Square Enix’s strategy going forward is the same as they’ve mentioned in the last year or two: globalization, strengthening their brands, and being “network-centric”. Social games and MMOs are part of that last one, and Square showed by means of a bar graph how this segment of their business is growing, and how they expect it to grow further this year. Take a look:
On the MMO front, Square report that Dragon Quest X’s beta test went smoothly with over 16,000 players. The game will be released in Japan on August 2nd. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XIV has been charging subscription fees once again since January, and the beta test for the 2.0 version of the game will be launched in the October-November period. Plans are also going smoothly for expanding the game into China, and it will begin operating there in 2013.
Square also provided numbers for how many users their social games have. Final Fantasy Brigade’s numbers are particularly impressive, with over 2 million users since its January 2012 launch.
[2008] Nicotto Town – 1 million
[2009] Sengoku Ixa – 900,000
[2011] Monster X Dragon – 200k
[2012] Final Fantasy Brigade – 2 million
[2012] Kaku-San-Sei MILLION ARTHUR – 300,000
