Square Enix revenues fall over the past nine months to $1.6bn

Square Enix released its financial earnings for the nine months ending December 31, 2024, reporting a decrease in net sales attributed to “weakness in existing titles” in its mobile and PC browser sub-segment.

The firm also saw a drop in Digital Entertainments revenue, including its video games business, due to new titles generating lower sales than Final Fantasy 16 and Dragon Quest: The Dark Prince the previous year.

Here’s what you need to know:

The numbers:

• Net sales: ¥248.5 billion ($1.6 billion, down 3.5% year-on-year)
• Profit: ¥24.7 billion ($161.9 million, down 7.7% year-on-year)
• Digital entertainment net sales: ¥160.3 billion ($1.05 billion, down 10.7% year-on-year)

The highlights:

Despite a drop in overall net sales in its Digital Entertainment segment, Square Enix saw a 70.3% increase in operating profit for its HD games subsection to ¥4.6 billion ($30.2 million) compared to the same period last year.

The firm attributed this to “lower development cost amortisation and advertising expenses”, in addition to stronger sales of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D “than initially assumed” which launched in November 2024.

Square Enix also saw a 26.4% rise in net sales for its MMO sub-segment, reaching ¥44 billion ($288.6 million) following the release of Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail in July 2024.

Looking at its mobile and PC browser sub-segment, the firm saw a significant decline of 58.5% in operating profit to ¥5.6 billion ($36.7 million) compared to the same period last year.

The firm acknowledged that despite the launch of its puzzle RPG Emberstoria in November 2024, there was a drop due to “weakness in existing titles, the recognition of royalty revenue in the previous fiscal year, and a valuation write-down associated with content production account.”

Looking ahead, Square Enix said there were no changes in its forecast for the fiscal year, which were announced during its FY24 results published last May.