Square Enix profits down, but not out as familiar franchises keep sales alive

by James Ransom-Wiley on Nov 5th 2010 12:15AM

If you think we're going to explain that mess of scribbles above -- fuggedaboutit! What we have parsed from Square Enix's six-month financial report (April–September 2010) is a rather slight net income: ¥1.723 billion ($21.4 million). While any company would take pocket change over a loss, Square Enix profits are indeed down 36 percent from the same period last year, and software sales for the first half of this fiscal year have relied heavily on "contribution from highly profitable carryover sales of major titles released in March" -- in other words: Final Fantasy XIII picked up the slack.

And who were the slackers? Square Enix highlighted five "major titles" released during the period:

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 (DS) - 1.28 million units sold (Japan-only)
Final Fantasy XIV (PC) - 630K units sold (worldwide)
Just Cause 2 (multiplatform) - 560K units sold (worldwide)*
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (multiplatform) - 1.12 million units sold (worldwide)
Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (PSP) - 510K units sold (worldwide)*

*Title released in some regions prior to April 2010; sales only reflect those recorded in the six months ending September 30, 2010.

Finally, Square Enix heralded its recent partnership with Chinese online games publisher Shanda Games; a deal indicative of two of the company's three proclaimed growth strategies: globalization and becoming "network centric." As for the third? Square Enix's three-pronged attack also stresses "strengthening our own-IPs." So when's that next Final Fantasy coming out again?

[Image: Year-over-year comparison of monthly revenues from existing outlets; source: Square Enix]

Source: Square Enix

Reader Comments (41)

I wonder if Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep was released for consoles, that 510K units sold (worldwide) would have 1 million and above units sold (worldwide).

@Presaria But it would cost 3-4 times to make it for the PS3 for example, so is a win in the PSP

@Vidaluko

You gotta PLAY BIIGGG to WIIIN BIIIGGG! lol

but seriously, releasing it for psp is like they wanted to play safe, where it will lead nowhere in the long run.

@Presaria

PSP was likely the most logical choice they could've made with Birth by Sleep. Assuming they had to stick to Playstation hardware, the PS2 is a walking corpse, and development for the PS3 would cost way too much. The PSP may not be the best system in terms of software sales, but they probably made more money off BBS there than they would have on either PS3 or PS2.

Please, TWEWY 2. I will fund you forever.

I'm playing my FF13 right now and Love this game The sad part is gonna be when the credit's roll :( I'm Glad to see FF13 made its money I even bought the CE and the Limited edition CD I gave you all I had Square Enix xD

@Monkey D Luffy
Just wanna know, how is X in that list and not XIII? i mean, i really enjoyed XIII and am aware that's not as open as IX and before

@Monkey D Luffy

Don't worry. I agree with you dude.

@Monkey D Luffy

Well i like it and i see 4 other people in here that like it so we are all here!

All those japanese people that said they like it must be lying :(

Also like how its the one troll post thats not been downvoted to oblivion :/ Seems to happen any time square stuff is mentioned!

@Milky1985

Because the people that like have to speak up and say they like it. I didn't like FF 13 and had to stop torturing myself. If you like go ahead and play it I don't like it so I'll play something else.

@Monkey D Luffy

Funny... I don't understand you trolls that just rip on FFXIII for linearity than say that FFX was the most amazing FF. FFX led you around by a leash FAR more than FFXIII.

I agree that FFXIII wasn't up to par for a Final Fantasy game, but don't say that FFX was a REAL FF then rip on FFXIII for the same faults FFX had. Also, FFXII was a real FF and the best one since FFVI so shut it.

I'm still shock that kane & lynch sold 1.12 million copies. When just cause 2 should have sold that much copies no wonder publisher are going to the casual market.

@bargaingamer

I don't.. I don't understand what's casual market about Kane & Lynch or Just Cause.

1.1 million people bought Kane and Lynch 2? I thought that game flopped hard.

I'd love to see the numbers on how many of those 630k FF14 purchasers are actually keeping their accounts. Not going to cause a little storm about liking or hating it, but they've got a lot of people trumpeting angry epithets about the release of a very, very broken game. They expanded the free period, but they'd best get some patches out soon if they want to salvage ANY of their initial release rush. MMOs players are not patient people.

We'll probably see next quarter if their profits dip yet again.

@Enraged Mailman

Looks like to me that Luffy is just stating statistics (regardless of accuracy) and is not voicing his opinion, implying negative connotations or calling people names.

And unless you have a history of never playing any of the previous final fantasies when they were released or before you owned a playstation2, I think you'd also feel that the essence behind final fantasy has changed and is very different today.

To clarify, I'm just saying that they are very different and may not be enjoyed on the same level by everyone.

@dotzeno

damn reply system...

@dotzeno

"Sucks that it is not at enjoyable as the real Final Fantasy games (I-X, Tactics)."

Where the hell are the statistics here? Why is the cut-off for "real" FF games at X? There are just so many questions...

@Enraged Mailman Or he's being overly dramatic to put emphasis on the fact the game is widely disliked..

-_-

@Enraged Mailman
My apologies. I must have confused myself and attributed what I saw with something I read that claimed that only 1 in every 5 people enjoyed XIII - which I feel would explain why the price of a copy of XIII dropped so quickly (close to 80% price drop after 7 days in Hong Kong). In any case, I retract my statement.

@Acosta02:
I went with not concerning myself with what is considered 'real' as that's really based on opinion and as such, have no defense prepared. But I generally support the notion that ever since the PS2 came out, the traditional RPG that FF was, is no more. By that logic, I suppose that I would clarify X to be part of this sense of 'real' in that it subscribes to the same combat system paradigm.

@Resonanse

Except that its NOT widely disliked, its disliked by a collection of very vocal people ( mainly because its a JRPG, seen as the evil and mortal enemy of the WRPG). Lots of reviews in the west (unfairly in my opinion) knocked it down for its linierarity and lack of towns (despite the fact that plot wise it made perfect sense) but STILL gave it a good score.

But nowerdays unless its a 8 or 9 its a bad game, so reviewers are giving out higher scores driving the average up.

@Monkey D Luffy

...yet. But in all honesty, I would've preferred playing birth by sleep on the ps3 instead. PSP just feels too tiny for my hands. I suppose no point in crying over spilt milk, so instead, just going to say I look forward to and hope they do a good job on the next iteration of Kingdom Hearts on the PS3.

I'd say a big reason their profits dropped was because of FF14...that and 13 Versus still isn't out, they're starting to leak money live a sieve.

If Square Enix ever needs to make a good deal of money quickly all they have to do is start releasing their classic catalog of games on XBLA and PSN. FF6 or Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger + Achievements = my money in their pockets.

As long as FFXIV is fixed by the time it hits the PS3, it should do OK. Hopefully I'm not the only one aching for some online console interaction that isn't all about headshots.

@Aeschylus
Darn the naysayers, I'm still looking forward to this game.

Come on, March!

What!?

I thought JC2 & BBS did way better than that?

Of course they're not making as much money as they used to.

Honestly, most of their recent offerings (handhelds excluded!) have been pretty crap.

I hope this has no impact on Deus Ex 3. I know Square-Enix goes into "CLOSE EVERYTHING AND MAKE BAD FF7 SEQUELS" mode when sales drop.

@Enraged Mailman

You and me both. Although, if and when they do that, I expect them to also release a Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix Collection (akin to GOW Collection) but with the addition of Chain of Memories. Also, theater mode would be nice.

I'd like to know just how many sales of FF13 went into customers hands, and how much of it sat around in a warehouse due to optimistic stocking (admitidly rightfully so) by stores (see: Amazon's frequent deals on it).

@Monkey D Luffy
*cough* Tobal *cough*

I don't feel bad for square/enix. All they have to do is open up the tap and the money will start flowing in. I'm talking about psone classics on the psn. Also, why isn't the psp version of final fantasy tactics not on the psn? Only the unenhanced version is up there.

The recent title I've enjoyed most with the SquareEnix name on it has been the Lara Croft downloadable game. I don't see it represented on the little squiggly lines list there. I'd like to know if it's doing well.

@Monkey D Luffy

Kingdom Heats was ruined the moment it was made. What a piece of junk that game series is.

I can hardly wrap my head around Kane and Lynch being that popular. I am hoping JC2's 500K sold means it is a hit and sequels will continue to be made. I'd put JC2 as a Top 5 game of 2010.

Put Kingdom Hearts on the Wii, they could call it Kingdom Hearts: Afterbirth By Sleep.

I love keyless graphs. They help me to imagine.

Square-Enix did listen to their alpha and early beta testers thus produced a million seller MMO. Congratulations keep up the gree...great work.

I want to know in which alternate universe is selling over 1 million units bad.

Seriously, did they expect millions of people to buy their new MMO (which they've barely marketed at all)? Did they expect millions to buy a Japanese-only DS release of a Dragon Quest spin-off?

Some of the numbers are surprising though. I thought Just Cause 2 was fairly popular? Also, given the large psp install base in Japan, I would think KH:BbS would have done better.

@dotzeno
It's sort of difficult to think of where the KH series should go. The techy in me wants it on PS3 so they can push the hardware like they did the PS2 with KH2. But then I just think that most of the people that played KH have moved on to the Wii instead of the PS3. I would like a good 3rd party game on the Wii (but I'm not holding my breath), so I think KH would actually be really good on the Wii because I bet SE would actually put some effort into the development, rather than 90% of the 3rd party developers on the Wii.

Final Fantasy 14

Square Enix profits down, but not out as familiar franchises keep sales alive

Reader Comments (41)

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 12:29AM Presaria said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:31AM Vidaluko said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 2:22AM Presaria said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 9:21AM Mr Fister said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 12:37AM Acosta02 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 12:40AM nuragna said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:11AM NoirR said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 3:32AM gamerso1990 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 5:23AM Milky1985 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 10:21AM TaintedKane said

Posted: Nov 7th 2010 11:25AM Bewoulf said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 12:47AM bargaingamer said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:03AM Cleric said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:20AM GuardianLegend said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:23AM Controlled Chaos said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:33AM dotzeno said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:34AM dotzeno said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:57AM Acosta02 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 3:32AM Resonanse said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 3:55AM dotzeno said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 5:28AM Milky1985 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:37AM dotzeno said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 1:53AM Kadamon said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 2:15AM Twist said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 2:30AM Aeschylus said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 8:51AM Spookimitsu said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 2:55AM Hawaii Jeff said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 3:40AM Esposch said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 3:56AM wcarnation said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 4:00AM dotzeno said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 4:51AM Crayola Q Pants ESQ said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 8:18AM Spookimitsu said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 9:14AM C1 said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 10:03AM ComicShaman said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 10:23AM TaintedKane said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 10:55AM Jack Kevorkian said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 11:20AM Undying said

Posted: Nov 5th 2010 12:35PM Ethan said

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