Financial reports follow one another and the trend is confirmed: the big publishers go on record years and Square Enix is now added to the list of happy Japanese companies in this case. Last year, Yosuke Matsuda’s group achieved its benchmark year with a net profit of 154 million euros. This profit is now crushed by that of the financial year ended March 31, 2018, which amounts to 198 million euros.
And it is certainly not the slight decline (-2%) in turnover (1.92 billion euros) that could spoil the party, especially as operating profit jumped 22% to reach 293 million euros, a historic record again for the company which will expose its announcements to E3 2018 in the form of a pre-recorded presentation Monday, June 11 at 19h. The carton of Dragon Quest XI in Japan (more than 3.3 million copies sold) is obviously no stranger to this result, not to mention the profitability of the Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age remaster that had exceeded one million copies sold even before its PC release.
The results of Square Enix
As Square Enix acknowledges, the fiscal year was not, however, rich in big outings (hence the drop in turnover, by the way), but the long-term success of NieR Automata (2.5 millions of sales in one year) was another valuable contributor, especially thanks to the download sales on which the publisher has the best possible margin. We would have liked a little point on Final Fantasy XV since its PC release in March, but the record does not mention it. On the mobile front, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, No Dragon Quest Hoshi, Dragon Quest Monster Super Light and Kingdom Hearts Union χOnce again, the boss’s special congratulations, as well as the pair of Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X, are still in sight when new extensions arrive.
With Octopath Traveler, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Dragon Quest Builders 2, Dragon Quest XI and Kingdom Hearts III as the main releases for the current fiscal year, Square Enix remains relatively conservative with its annual net profit down 161 million euros at March 31, 2019. However, management anticipates an increase in turnover of 2 billion euros, a sign that it intends to stand out with some major success in the coming months.
