Square Enix’s Premier MMO and Gaming Franchises Thrive Amidst Declining Overall Revenue
By Square Enix’s financials for the initial three quarters of the 2024-2025 fiscal year indicate that the developer continues to experience year-over-year decreases.
As of December 31, 2024, total net sales reached ¥248.5 billion (around $1.6 billion), reflecting a 3.5 percent decline compared to the previous year. Revenue totaled ¥24.7 billion ($162.7 million), a decrease of 7.5 percent on a yearly basis.
Net sales throughout the Digital Entertainment segment amounted to ¥160.3 billion during these nine months, down 10.7 percent from 2023-2024, and a 13 percent drop from the nine-month period in 2022-2023.
According to Square Enix, net earnings declined this year due to “weakness in current titles in Games for Smart Devices/PC Browser.” Net sales and operating income within this segment were ¥56.3 billion and ¥5.6 billion, respectively—decreases of approximately 28 percent and 58 percent year-on-year. Square noted that the “sharp” drop in operating income was attributed to “weakness in ongoing titles, royalty revenue recognized in the previous fiscal year, and a content production account valuation write-down.”
Square Enix’s digital entertainment sales have decreased over the last three fiscal years.
Nevertheless, it reported a rise in earnings and operating income for its HD (or premium) and MMO game sectors. Despite a decline in net sales year-over-year, HD games saw operating earnings of ¥4.6 billion, an increase of ¥1.7 billion from the previous year (a 45 percent rise).Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake became a significant highlight and achieved “stronger than anticipated” sales. By early December, the RPG had sold 2 million copies globally.
Square Enix did not disclose sales figures for third-quarter HD game launches like Life is Strange: Double Exposure and Fantasian: Neo Dimension—both released during the same nine-month timeframe.
Meanwhile, MMOs reported increases in net sales (¥44 billion, up 26 percent year-over-year, totaling ¥9.2 billion) and operating income (¥17.3 billion, a 20 percent year-over-year increase of ¥2.9 billion). Final Fantasy XIV and Dragon Quest X are considered the studio’s “main titles in operation”: the popular’s Dawntrail expansion released in July (and came to Xbox Series X|S that spring), while the latter experienced a noteworthy 7.3 update in January 2025.
In its consolidated results, Square Enix stated its outlook for the complete fiscal year, ending on March 31, 2025, has not changed.
About the Author
Contributing Editor, GameDeveloper.com
A native of Kansas City, MO, Justin Carter has contributed to various publications including IGN, Polygon, and SyFy Wire. In addition to Game Developer, his work can be found at io9 on Gizmodo. Don’t ask him about how much gum he’s had, as the answer may be more than he’s willing to admit.