Square Enix Total Revenues Down, but Games Make Money
Square Enix released its financial information for the past nine months ending December 31st, 2016, and the future looks bright. The company’s total profits are down 9.7% over the same time period in 2015, but its revenues are up 24.4%.
The Digital Entertainment division which serves up console, mobile, and MMO games is what is really interesting for us. The company has performed very well with the fastest selling in franchise history Final Fantasy XV and Rise of the Tomb Raider. Without a new expansion, the MMO revenues dipped, but, with the popularity of Final Fantasy XIV, the natural influx of gamers into the MMO for the next expansion may solve that problem. For this division alone, the total profits are down 5.8%, but total revenues are up 32.7%.
Square Enix is also telling investors that the future will be positive, but it will be a range not a target. Referring to the need for mobile and tablet content and calling the console market “oligopolistic”, they will focus on “diversification” and “flexible content development” for future growth. They are projecting a revenue range of 16.8% to 26.1% and a huge profit range of 3.8% – 26.8% for the year.
We hope those profits will be plowed into games in its development pipeline, because Square Enix still has a few big games on the horizon, including Kingdom Hearts 3. (Eventually.) If you want to dig a little deeper into their financial information, you can check out the consolidated financial results for that time on their investor relations site here.
Jason became terminally addicted to videogames after receiving the NES at an early age. This addiction grew to include PC gaming and was cemented with the launch of the PS2. From then on, he was afflicted with epic RPGs, tense shooters, and deep strategy games, never becoming skillful, but never able to quit. He continues to play games (poorly) and share his passion for them to anyone willing to listen.
