Square Enix sales drop year-on-year despite release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Square Enix game sales are down year-over-year, despite the high-profile release of Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth.

According to the latest earnings report, the company’s total net sales fell 18.4 percent year-over-year in the most recent quarter.

This is partly due to a decline in new game sales. For comparison, in the same quarter in 2023, Final Fantasy 16 and Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters were released.

Still, the company has still turned a profit from its games this year, thanks to lower write-downs on development costs and lower advertising spending.

Additionally, the MMO subsegment saw an increase in sales and profits compared to last year. This latest quarter does not include the July release of Final Fantasy 14 expansion Dawntrail, although interest clearly increased leading up to its release. Expect a significant increase in profits in the next quarter’s results.

Mobile games, meanwhile, have also seen a decline in sales “due to weak sales of existing titles”, presumably including last year’s release of free-to-play gacha game Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis. However, profits have increased due to “optimization of operational costs”.

Overall, Square Enix continues to make “determined efforts to strengthen the competitiveness and profitability” of its business.

Early this year, the company’s president, Takashi Kiryu, announced an evaluation of the company’s development system to improve quality and profits.

As part of this, the company shed £112m of projects in development, resulting in a loss for the previous financial year, and is now “aggressively” pursuing a multi-platform strategy.

It’s clear that Square Enix is ​​in a reset phase and the restructuring has resulted in profits despite disappointing sales of existing games.

The company also laid off staff at its US and European operations as part of “structural reforms”.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth sales figures are not specifically included in this financial report, although it was previously reported that sales figures were “subpar.”

The third and final installment in the trilogy hasn’t been fully revealed yet, and no release date has been announced, but director Naoki Hamaguchi has confirmed that the popular card game Queen’s Blood will be making a “revamped” return.