Today Square Enix announced its financial results for the first quarter of the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2023, which is the period between April and June.
Net sales were 74,876 million yen (down 15.5％ year-on-year). Operating income was ¥14,430 million (down 16.7％ year-on-year).
Ordinary income actually increased 48.7 year-on-year due to the weak yen.
Looking at the Digital Entertainment business, which includes games, net sales were 53,570 million yen (down 23.3％ year-on-year), while operating income was 14,140 million yen (down 17.5％ year-on-year).
Going more in-depth into the performance of the Digital Entertainment business, we learn that sales of HD Games did not reach the level of the previous year despite the launch of multiple new games.
In the field of mobile and browser games, Echoes of Mana “got off to a solid start,” but “weak” performances of existing games resulted in declining sales.
The usual hero remains Final Fantasy XIV, which led net sales growth for the MMO segment thanks to its year-on-year growth in paying subscribers.
In the graph below you can see how the MMO segment actually generated higher sales than the HD games segment, despite the fact that it includes only three games (Final Fantasy XIV, Dragon Quest X, and Final Fantasy XI). That’s certainly impressive.
The graph below shows how physical sales have become a really small part of the business compared to digital sales.
Speaking of the full fiscal year, Square Enix has a ton of titles planned (including a rather unprecedented succession of JRPGs) for the HD Games segment.
For the MMO segment, there will be no expansion pack releases for either Final Fantasy XIV or Dragon Quest X, but Square Enix intends to “focus on retaining users through a variety of operational initiatives.”
If you want to compare today’s results with historical data, you can check out the results published in May, related to the previous quarter.