expansion pack for the title,” the company says in its report, referring to the well-received Endwalker expansion.
This popularity should come as no surprise, as Final Fantasy 14 was withdrawn from sale due to overwhelming demand caused by Endwalker, which put excessive pressure on the game’s servers. A whole new Oceania server was needed to help break up new players and get the game back on digital stores.
Interestingly, Square Enix also reported a noticeable boost in its publishing section which covers digital and print media sales, including manga. Anyone who has come within a half-mile of the anime community in the past six months will have heard of My Dress-Up Darling, and it seems the anime’s popularity also fueled sales of the manga, published by Square Enix. The anime only finished airing a few weeks ago, but Square was already seeing “significant popularity” for the manga by the end of the fiscal year, suggesting that sales will likely continue to rise. Between this and Final Fantasy 14, it’s safe to say that anime fans took to Square Enix this year.
As we said in our Final Fantasy 14 Review: Endwalkerthe latest expansion to the MMO cements it as one of the best MMOs of all time.
