Square Enix posts "record-high" revenue and profits
Full-year results boosted by Final Fantasy XV, weather the storm of IO Interactive withdrawal
Square Enix posted record revenue and net profit for the last fiscal year, a strange bedfellow for the announcement of its withdrawal from Hitman developer IO Interactive.
In the fiscal year ended March 31, 2017, Square Enix earned ¥257 billion in revenue, up 20% on the year before. Ordinary income rose 23% year-on-year to ¥31 billion, despite the ¥4.9 billion extraordinary loss it recorded due to the decision to drop IO Interactive. Both figures, Square Enix said, are records for the company.
The Digital Entertainment segment, which contributes the majority of Square Enix's revenue, showed a similar level of performance. It earned ¥199 billion in the last fiscal year, up 25% over last year, and ¥33.3 billion in operating income, a 21.3% increase.
Square Enix's two biggest product launches of the year were Rise of the Tomb Raider on PlayStation 4 and Final Fantasy XV on multiple platforms. The company noted a "material increase" in its revenue and operating income from console games on the strength of these games, though it's likely that FFXV played a bigger part. In January, Square Enix confirmed that it had sold 6 million units of the game, a good chunk of the way to the 10 million unit "high goal" set in April 2016.
Elsewhere in Digital Entertainment, Square Enix noted that revenue and operating income from its MMORPGs (which includes Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn) had "declined significantly" over the prior year, largely due to a lack of expansion content. The opposite was true of its content from PC, browser and smart devices, which "increased significantly" on the strength of products tied to popular IPs like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and, of course, Final Fantasy.
On the subject of IO Interactive, Square Enix has already started the process of finding a buyer. "Whilst there can be no guarantees that the negotiations will be concluded successfully," the company said, "they are being explored since this is in the best interests of our shareholders, the studio and the industry as a whole."