Square Enix sales jump 33.2%, profits fall 55.7%

Publisher takes in $998 million as Dragon Quest IX sells 4 million, Batman Arkham Asylum 2.63 million, Kingdom Hearts 385/2 1.22 million.

Square Enix may have shaved its profit forecast for its full fiscal year last week, but the publisher is still showing substantial top-line growth. Reporting on the first six months of its current fiscal year today, Square Enix said that revenues for the period jumped 33.2 percent to ¥90.6 billion ($998 million), bolstered in part by the publisher's April acquisition of UK-based Eidos. However, profit for the period took a nosedive, falling 55.7 percent to ¥2.68 billion ($29.5 million).

Japan certainly loves Dragon Quest IX.

Between Eidos and its internal studios, Square Enix had a number of top performers during the April-September period. Dragon Quest IX, which is currently available only in Japan for the DS, sold 4 million units through September, while fellow DS role-playing game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 sold 1.22 million units since its Japanese launch in May and its late-September rollout elsewhere. Though the bulk of its Japanese sales fell outside the reporting window, Dissidia Final Fantasy for the PSP sold an additional 720,000 units during the period.

As for the Eidos label, Batman: Arkham Asylum has now sold 2.63 million units in North America and Europe since debuting on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in August and on the PC in September. Hitman creator IO Interactive scored some small success with its new property Mini Ninjas, which shifted 600,000 units across the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, and PC since its early-September premiere.

All said, Square Enix's Games segment saw revenues rise 117.5 percent to ¥48.4 billion ($533 million) during the April-September period. Operating income also rose significantly, climbing 63.5 percent to ¥10.4 billion ($115 million) from the year-ago period. The Games segment shifted 12.07 million software units total during the first half of the year, and Square Enix expects that number to balloon to 26 million units by the end of its full fiscal year on March 31, 2010.

Laying out its projections for its full fiscal year, Square Enix said revenues are expected to rise 32.7 percent to ¥180 billion ($1.98 billion). Despite the aforementioned downward revision, the Japanese publisher still expects to turn a ¥10 billion ($110 million) profit, up 57.9 percent year-over-year.

40 Comments

  • Ric_SlayeR

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 1:34 pm PT

    WTH is FF13?? If they want some profit they will have to launch it soon...

  • chefstubbies

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 8:01 am PT

    Sales up & profits down...
    Sucks to be you Square-Enix.

  • Glade_Gnarr

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 10:39 pm PT

    There's a square enix non-gaming segment?

  • Cabal23

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 10:51 am PT

    The thing is many people are over JRPG's because western RPG's have been showing a ton of innovation, something Japanese developers need to take a note from. Honestly after the past couple of FF's, I gave up. Nothing has changed very much. I am having too much fun playing Dragon Age to care what Square/Enix is doing. They are so last year.

  • Humorguy_basic

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 6:23 am PT

    Most of their profit is made in Japan -and that's a million miles from what is going on in the west. Don;t confuse a company doing well in Japan when most of the companies in the west are struggling.

  • LosDaddie

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 5:40 am PT

    Makes sense. No big console game came out

  • method115

    Posted Nov 6, 2009 5:26 am PT

    Batman was a great game just no re playability at all. I never felt like going back through the main game. It was worth the experience though good game.

  • Kleeyook

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 11:10 pm PT

    Where the hell is my FF13 Versus and Agito!!!!?

  • LordRaymond

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 5:51 pm PT

    One game FInal Fantasy 13!

  • wiidsduelpack

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 5:47 pm PT

    Square Enix is crazy to see much success. With Modern Warfare 2 and all those good titles coming up which are not from Square Enix, the company will see sales slow.-----------------------------------------

    MS is also getting more competitive as it is buying of more companies and getting itself richer. New Batman game sold 2.63 million copies which is low considering it was on two consoles. Its success will rely more on the DS as it has sold more than 6 million games for the console.

  • Katra

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:58 pm PT

    @ Franzkill

    Shoot, I can see Square making loads of money remaking all the ff's 1-9 in todays hd quality games. I would like ff9 the most though.

  • ngelsok

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:44 pm PT

    hmm....with all that money they made, you would think that they could hire a bigger team to translate the american version of Final Fantasy.....sorry, I just want a good damn RPG for the ps3......nothing compares to the FF series or DQ series....hell where is the new kingdom hearts at? you guys need to start working on that as well, i want to play it this century!

  • dewwy

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:27 pm PT

    I think Eidos will be able to up their game quality while under the Square Enix umbrella.

    Now if only Square Enix could put out multiple 360/PS3 hits in the same year and not pump out countless Kingdom Hearts handheld games and other sub-par console games.

  • SDBusDriver1979

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:21 pm PT

    Good call on square to buy eidos when they did, definitely paid off with Batman.

  • zelda_adict posted Nov 5, 2009 4:18 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    zelda_adict

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:18 pm PT (hide)

    Meh, never really liked Squenix (DQ, FF and KH were not very good in my opinion). Atlus, on the other hand, have made some VERY good games that are unfortunately given scores that, although good, are still lower than, say, FF10. Good Job with being unbiased, Gamespot. I guess I'll just trust Rpgfan from now on.
    I'm still hoping for FF13 to be good, although I truly loath the fact that they used Yuna's VA for Lightning.

  • Cross313

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 4:08 pm PT

    Concurred DQ series is in my opinion the greatest rpg's ever made.

  • kingofcosmos231

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:47 pm PT

    "So Dragon Quest is better than Kingdom Hearts? What?"

    dragon quest is indeed better than kingdom hearts

  • drangel_jam

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:46 pm PT

    I'm glad Batman kicked arse.

  • Franzkill

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:33 pm PT

    @tyco ex

    I reckon Square Enix are just teasing upon that very obvious assumption. I know how crazy some of my mates and other gamers alike are about FF7 |(heck so am I).

    Square Enix know that they can release it at any time and people would flock to the stores (online, high street, whatever) and grab a copy even if it was sold at £100.

    The prospect of it redone in crisp HD visuals along with trophy support and quality voice acting would make any gamer poop there pants really.

  • Shinkada posted Nov 5, 2009 3:29 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    Shinkada

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:29 pm PT (hide)

    tl;dr: Square still stealing money from idiots.

  • ColonelX24

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 3:01 pm PT

    So Dragon Quest is better than Kingdom Hearts? What?

  • tyco_ex

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:58 pm PT

    Meh, if squenix ever needed money all they would have to do is make a ps3 remake of ff7 and watch their profits triple.

  • SecularSage

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:58 pm PT

    Once again, GameStop doesn't really understand what these financials mean. The question is whether or not they are financially healthy going in to the next quarter.

    Revenues are up because of the acquisition of Eidos. Having a new publishing label will do that. 33% sounds like a healthy jump, but it could be a bad thing if they were expecting more in the short-term from the merger.

    Profits are down because most of their profitable sales will come during Q3 and Q4. Right now, they're investing a lot in the FF XIII games and other IPs. The second half of FY 2010 is going to be where they're going to make their profits.

    The interesting part of the story is that profit projections are being lowered. Is that because Square Enix overvalued Eidos? Or is it because they overvalued their three core IPs -- DQ, FF and KH and have yet to hit sales projections? That's the real question.

  • CybertronR

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:48 pm PT

    I love comments!

  • rocka_

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:36 pm PT

    Go square!!!

  • TheKungFool

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:35 pm PT

    Now imagine if they'd have been smart enough to release FF Dissidea as a PS2 or PS3 release.........

  • gilbertus

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:33 pm PT

    Well, FFXIII will surely boost some numbers in december...

    Unfortunately, knowing square, they'll probably release FFXIII in north america after march 31, so they can start the next fiscal year with a boom...

  • 2bitSmOkEy

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:30 pm PT

    Well Dragon Quest and Batman were both great games congrats...

  • ahpuck

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:28 pm PT

    dragon quest is one of the main reasons i still have my ds.

  • OneMoarLevel

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:18 pm PT

    I wish them nothing but success, i love their games

  • etramleinad12

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 2:00 pm PT

    Birth By Sleep could probably fix their money issues.

  • kairikh

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:49 pm PT

    forgot eidos was a part of square, and i kept wondering why batman looked so realistic yay square deserves it, i cant wait to see their profit from final fantasy by the end of 2010 quarter

  • oldschoolKEN

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:41 pm PT

    Good for you square. Now gimme DQIX! I have 75hrs on DQVIII and am so close to completing it. So i'll let you slide this time, if only because your so good lookin'.

  • mr_squibble

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:20 pm PT

    Definitely looking forward to DQIX in the US.

  • CoolKidX

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:18 pm PT

    Mini Ninja's old 600 thousand? Wow.

  • coldsauce09

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:15 pm PT

    more power to square. i love their games from the last generation and still waiting for theyre KO punch.

  • shii666

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:10 pm PT

    Hmm... Maybe they should release a game for the PS3.

  • Virtual_Erkan

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 1:01 pm PT

    How much did Dissidia Final Fantasy sold in US?

  • BallinBoy69 posted Nov 5, 2009 12:48 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    BallinBoy69

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 12:48 pm PT (hide)

    Who cares

  • hashabnelah

    Posted Nov 5, 2009 12:47 pm PT

    This is nice for Dragon Quest IX, as it set new precedence for being the first non-Nintendo game to break four million sales in Japan.

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