Square Enix announced its consolidated results for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2017 with some insight on how the company performed on a year with less blockbuster titles.
The above information gives us the key figures of the 9 months ended December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016. It also shows the full year forecast for the fiscal year ending march 2018 and the company’s performance of the fiscal year ended March 2017.
Square Enix provided additional details for the nine-month period ended December 31, 2017. In 2017 Square Enix released Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (in Japan) and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, but the decrease in the number of blockbuster titles resulted in a net sales decline compared to the same period of the prior fiscal year, as shown in the above chart.
While net sales were lower, strong high-margin download sales of previously released catalogue titles such as NieR: Automata resulted in an increase of operating income compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.
As for the smart devices and PC browser area, established titles such as Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, Hoshi no Dragon Quest (Dragon Quest of the Stars), Dragon Quest Monsters: Super Light, and Kingdom Hearts Union χ continued showing strong performances on a global scale with an increase of royalty income that pushed both net sales and operating income compared to the same period the previous fiscal year.
And lastly, in the MMORPG department, revenues from the latest expansions for Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X led to an increase of paying subscribers and disk sales, which helped the increase of net sale and operating income compared to the same period from the previous fiscal year.
