Square Enix profits nearly triple due to Deus Ex, FFXIII-2

Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the Japanese debut of Final Fantasy XIII-2 were big hits for Square Enix in 2011 and helped the publisher post a strong profit during its latest period.

For the nine-month period ended December 31, 2011, the publisher posted net income of ¥5.01billion ($65.78 million), up 175 percent from last year's haul of ¥1.82 billion ($23.8 million).

Square Enix attributed the sharp increase in net income to sales of Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Final Fantasy XIII-2, which were released in Japan during the period. Revenues from Square Enix's Web, smartphone, and social networking services were also called out as contributors to the bottom line.

Total net sales during the period came in at ¥95.74 billion ($1.26 billion), down 2.5 percent from the ¥98.18 ($1.28 billion) recorded a year prior. A significant chunk of that total stemmed from the company's Digital Entertainment business unit, which posted ¥53.7 billion ($704 million) for the period, a rise of 6.2 percent from the year prior.

Square Enix said its full-year forecasts of ¥65.61 billion ($861 million) in net income on ¥130 billion ($1.7 billion) in net sales remain unchanged for the year ending March 31, 2012.